Victorian landlords must now keep records showing their rentals meet the minimum standards, blind cord anchors included, and the maximum penalty for not producing them is higher than for the breach itself

What changed on 13 October

Consumer Affairs Victoria’s minimum standards page, updated on 14 October, opens with the change: From 13 October 2026, all rental providers must keep records sufficient to show the property meets the rental minimum standards. The duty comes from four new sections of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997, inserted by Act No. 46/2025 and in the authorised version as at 13 October 2026.

• Section 65C: a rental provider must keep records sufficient to demonstrate compliance with section 65A, the section requiring the property to meet the standards on or before the day the renter moves in.
• Section 65D: at the Director’s request, the provider must produce those records as soon as practicable after the request has been made. Up to 150 penalty units for a person, 750 for a company.
• Sections 65E and 65F: the same for a property advertised or offered for rent, and these bind the provider’s agent too, with the same penalties.

The Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria may publish a notice, in the Government Gazette and online, setting out what records are sufficient (section 65C(2)). We found no such notice. Consumer Affairs Victoria’s pages, read on 15 October, describe the duty but do not say what a record must contain.

Where the blind cords come in

The minimum standards are in Schedule 4 of the Residential Tenancies Regulations 2021. Clause 15 has applied since 1 December 2025. In Consumer Affairs Victoria’s words, all corded internal window coverings, such as blinds and curtains, must have an anchor installed to secure the cords and prevent them forming loops. The clause itself sets the test: a loose cord must not be able to form a loop of 220 mm or longer less than 1,600 mm above the floor, and it must be secured by a cord guide or by a cleat at least 1,600 mm up, installed under the covering’s own instructions. We explained the rule in July.

Until 13 October a landlord who had fitted the anchors needed no paper to prove it. Now the law expects the records to exist, for this standard as for the others, at the point the property is advertised and again when the renter moves in.

What the penalties work out to

Our view

This is opinion, built on the facts above. Making the record count for more than the breach is deliberate drafting, and it is the right incentive: a regulator cannot inspect every rental, but it can ask for paper, and a landlord who has the paper has usually done the work. For blind cords in particular, a standard nobody checks is a standard a busy owner forgets.

The gap is the missing guidance. The Act lets the Director say what records are enough, and until that notice exists, every landlord and agent is guessing. For cord anchors the sensible guess is cheap: a dated photo of each anchor in place and the invoice or receipt for the parts or the fitting. That is our suggestion, not an official list.

For installers, this is a small, honest service to offer. A job sheet that names each window, the device fitted and its height, signed and dated, is exactly the kind of record a rental provider now needs, and it costs little to produce at the time of fitting. Consumer Affairs Victoria still sends a free cord safety kit to Victorian addresses for anyone who wants to do it themselves.

We will report the Director’s notice on sufficient records when it is published in the Government Gazette.

Sources

On method. Researched and written with AI systems under rules our small team sets and enforces, and drawn from the 6 primary sources below. 4 quotations are verified against archived copies of their sources by an automated word-for-word check. How The Window Standard works.

1. Consumer Affairs Victoria, Rental properties: minimum standards (web page, last updated 14 October 2026, read 15 October 2026): the 13 October 2026 record-keeping duty, the record-keeping section and the window covering anchors standard.
2. Consumer Affairs Victoria, New changes to the rental laws (web page, last updated 14 October 2026, read 15 October 2026): the 13 October 2026 changes, including records showing compliance with the rental minimum standards and that they must be given to CAV if asked.
3. Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (Vic), Authorised Version No. 115, incorporating amendments as at 13 October 2026 (read 15 October 2026): sections 65A, 65B, 65C, 65D, 65E and 65F, with their penalties and the No. 46/2025 insertion notes.
4. Residential Tenancies Regulations 2021 (Vic), Authorised Version 009 (read 15 October 2026): Schedule 4 clause 15, corded internal window coverings, inserted by S.R. No. 130/2024.
5. Victoria Government Gazette, No. S 234, 5 May 2026 (read 15 October 2026): the Treasurer’s notice under the Monetary Units Act 2004 fixing a penalty unit at $209.10 for the financial year commencing 1 July 2026.
6. Consumer Affairs Victoria, Order a curtain and blind cord safety kit (web page, read 15 October 2026): the free kit, available to Victorian mailing addresses.

How we did this. We read the new sections in the authorised version of the Act, the cord clause in the authorised regulations, the gazette notice and Consumer Affairs Victoria’s pages on 15 October 2026. We looked for a Director’s notice under section 65C(2) on those pages and found none; we did not search every gazette issue, so if one exists we have missed it, and we will correct this page. The dollar penalties are our multiplication. The suggested records are our opinion, not legal advice. We have no commercial relationship with any supplier or installer of window coverings.

A landlord, agent or installer who reads the new sections differently? Tell us and we will check it at the source and log the outcome here.