Why Rental Property Inspections Are Important for Your Melbourne Investment

Most landlords who skip safety inspections are not careless. They have a reason, and the reason usually sounds sensible.

Here are the five that come up most often in Melbourne, and what is actually wrong with each of them.

1. "Nothing has ever gone wrong"

This is the most common position and the weakest one, because it treats an absence of incidents as evidence of safety rather than as an absence of information.

Gas and electrical faults do not announce themselves progressively. A flue can be blocked for a year with no symptom until conditions change. A smoke alarm past its ten year manufacture life looks identical to one that works. Carbon monoxide is colourless, odourless and tasteless, and its symptoms, tiredness, headaches, nausea and dizziness, are the symptoms of a dozen ordinary things.

Victoria's current rules did not come from a policy paper. They followed a coronial recommendation after Simon Scarff died in a fire in a rented apartment in 2022, in circumstances where the presence of a working smoke alarm could not be confirmed. Every rental in the state now falls under annual smoke alarm checks as a direct result.

Until the day something goes wrong, every unsafe property looks exactly like a safe one.

2. "My renter would tell me"

Your renter can tell you what they notice. That is a narrower category than what matters.

They will report a heater that stops working. They will not report a heater that works while venting combustion products into the room, because there is nothing to notice. They will report a light that fails. They will not identify a switchboard without residual current protection, because it is not visible and they would not know what they were looking at.

There is also a structural problem with relying on it. Renters raise issues after something has happened. The entire purpose of a scheduled inspection is to find the problem before that point.

3. "My agent takes care of it"

Property managers arrange these checks routinely and most do it well. But arranging is not the same as being responsible.

The legal obligation sits with the rental provider. Where a check is missed, an interval lapses, or a record cannot be produced within the seven days allowed after a written request, you have failed the obligation, not your agent. Delegation moves the administration, not the liability.

The practical test is simple. Ask your agent for the dates of the last gas, electrical and smoke alarm checks on each property, and the records themselves. If they arrive quickly, your process works. If they take a fortnight, you have found something worth knowing.

4. "My agreement predates the rules"

This one is currently true, and it is about to stop being true.

Victoria's two yearly gas and electrical safety check requirement has applied to agreements entered into after 29 March 2021. Agreements that predate that and rolled over before it have sat outside the strict obligation, though Consumer Affairs Victoria has always encouraged those rental providers to run the checks anyway.

From 13 October 2026, that distinction is expected to be removed. Gas and electrical safety checks are set to apply every two years to all Victorian rental properties regardless of when the agreement commenced, with no exemption based on tenancy start date. Annual smoke alarm checks already went universal in November 2025.

If you have been relying on a pre-2021 agreement, the exemption ends. Checks need booking, and anything they find needs rectifying, so the properties in this category are the ones to deal with first rather than last.

5. "It is an unnecessary expense"

Consider what sits on the other side.

A missed interval is a compliance breach. A renter who requests records you cannot produce within seven days has documented that breach for you. A property that fails Victoria's minimum standards can allow a renter to end the agreement before moving in. And before signing, you must disclose the date of the last gas and electrical checks along with any outstanding recommendations from them, so findings you have not acted on do not stay private.

Then there is the question that arrives when something does go wrong: what evidence exists that you took reasonable care? Documented periodic inspections answer it. Very little else does.

Set against the cost of a routine check, the asymmetry is not close.

What good rental property inspections actually look like

Three things separate a useful inspection from a box ticked.

• The practitioner has to be properly endorsed. In Victoria this is prescriptive. Gas checks require a gasfitter holding the Type A Gas Appliance Servicing endorsement, and electrical checks require an electrician registered with Energy Safe Victoria as a Registered Electrical Contractor. A check by someone without the correct endorsement does not satisfy the obligation, however carefully it was carried out.
• The documentation has to meet the standard, identifying the practitioner and their licence number, the date, the findings, and what was done about anything requiring attention.
• And the intervals have to be tracked. Missed checks are almost never deliberate. They are what happens across a portfolio when nobody owns the calendar.

Getting your Melbourne properties checked

Landmark Inspections carries out rental property inspections across Melbourne, covering gas, electrical and smoke alarm checks in a single visit. We coordinate access directly with your renters, work to Australian Standards, and deliver the compliance documentation you need for your records, usually within 24 hours.

With the October 2026 changes approaching, properties that have been sitting outside the requirements are the ones worth booking first.

Request a quote for rental property inspections in Melbourne across your portfolio.