# Vacant possession or tenant in place: how a Queensland contract works
A Queensland contract promises vacant possession unless a tenancy is written in. How the schedule, the settlement documents, rent, bond and the rent warranty fit together.
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Every contract for a home has to answer a plain question: on settlement day, will anyone be living there? For an owner-occupier selling to another owner-occupier the answer is no, and the house changes hands empty. For a rental property it may be yes, and the buyer becomes a landlord at the same moment as becoming an owner. Somewhere between are the awkward cases: a buyer who wants to move in but is purchasing a tenanted house, and a seller who needs a few more weeks before the removalist arrives.
The standard Queensland contract handles all of these with one default rule and one exception. The default is vacant possession. The exception is whatever tenancy the parties record in the reference schedule. This guide explains how the two work in the Contract for the Sale and Purchase of Residential Real Estate, published by the Real Estate Institute of Queensland and the Queensland Law Society and in use in its first edition since 1 August 2025, and how the contract's terms sit beside the tenancy rules administered by the Residential Tenancies Authority. It looks at the sale contract. The tenant's own rights during a sale campaign are a subject of their own. It is general information only.
1 questionin the schedule decides whether a tenancy is part of the sale
2 monthsminimum notice to end a periodic tenancy after a sale
12 monthsbetween rent increases, whoever owns the property
REIQ and Queensland Law Society residential contract, first edition, reference schedule; Residential Tenancies Authority, "When a property is for sale", updated 1 May 2025.
## The default is an empty house
Clause 5.6 of the contract states the rule. On the settlement date, in exchange for the balance purchase price, the seller must give the buyer vacant possession of the lot and the improvements except for the tenancies.
Vacant possession means what it sounds like: no occupants, and the seller's belongings gone. The contract backs the second part elsewhere in clause 5, requiring the seller to remove from the property before settlement everything the seller is keeping, and treating anything left behind as abandoned.
The closing words of clause 5.6, "except for the tenancies", are the whole of the exception. "Tenancies" is a defined term that points back to the reference schedule. If a tenancy is recorded there, the seller's obligation is to deliver the property subject to it. If none is recorded, the seller has promised an empty house, and a tenant still in occupation on settlement day is the seller's breach to answer for.
## The schedule question
The reference schedule asks directly: is the property sold subject to a residential tenancy agreement or rooming accommodation agreement? The answer is a tick in a box marked no or yes.
Where the answer is yes, the first edition provides a place for the details. The Queensland Law Society's journal, Proctor, noted when advance copies were released in July 2025 that the reference schedule had been reworked for the new edition, and the printed form asks for the tenant's name, the term of the agreement, the rent, the bond and the date of the last rent increase.
Each of those entries is a term of the bargain. A buyer who is told the tenant is on a six-month lease at a certain weekly rent, and finds on settlement that the lease has eighteen months to run at a lower figure, has not received what the schedule described. The Queensland Law Handbook, published by Caxton Legal Centre, includes the details of any tenancies that will exist at completion among the items a buyer should check in the schedule before signing.
The tenancy is also a disclosure matter before the contract exists. The Queensland Government's summary of the seller disclosure scheme lists any residential tenancy or rooming accommodation agreement among the matters covered in the title part of the disclosure statement, which the buyer must receive before signing.
## What the buyer inherits
A sale does not end a tenancy. The Residential Tenancies Authority's guidance on properties for sale, last updated on 1 May 2025, puts the position for a fixed term agreement in one sentence: the tenant can stay until the end of their fixed term, and the new owner will become their property owner.
So a buyer of a property let on a fixed term steps into the seller's shoes for the rest of that term. The rent, the conditions and the end date are the ones the seller agreed. The buyer cannot move in, and cannot require the tenant to leave, simply because the property has a new owner.
A periodic agreement, one with no fixed end date, is more flexible, but not instant. The Authority's guidance says that where vacant possession is wanted on a sale, the tenant must be given a notice to leave on Form 12, or Form R12 for rooming accommodation, with a minimum of two months' notice, and that the notice follows the signing of the contract of sale.
What a sale means for the tenancy
Type of agreement
Effect of the sale
If the buyer wants to live there
Fixed term, not yet expired
Continues. The buyer becomes the property owner under it.
The buyer waits for the term to end, or negotiates with the tenant.
Periodic
Continues until ended by notice.
A notice to leave with at least 2 months' notice, given after the contract is signed.
No tenancy recorded in the contract
The seller must give vacant possession.
The property is empty at settlement.
Residential Tenancies Authority, "When a property is for sale", updated 1 May 2025; standard residential contract, clause 5.6.
## Buying a tenanted home to live in
The table explains why a buyer who intends to occupy needs to settle the tenancy question before signing and not after.
There are two honest ways to write the contract. In the first, the schedule records no tenancy and the seller takes on the task of delivering an empty property. The seller then carries the risk that the tenant cannot lawfully be asked to leave in time, so the settlement date has to be set with the tenancy in mind: after the end of a fixed term, or far enough away to allow at least two months' notice on a periodic agreement once the contract is signed. In the second, the schedule records the tenancy and the buyer takes the property with the tenant in it, accepting whatever time remains.
What does not work is a contract that says one thing while both parties expect another. A buyer who signs a contract recording a twelve-month fixed term, on a verbal assurance that the tenant is happy to go, has bought a tenanted property.
## What the seller hands over
Where there are tenancies, clause 5.5 adds to the list of documents the seller must deliver at settlement. Beside the transfer and the keys, the seller must deliver the seller's copy of any tenancy agreements, a notice to each tenant advising of the sale in the form required by law, and any notice required by law to transfer to the buyer the seller's interest in any bond. The clause also calls for evidence of the last rent increases.
The tenancy rules describe the same handover from the other side. The Residential Tenancies Authority's guidance says an attornment notice, which is a letter, must advise the tenant of the new owner's details and where rent is to be paid, and that the tenant must be offered at least two ways to pay rent. A Form 5, the change of property manager or owner form, is lodged with the Authority so that its bond records show the new owner.
The contract defines a bond as a bond under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008. The money does not pass through the settlement. It is already lodged with the Authority, and what changes is the name of the person entitled to deal with it on the owner's side.
Handing over a tenancy at settlement
Tenancy agreementsThe seller delivers its copy of each agreement to the buyer.
Notice to the tenantA notice of the sale tells the tenant who the new owner is and where rent is to be paid.
BondThe notice transferring the seller's interest in the bond is given, and the Authority's records are updated.
Rent historyEvidence of the last rent increases goes to the buyer.
Rent adjustmentRent already paid for a period that runs past settlement is shared between the parties.
## Rent and outgoings on the day
The contract's adjustment provisions divide income and costs at settlement. Clause 3.4 states the principle: the seller is liable for outgoings and entitled to rent up to and including the settlement date, and the buyer is liable for outgoings and entitled to rent after it.
Clause 3.6 applies that to rent in two parts. Rent already paid for the current period or beyond must be adjusted at settlement. Unpaid rent for the rental period that includes the settlement date is not adjusted until it is paid. The first part deals with a tenant who pays in advance: the seller has received money for days the buyer will own the property, and gives the buyer credit for them. The second protects the buyer from paying the seller for rent that the tenant may never hand over.
A worked example shows the arithmetic. The figures are illustrative. A tenant pays $1,300 a fortnight in advance, and has paid for the fortnight from Monday 3 August to Sunday 16 August 2026. Settlement is on Friday 7 August. The seller is entitled to rent up to and including the settlement date, which is five of the fourteen days, or $464.29. The remaining nine days, worth $835.71, belong to the buyer, and that amount is allowed to the buyer at settlement. The two parts add back to $1,300.
## The rent increase warranty
One of the seller's warranties in the first edition is aimed squarely at tenanted sales. Under clause 7.4(4), the seller warrants that, if there are tenancies, the current rent complies with the requirements of sections 91 and 93 of the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008.
Those sections concern how and how often rent may be increased. The Residential Tenancies Authority's guidance explains why a buyer cares: a change of property manager or owner does not affect the 12-month rent increase frequency limit, and a new owner cannot increase the rent until 12 months have passed since the current rate took effect. The limit follows the property. A buyer who assumes the rent can be raised on taking over needs to know when it last changed, which is why the schedule asks for the date of the last rent increase and clause 5.5 asks for evidence of it.
The warranty comes with a limited remedy. Clause 7.4(5) says that if the warranty is incorrect, the buyer's only remedy against the seller is for compensation. A buyer cannot terminate the contract because a past rent increase turns out not to have complied.
For investors
The 12-month limit on rent increases follows the property
A new owner cannot increase the rent until 12 months after the current rent took effect, according to the Residential Tenancies Authority. The date of the last increase is recorded in the contract for that reason.
## Between contract and settlement
A tenancy is not frozen while a sale is pending. Leases expire, tenants give notice, and agents propose renewals. The contract restricts what the seller may do in that period.
Under clause 8.3 the seller must use the property reasonably until settlement and must not do anything regarding the property or the tenancies that may significantly alter them or result in later expense for the buyer. The clause goes on to say that, without the buyer's prior written consent, the seller cannot give any notice, seek or consent to any order that affects the property, or make any agreement affecting the property that binds the buyer.
In practice that means a seller under contract should not sign a new fixed term, agree a rent reduction or approve a tenant's request to keep a pet on terms that outlast settlement without asking the buyer first. Equally, a buyer who wants the tenant to be offered a renewal, or wants a notice given, needs to raise it through the solicitors so that the seller acts with written consent.
The buyer is also entitled to information. Clause 8.4 requires the seller, on written request, to give full details of the tenancies. If asked, that includes the entry condition report, the most recent routine inspection report, the bond lodgement form and the current tenant's tenancy application. Those documents tell an incoming owner what condition the property was let in, how it has been kept and who is living there.
Access is the other practical matter in this period. The buyer's rights of entry before settlement are set out in clause 8.2: after reasonable notice to the seller, the buyer and its consultants may enter for building and pest inspections, to read a meter, to value the property, to inspect smoke alarms and to inspect the property before settlement.
Where a tenant is in occupation, the seller can only give the access that the tenancy rules permit. The Residential Tenancies Authority's guidance says entry requires an entry notice on Form 9, or Form R9 for rooming accommodation, and that a selling agent must give a copy to the property manager before entering. Tenants must give written permission before photographs showing their belongings are used in advertising, and must agree in writing to open homes or an on-site auction. The guidance reminds owners that the tenant keeps the right to quiet enjoyment throughout.
For the contract, the consequence is one of timing. An inspection date or a valuation that depends on entering a tenanted property needs enough days in it for a valid entry notice to be given. A tight building and pest period that works for a vacant house may not work for a tenanted one.
## If vacant possession is not delivered
Suppose the contract records no tenancy and, on the settlement date, someone is still living in the property. The seller cannot give what clause 5.6 requires. Time is of the essence under clause 6.1, so the failure cannot be cured simply by settling a few days later, and the buyer's position is governed by the default provisions in clause 9, which allow a party faced with a failure to comply with an essential term or a fundamental breach to affirm the contract or terminate it.
The contract offers one short breathing space. Under clause 6.2 either party may extend the settlement date by notice by up to five business days after the scheduled date. A seller whose occupant is moving out late in the week can use it. A seller whose tenant has a lease with months to run cannot solve the problem that way.
Whether a buyer in that position should wait, negotiate a later date or terminate depends on the facts and on what the buyer has already committed elsewhere. It is a decision to take with a solicitor on the day, because a termination that turns out not to be justified exposes the buyer instead.
## When the occupant is the buyer or the seller
Two arrangements look like tenancies and are treated differently.
The first is a buyer who moves in before settlement. Clause 8.5 provides for it. If possession is given before settlement, the buyer must maintain the property in substantially its condition at the date of possession, fair wear and tear excepted. Entry is under a licence personal to the buyer, revocable at any time, and the clause states that it does not create a relationship of landlord and tenant. The buyer must insure the property to the seller's satisfaction and indemnifies the seller against any expense or damages. The buyer has permission to be there and nothing more.
The second is a seller who stays on after settlement. The standard terms make no provision for it. Clause 5.6 requires vacant possession on the settlement date, so a seller who wants to remain for a fortnight needs a special condition, drafted by a solicitor, that says on what basis, for how long, at what payment and with whose insurance. Without one, a seller still in the house after settlement has not performed the contract.
## Getting the schedule right
Most problems in this area trace back to the first page. A seller of a rental property gives the agent a copy of the current agreement and the rent history before the contract is prepared, so the schedule can be completed from documents and not from memory. A buyer compares the schedule with the lease itself before signing and asks for the documents clause 8.4 entitles them to as soon as the contract is on foot.
Where the buyer wants the property empty, the parties work backwards from the tenancy: the end of the fixed term, or two months and some margin from the likely contract date for a periodic agreement. The settlement date is then chosen to fit.
> The contract does not create or end a tenancy. It records the one that exists and says who has to deal with it.
A tenanted sale can suit everyone: the seller has income until settlement, the buyer has a tenant from the first day and the tenant keeps a home. It works when the schedule tells the truth about the tenancy and the settlement date takes account of it.