R RentReady VICWork · Rent · Support
Income support · property · affordability · rights

Work through your payment, income and rental target below.

Always show me the financial figures in
1

Identify your payment and income

Choose the income-support payment and circumstance that match you. RentReady shows the current rate, then adds work and household income so the same income position can be tested against the property and RentAssist.

1 · Start here

Income-support payment

Services Australia ↗ Loading current data…
Current Centrelink rate
$0.00 per fortnight
For — Effective —
Maximum possible income support
$0.00 per fortnight
Current payment $0 + maximum Rent Assistance $0
Assumes the maximum Rent Assistance for the selected rental situation.
2 · Add your earnings

Work and other household income

These amounts update your Centrelink estimate and rental position immediately.
First Do you currently work?
Only if relevant to your circumstances Other checks that may still affect this payment
DSS Social Security Guide ↗

RentReady uses the circumstance you already selected to remove checks that clearly do not apply. Open any remaining item for an explanation, or mark it Not applicable to me to remove it from this assessment.

—
3 · Set your rental target What weekly rent are you aiming for?

Use this before you have found a property, or to test whether a different rent would fit your income better.

Compare the same target against two different tests.
Before the amount Are you looking for your own apartment or house, or planning to share?
Choose an arrangement before setting the target rent.

Rent Assistance

Market planning aim Enter a target rent Based on the general affordability benchmark.
Enter a target weekly rent to see the headroom or shortfall under both tests.
Already looking at a real property? Skip the target rent and import the listing instead.

RentReady will try to extract the address, weekly rent, bond, bedrooms and availability, then bring you back to Step 2 to confirm the details.

Import a property URL →
How work affects your payment Enter work income to see the effect

RentReady will show how the configured income-free area and taper reduce the selected payment as earnings increase.

Income-free area—
Current payment reduction$0
Payment reaches $0 at—
Work income vs payment Break-even / payment-cutoff view
Remaining payment Work + payment Your current work income Slider test income

Other support that may apply

Only suggestions that match what you have told us so far
Services Australia guide ↗

RentReady does not show family, child, carer or student support unless your earlier answers make it relevant. Suggested items are for you to check — they are not automatically added to income.

Based on your answers
Work income$0
Estimated support payment$0
Rent Assistance$0
Projected household income$0+ Rent Assistance —
2

Add the property you are considering

Paste the advertisement or enter the numbers manually. The selected property feeds the Rent Assistance estimate and general affordability calculation. If you choose to explore RentAssist, the same property is then checked against the separate bond-loan rules.

Paste the rental listing

Import from URL ↗
or enter manually

Can I afford this property?

Waiting for property
Affordability indication Paste or enter a property

RentReady will compare the rent and bond with your projected income as soon as the property details are available.

Weekly rent—
Projected weekly income—+ Rent Assistance —
Rent as % of income—
Estimated Rent Assistance—
Bond entered—

Paste a listing or enter rent, bond and bedrooms to see the assessment.

General affordability first. RentAssist is an optional Housing Victoria scheme check and only appears after you choose Rent Assistance and then select “Explore RentAssist Bond Loan”.

Select or save a property to complete the rent and affordability tests.

3

Does this property fit your income?

Start with the property's affordability against your projected income. If you have chosen to explore the RentAssist Bond Loan, its separate Housing Victoria rules appear underneath.

Overall position Add a property to see the result

RentReady will compare the property with your projected income and selected Rent Assistance settings.

Weekly income—+ Rent Assistance —
Weekly rent—
Rent share—
Estimated Rent Assistance—
Affordability

Can the household afford this rent?

This is RentReady's general planning view. It is separate from any Housing Victoria scheme eligibility test.

General planning benchmark Waiting for a property
—

Add a property to compare rent with projected weekly income.

Projected weekly household income$0+ Rent Assistance —
General benchmark rent$0
Selected property rent$0

What is causing the affordability shortfall?

If the numbers are tight Try a different rent or work-income scenario.
A

Application & Rights

This is a separate linked review of the application process. It reuses the information already entered to show evidence options, financial shortfalls, potential discrimination red flags and practical strategies, then explains the Victorian rental-application rules in detail.

Personalised application review

How the information already entered affects this application

This review links your payment, income, selected property, affordability and RentAssist position. It highlights application shortfalls and possible discrimination red flags without assuming that discrimination has occurred.

Payment—
Circumstance—
Projected weekly income$0+ Rent Assistance —
Selected property—
Weekly rent—
Rent share—

Potential discrimination context from your profile

context, not a finding

Suggested evidence pack

financial evidence: max 2

Application shortfalls

Potential red flags in the application process

check only what happened

Strategies to strengthen the application

What not to overshare

✓

Use only the financial and identity documents required by the prescribed application.

✓

If you use a bank statement, remove transaction details you want to keep private.

✓

Do not volunteer protected personal information merely to make the application look stronger.

Victorian rental application rules
From 31 March 2026, the application itself is prescribed. Rental providers and agents must use the prescribed rental application form and can only ask for information set out in that form. Personal information collected for the application can only be used to assess whether you are a suitable renter or to comply with another requirement of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997. Consumer Affairs Victoria ↗
✓
Allowed

Information on the prescribed form that is reasonably connected to identity, rental history and capacity to pay.

!
Allowed, but limited

Financial and identity evidence has document limits. Protected-attribute questions require a written reason.

×
Not allowed

Extra application questions, bond-history questions, prior-dispute questions and demands for daily banking transactions.

What they may ask you for

Personal details

The prescribed application can ask for your full name, date of birth, current address, phone number and email address.

Employment and income details

It can ask for your current or most recent employer, employer address, net weekly income and, if you are not currently employed, when your most recent employment ended. If you do not have regular employment income, you can provide other information showing your ability to pay rent.

Financial evidence — maximum two documents

An agent may request no more than two financial documents to confirm capacity to pay. The standard list includes current or recent payslips, a bank statement without transaction details, and Centrelink payment statements or letters. For irregular income, other evidence such as savings or assets may be relevant.

Identity evidence — maximum two documents

An agent may request no more than two identity documents from the prescribed list. Examples include a driver licence, proof-of-age card, Medicare card, Australian passport, foreign passport with Australian visa, birth certificate, citizenship certificate, tertiary student ID, Centrelink card, DVA card, a utility bill at your current address, or a government letter addressed to your current address.

Rental or residential history

They may ask for previous addresses and rental-provider contact details.

Personal referees

If personal referees are requested, the form can seek the referee's name, phone number, email and connection to you.

Preferred lease term and move-in date

You can state the rental term you want and your preferred move-in date.

Tenancy-database checks

An agent can use tenancy databases to check rental history, but if they do, they must tell you the names of the databases they will use.

What they cannot ask for

Whether you disputed or took legal action against a previous rental provider

Your rental application cannot ask whether you have taken legal action or had a dispute with a rental provider.

Your bond history

They cannot ask whether a previous bond was claimed or ask questions about your bond history as part of the application.

Your day-to-day bank transactions

A bank statement may be requested as financial evidence, but detailed daily transaction information is not required. You can remove transactions you want to keep private.

Extra questions that are not on the prescribed form

Since 31 March 2026, optional-looking questions added by an agent or application platform are still not allowed if they are not part of the prescribed application form.

Protected personal characteristics without explaining why

If they ask about a protected characteristic — for example disability, race or gender identity — they must give you the reason for requesting that information in writing.

Privacy and application platforms

Your information has a limited purpose

Application information can be used to decide whether you are a suitable renter or to comply with another Residential Tenancies Act requirement. It is not an open-ended permission to collect extra personal data.

No fee just to inspect

A rental provider or agent cannot charge you a fee simply to show you a property.

Third-party application fees are restricted

From 31 March 2026, third-party rental platforms are banned from charging renters fees for making a rental application or paying rent.

Holding deposits have refund rules

A provider or agent may ask for a holding deposit before an agreement is signed, but it must be refunded once both parties sign. If no agreement is signed within 14 days, it must be refunded by the next business day.

What discrimination means in a rental application

Official guidance ↗
The basic rule

A rental provider can choose the applicant they consider most suitable using lawful factors such as rental history and ability to pay. They cannot treat an applicant unfavourably because of a protected personal characteristic.

Generally lawful selection

  • Comparing applicants' rental histories.
  • Assessing whether an applicant can pay the advertised rent using the evidence permitted by the prescribed form.
  • Choosing between applicants for legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons.

Examples of unlawful discrimination

  • Refusing an application because of race, disability, religion, age or another protected characteristic.
  • Processing an application differently because of a protected characteristic.
  • Offering the property on worse terms because of disability or another protected characteristic.
  • Refusing accommodation because a person uses an assistance dog.

Protected characteristics

Victoria's Equal Opportunity Act protects characteristics including the following. A specific exception can sometimes apply, so RentReady treats this list as a warning flag rather than automatically deciding that discrimination has occurred.

AgeDisabilityEmployment activityExpunged homosexual conviction Gender identityIndustrial activityLawful sexual activityMarital status Parent or carer statusPhysical featuresPolitical belief or activityPregnancy or breastfeeding Profession, trade or occupationRaceReligious belief or activitySex Sex characteristicsSexual orientationSpent convictionPersonal association with someone who has a protected characteristic
What about being on Centrelink?

Source of income is not itself listed as a protected characteristic in the Equal Opportunity Act. An agent is allowed to assess capacity to pay, and a Centrelink statement or letter is specifically recognised as permitted financial evidence. However, treatment connected to a payment may overlap with another protected characteristic — for example disability or parental status — and the prescribed-form rules still limit what can be asked.

Children

Generally, an agent or rental provider cannot refuse to rent to someone because a child aged 16 or under will live there. Consumer Affairs Victoria lists limited exceptions where the property is the provider's main residence or its location/design makes it unsuitable or inappropriate for children.

Disability and assistance dogs

A renter must not be refused because of disability or because they use an assistance dog. Disability discrimination can also include offering different terms. Reasonable disability-related alterations are governed by additional rules once renting.

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment in accommodation is unlawful. Accommodation providers also have a positive duty under the Equal Opportunity Act to take reasonable and proportionate steps to eliminate discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation as far as possible.

Victimisation

It is unlawful to treat somebody badly because they made a discrimination, sexual-harassment or vilification complaint, or helped another person make one.

Pets are different from assistance dogs. Consumer Affairs Victoria says refusing an applicant because they have an ordinary pet is not, by itself, unlawful discrimination. Assistance dogs are treated differently because they are connected with disability protections.

If something in the application looks wrong

1
Ask what rule allows the question

If it is not on the prescribed form, ask the agent to identify why they are requesting it.

2
Ask for the reason in writing

If the question relates to a protected characteristic, the reason for asking must be given in writing.

3
Keep evidence

Save the listing, screenshots of the application form, emails, messages and any written reason given to you.

4
Use the appropriate complaint pathway

Consumer Affairs Victoria deals with rental-law compliance. The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission can help with discrimination complaints, and VCAT can consider claims including compensation for discrimination.

Application rules ↗ Unlawful discrimination ↗ VEOHRC accommodation guidance ↗

References

The prescribed application can request personal-referee contact details: name, phone, email and the referee's connection to you. RentReady's dedicated reference workflow can build on these permitted fields without turning the reference stage into an unrestricted personal questionnaire.

4

Work out your extra-income target

See how much additional work income changes your payment and rental position. RentReady shows the point where payment reductions begin, the modelled payment cutoff, and the minimum work-income target needed for the selected property to fit both current planning tests.

Planning target for this property —

Add your income and property first.

Current work income—
Payment starts reducing around—
Modelled payment reaches $0 around—
Extra work income needed—
This is a planning target, not advice about how much you should work. It shows the minimum modelled work income that would bring the selected property inside both RentReady planning thresholds, after allowing for the configured payment reduction rules.

Work income

$0 / fortnight
$0$3,500/fn

Target weekly rent

$0 / week
$100$1,200/wk
At this combination Add your income and a property first

Projected weekly income$0+ Rent Assistance —
General benchmark gap$0

Useful targets

Rent that meets the general benchmark$0/wk
Work income needed for this rent — general benchmark—
Use this as a planning tool, not a guarantee. Payment rates can depend on circumstances not captured here, and a bond-loan application is decided by Housing Victoria.