Brisbane rent increase: accept, ask or move?

A$70 a week is A$3,640 over a year. That's what the increase costs, but it won't show whether moving would cost less, because moving has its own bill and the cheaper place usually has a catch.

This guide puts three choices on one clock: accept the new rent, ask for a smaller increase, or move when the lease ends. It uses a fictional household so the arithmetic is visible. Your own numbers will give a different answer, and the free Renewal Check runs the same sums with yours.

First, work out which situation you're in

Queensland has different rules depending on how the higher rent reaches you. The dates you need to watch depend on which one applies.

Sources: Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (Qld) ss 71, 91, 92 and 93; RTA rent increases page. Both checked 21 October 2026.

The property's 12-month rule generally applies in all three cases, even if the tenant or owner has changed; exempt lessors and QCAT hardship orders are exceptions (ss 93 and 93B). You can ask in writing for evidence of the last increase, usually due within 14 days. Exempt lessors are outside s 93A. The 14-day duty also does not apply where the owner bought within 12 months after 6 June 2024 and neither the owner nor an agent holds the last-increase information (s 579A). That exception does not remove the 12-month rule. Ask QSTARS if it may apply. Source: Act, ss 93–93B and 579A, checked 21 October 2026.

Before you can apply to QCAT, you have to lodge a dispute resolution request with the RTA (Form 16) (s 416). Lodge it well inside the 30 days, ideally the day you decide, keep proof that you lodged it, and call QSTARS on 1300 744 263 to confirm how your deadline works in your case.

A worked example on one 52-week clock

Worked example (fictional). A couple rent a two-bedroom unit in postcode 4101 for A$850 a week. The property manager offers a new 12-month lease at A$920, which is A$70 a week or 8.2% more. Their lease ends in 10 weeks. They've found a two-bedroom unit further out, advertised at A$800, which would add about A$20 a week in travel. They estimate moving at A$1,800: removalist A$650, end-of-lease clean A$450, a few days of overlapping rent A$500 and connections A$200.

Here are the three paths over the next 52 weeks. The first 10 weeks are the same in all three, because they're still on the current lease.

On these assumptions, moving comes out A$2,400 cheaper than accepting over the year, and A$720 cheaper than a successful request for A$880. The move pays back its A$1,800 about 18 weeks after moving day, because each week costs A$100 less than staying at A$920.

Keep one figure in mind: the break-even rent, about A$863. At that rent, staying and moving cost the same over this 52 weeks. Below it, staying costs less.

What changes the answer

Small changes to the assumptions can flip the result.

• Travel is A$60 a week, not A$20. Moving still comes out A$720 cheaper than accepting A$920. But if the owner agrees to A$880, staying is now A$960 cheaper than moving.
• Moving costs A$3,000, not A$1,800. Moving is A$1,200 cheaper than accepting, and takes 30 weeks to pay back.
• The A$800 place goes. An asking price on a listing isn't a rent anyone has agreed to. If it's leased before you apply, the move column is just a guess.

Counted separately, because it's cash rather than cost: to move, you'd need the new bond (up to 4 weeks' rent for most general tenancies, so up to A$3,200 here) and rent in advance (up to 2 weeks for a periodic agreement, or up to a month for a fixed term). That's on top of the A$1,800, and it's usually due before your old bond comes back. If that cash isn't there, moving at the end of the lease may not be possible whatever the 52-week total says.

A request isn't an agreed rent

Asking for A$880 costs nothing, and the owner can only say yes if someone asks. But until the new figure is in writing (a new agreement, or a notice for the lower amount), plan as if A$920 is the rent. Keep the move option alive until you have that in writing.

Keep the request short. Say you want to stay. Give one or two concrete reasons, such as a clean rent record, a longer term in exchange for a smaller increase, or repairs still outstanding. Name the figure. Ask for the reply in writing by a date that leaves you time to act on the other options.

What the official median can tell you

The RTA publishes quarterly median rents from new bond lodgements. For two-bedroom flats in postcode 4101, the September quarter 2026 median was A$850 a week, up from A$820 a year earlier. That gives context: the household above is paying around the middle of what new tenancies in that postcode started at.

It doesn't price their particular unit, and it doesn't set a legal limit. QCAT looks at the range of market rents for comparable premises, alongside condition, the size of the increase, the length of the tenancy and the time since the last increase (s 92(5) and s 71(6)). Our guide What an RTA postcode median can and cannot tell you goes through this. The free check shows flat medians for six inner-Brisbane postcodes. Elsewhere it still does the full cost comparison.

Benchmark source: © The State of Queensland (Residential Tenancies Authority) 2026, Bond statistics data, September quarter 2026, CC BY 4.0. Flat category, postcode 4101, two bedrooms, current and year-earlier quarters extracted. No RTA endorsement implied.

Dates and exit costs to pin down

• When the property manager needs your answer. It's often well before the lease ends.
• How you'd leave. At the end of a fixed term, you give a Notice of intention to leave (RTA Form 13). It needs at least 14 days' notice and can't take effect before the term ends. Leaving early is a break lease, and reletting costs can apply.
• The 30 days. If you sign a new agreement and then think the increase is unreasonable, the 30 days run from the day you enter into (sign) it. You can sign first and dispute later, but the clock starts that day.

Things the sums leave out

School and work runs, a pet the new place might not accept, stairs, a landlord who fixes things quickly: none of these are in the totals. Some of them may matter more to you than A$2,400 a year.

Where free help fits

If your dates are tight or you think the increase is excessive, call QSTARS (1300 744 263, run by Tenants Queensland) before you sign or reply. For forms, the 12-month rule and dispute resolution, the RTA is on 1300 366 311. Both are free.

Run your own numbers in the free Renewal Check. Your entries stay in your browser.

If you want the letters as well as the sums, the QLD Rent Increase & Renewal Kit (A$29) has seven template letters, three scripts, the dispute path with its dates, and worksheets for the comparison above.