Your Rights as a NSW Tenant When Mould Is Affecting Your Rental

Mould in a rental property is not something you simply have to live with. In NSW, the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 establishes clear rights for tenants in mould-affected properties — rights that many tenants in Northern Rivers don’t know they have.

This guide explains what you’re entitled to, how to report mould to your landlord effectively, what to do if they don’t respond, and when and how to escalate to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).

Your Core Legal Rights

The Right to a Habitable Property

Under Section 52 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2010, your landlord must provide and maintain your rental premises in a condition reasonably fit for habitation. Mould that affects air quality, prevents you from using part of the property, or is causing health symptoms in household members makes the property less than reasonably fit for habitation.

The Right to Prompt Repairs

Under Section 63 of the Act, your landlord must maintain the premises in a reasonable state of repair. Where mould is caused by a structural defect (inadequate ventilation, a leaking roof, rising damp, plumbing failure) — which is the case for most Northern Rivers rental mould — fixing that defect is a repair obligation.

The 2023 Reforms

NSW introduced significant rental law reforms in 2023 that strengthened tenant protections. These reforms reinforce the habitable premises obligation and provide clearer pathways for tenants to enforce their rights through NCAT.

Is the Mould Your Responsibility or the Landlord’s?

This is the most important initial question, and it’s one landlords and property managers sometimes try to blur.

Landlord’s Responsibility (most cases)

The landlord is responsible when:

The mould is caused by the building’s condition (inadequate ventilation, structural moisture ingress, plumbing defects, roof leaks)
The mould existed at the start of your tenancy
The mould followed a flood or storm event that damaged the property
The building’s ventilation is inadequate for normal residential use in the Northern Rivers climate

In the Northern Rivers, most rental mould is the landlord’s responsibility. The subtropical climate, older housing stock, and coastal humidity create mould conditions that are environmental and building-related — not caused by tenant behaviour.

Tenant’s Responsibility (limited cases)

You may be responsible if:

You consistently and significantly neglect basic ventilation (never opening windows, always leaving the bathroom door closed without running the exhaust fan, despite having adequate ventilation available)
You dry large amounts of washing indoors without ventilation in a property with adequate ventilation
You created a moisture source through your own actions (e.g., a plumbing fault you failed to report)

The important point: In the Northern Rivers context, blaming tenant behaviour for mould in a region with 85%+ wet season humidity is a claim that requires significant evidence to sustain. If you have adequate ventilation in your rental and you use it, mould that still appears is almost certainly the landlord’s responsibility.

How to Report Mould to Your Landlord — And Why Documentation Matters

Report in Writing, Every Time

Verbal mould reports don’t create a paper trail. If you later need to apply to NCAT, you need to demonstrate that you reported the mould and that the landlord failed to respond. Always report in writing:

Email is ideal (timestamp and text record)
A written note via the property manager portal
SMS is acceptable (takes screenshots)

Keep copies of everything.

What to Include in Your Written Report

A good mould report to a landlord includes:

Date of the report
Location of the mould (which room, which surface, approximate size)
When you first noticed it (or your best estimate)
Any health effects members of the household are experiencing
Photographs attached to the report or message (take photographs before you clean anything)
A request for inspection and treatment within a specified timeframe (14 days for non-urgent; request urgent response within 48 hours if health effects are present)

Photograph Everything

Before you clean or treat any mould, photograph it. Date-stamped photographs from your phone provide objective evidence of what was present and when. If you clean the mould before documenting it, you lose important evidence.

What Your Landlord Must Do — and By When

Non-Urgent Repairs

For mould that is present but not causing immediate health risk, your landlord should respond within 14 days of your written report. “Respond” means arranging an inspection and treatment — not acknowledging your email and saying they’ll “look into it.”

Urgent Repairs

If the mould is causing active health effects in household members, you can class the matter as an urgent repair. For urgent repairs, the Residential Tenancies Act requires much faster landlord response — and if your landlord fails to respond within 24 hours to an urgent repair notification, you may have the right to arrange the repair yourself (up to a cost limit) and seek reimbursement.

What “Addressing the Mould” Means

A landlord fulfils their obligation by:

Arranging a professional assessment of the mould
Providing appropriate treatment (surface treatment for surface mould; professional remediation for structural mould)
Addressing the underlying moisture source
Providing you with documentation of the treatment

What does NOT fulfil the obligation:

Sending someone to bleach the mould (surface treatment of structural mould)
Painting over the mould
Telling you to ventilate better without fixing the building’s ventilation deficiencies
Ignoring your report

If Your Landlord Doesn’t Respond or Doesn’t Fix It Properly

Step 1: Follow Up in Writing

If you don’t receive a response within the timeframe you specified (14 days for non-urgent, 24–48 hours for urgent), follow up in writing. Make it clear that you will escalate the matter if you don’t receive a response.

Step 2: Contact NSW Fair Trading

NSW Fair Trading provides mediation services for tenancy disputes. You can lodge a complaint online at fair.trading.nsw.gov.au. Fair Trading will contact your landlord and attempt to facilitate resolution.

Step 3: Apply to NCAT

If Fair Trading mediation fails (or if the situation is urgent), you can apply to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) for a maintenance order. NCAT can:

Order the landlord to carry out specified repairs within a set timeframe
Order a rent reduction for the period the property was below habitable standard (backdated to when you first reported the mould)
Order compensation for losses you’ve suffered (medical costs, property damage from mould)
In extreme cases, allow you to terminate the tenancy without penalty

NCAT applications are relatively low-cost and can be completed online. You don’t need a lawyer.

What Evidence to Bring to NCAT

Written records of your mould reports (emails, screenshots, portal messages)
Photographs of the mould with date metadata
Any written responses (or non-responses) from the landlord/property manager
Medical documentation if health effects have occurred
Evidence of the property’s condition at the start of the tenancy (ingoing inspection report)
Professional mould inspection report if you’ve commissioned one

A professional mould inspection report from a certified technician is particularly valuable — it provides objective evidence from a qualified person rather than just your own assertion.

Getting a Professional Mould Inspection as a Tenant

You don’t have to wait for your landlord to commission an inspection. As a tenant, you can commission your own professional mould inspection, and the resulting report can be submitted to your landlord, Fair Trading, or NCAT.

This is often worth doing if:

Your landlord disputes the severity or cause of the mould
You need objective evidence for a NCAT application
You’re concerned about the health impact and want documented evidence of what’s in your home
Your landlord has arranged cleaning but you don’t believe the mould has been properly addressed

A professional mould inspection report from an IICRC-certified technician carries significant weight in NCAT proceedings.

Northern Rivers Rental Mould: The Specific Context

The Northern Rivers has conditions that make rental mould disputes particularly common:

High wet-season humidity creates mould in properties that would not develop mould in drier climates
Older housing stock in Lismore, Casino, Mullumbimby, Bangalow, and Murwillumbah has structural ventilation deficiencies
Post-flood mould (2022 and Cyclone Alfred 2025) affects many rental properties
Some landlords and property managers in the region normalise mould as “just what happens here”

The legal position in NSW does not allow landlords to use climate as an excuse for providing unmaintained, mould-affected rental properties. Habitable premises are habitable premises regardless of the regional climate.

Frequently Asked Questions

My landlord says the mould is my fault because I don’t ventilate properly. What can I do? Ask them to specify — in writing — what ventilation is available to you and what behaviour they believe is causing the mould. Then document your actual behaviour (use of exhaust fans, opening of windows). In a Northern Rivers property with genuinely inadequate mechanical ventilation, blaming tenant ventilation behaviour is very difficult to sustain in a NCAT proceeding. Commission a professional mould inspection to establish the cause objectively.

Can my landlord withhold my bond for mould remediation costs? Only if they can demonstrate that the mould was caused by your behaviour — your specific, documented neglect of ventilation, or your creation of a moisture problem. Mould caused by the building’s condition or the regional climate is not a bond claim against you.

I’ve found mould in the property I’m moving out of. What are my obligations? Your obligation is to return the property in the same condition as when you moved in, allowing for fair wear and tear. If mould was not present at the start of the tenancy and has appeared during your tenancy due to the building’s conditions (which is typical in Northern Rivers), the landlord cannot charge you for remediation costs. If the mould was present at the start of the tenancy and was documented in the ingoing inspection report, it’s clearly not your responsibility.

Can I break my lease if the mould makes the property uninhabitable? If the property has become genuinely uninhabitable due to mould — your landlord has been notified and has failed to remediate within a reasonable time — you may be able to apply to NCAT for termination of your tenancy without penalty. This is a legal proceeding and requires documentation of your notifications and the landlord’s failure to respond.

We Can Help With Tenant Mould Situations in Northern Rivers

If you need a professional mould inspection to support your case — whether for a landlord dispute or a NCAT application — we provide written reports that meet the documentation standard required for tribunal proceedings.

Request a Free Quote — we cover all of Northern Rivers and can typically schedule an inspection within 24 hours.

Mould in Rentals NSW: A Tenant's Rights Guide