Can my landlord evict me in Victoria for using prescribed cannabis at home?

What the law actually says

Victoria's Residential Tenancies Act 1997 gives a rental provider a notice-to-vacate ground for illegal use, and a separate, much narrower drug ground that applies only in public housing. Neither is engaged by taking a medicine you have been lawfully prescribed.

The illegal-use ground. Section 59 says a renter must not use the premises, or permit their use, "for any purpose that is illegal at common law or under an Act". Section 91ZQ lets a rental provider give a notice to vacate on that basis, specifying a termination date not less than 14 days after the notice. Possession of a medicine dispensed on a valid prescription is authorised, so the conduct the section is aimed at is absent.

The drug ground is about trafficking, and only in public housing. Section 91ZR lets Homes Victoria give a notice to vacate public housing where the renter has trafficked or attempted to traffick a drug of dependence, supplied one to a person under 18, possessed a preparatory item with intent to traffick, possessed a tablet press or precursor chemical without lawful excuse, coerced another into trafficking, or permitted the premises to be used for trafficking or cultivation. Every limb is about supply or manufacture. Personal use of a prescribed medicine appears nowhere in it, and the section does not reach private rentals at all.

Where a dispute realistically comes from is the nuisance duty, not drugs. Section 60 requires a renter not to use the premises in a manner that causes a nuisance, and not to use them in a manner that interferes with the reasonable peace, comfort or privacy of a neighbouring occupier. Section 67 is the mirror duty owed to the renter — quiet enjoyment. Both are duty provisions enforced by a breach of duty notice under section 208, which must specify the breach, require it to be remedied within the required time, and state that a similar breach must not be repeated. For sections 60 and 67 the required time is 7 days; for other Division 5 duties, including section 59, it is 14 days.

A smoke or vapour term in your agreement is not automatically void. Section 27B lists the terms an agreement must not contain — compulsory insurance, liability exemptions, penalty rent and the like. A term about smoking or vapour is not among them. So the practical question in a Victorian dispute is usually whether your use breaches an ordinary nuisance or agreement term, exactly as it would be for tobacco, and not whether the medicine is lawful.

What happens if it goes wrong

A notice to vacate for illegal use under section 91ZQ must give at least 14 days to the termination date. A breach of duty notice under section 208 for nuisance or interference under section 60 gives 7 days to remedy. A notice to vacate does not end the tenancy by itself — the rental provider must apply to VCAT for a possession order, and you are entitled to be heard.

We did not search VCAT's decisions, so this page makes no claim about how the Tribunal has treated a prescribed patient in practice.