Consequences for the protected person

If you and the defendant are co-tenants of a rental property, an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) may affect your tenancy. 

If you want to stay

An exclusion order prohibits the defendant from living at or coming to your rental property. If an exclusion order has been made against the defendant, it will be under the heading ‘Orders about where you cannot go’. The exclusion order must identify your address. 

If a Provisional, Interim or Final Apprehended Domestic Violence Order (ADVO) is made against the defendant that includes an exclusion order, you can immediately change the locks to the property. You don’t need your landlords consent and you don’t have to give the defendant a copy of the new keys.  

If a Final ADVO is made against the defendant with an exclusion order, the defendant’s name will be automatically removed from the lease, and the lease will be transferred into your name. 

If the lease was in the defendants name only, you can ask the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to transfer the lease into your name.   

For more information, see Domestic violence on the Tenants’ Union of NSW website. 

If the defendant has left some of their belongings at your rental property, they might apply for a Property Recovery Order so that they can collect their belongings. They must do this before your case is finished. 

If a Property Recovery Order is made, you must allow the defendant to collect their belongings per the order. 

For more information see, Property Recovery Order. 

If you want to go

If you want to leave your rental property, you can end your tenancy by serving your landlord and co-tenants a Domestic Violence Termination Notice. 

The termination notice must include:

• a termination date, which can be the same day you give the notice or a later date
• supporting evidence showing that you are in a domestic violence situation.

You can include as supporting evidence:

• a certificate of conviction for the defendant
• a current Provisional, Interim or Final AVO protecting you from the defendant
• a current family law injunction made to protect you from domestic violence
• a declaration by a competent person stating that you are a victim of domestic violence. 

If you are going to include a certificate of conviction or a declaration, it must be for a domestic violence situation that happened during your tenancy. 

For a sample Domestic Violence Termination Notice, see Ending tenancy due to domestic violence on the Tenants Union of NSW website. 

For more information about domestic violence declarations, see Information for professionals who can make a domestic violence declaration on the NSW Fair Trading website. 

For information about serving your termination notice, see Serving notice on the Fair Trading NSW website. 

You cannot be listed on a ‘bad tenant’ database if you end your tenancy by giving a Domestic Violence Termination Notice. 

For more information, see Tenancy laws for victims of domestic violence have started on the Fair Trading NSW website.

You are not liable for damage to your rental property caused by the defendant during a domestic violence offence. 

If the title to your home is in your name only, you can stop the defendant from coming to the property and change the locks. 

If the defendant has left some of their belongings at your home, they might apply for a Property Recovery Order so that they can collect their belongings. If a Property Recovery Order is made, you must allow the defendant to collect their belongings per the order. 

For more information see, Property Recovery Order.  

If the title to your home is in your name and the defendant’s name, the defendant can continue to live in the property unless:

• the AVO includes an exclusion order
• a Family Court has made an order that you have sole use and occupation of the home.

If the title to your home is in the defendant’s name, the defendant can continue to live there unless:

• the AVO includes an exclusion order 
• a Family Court has made an order that you have sole use and occupation of the home.

The defendant can stop you from coming to the home if one of these orders has not been made.

If you left some of your belongings in the home, you may be able to apply for a Property Recovery Order. You must do this before your case is finished.

For more information, see Property Recovery Order. 

If an ADVO has been made for your protection, you may want to take leave or change your working arrangements. All employees including casuals are entitled to family and domestic violence leave.

If you are an employee of a small business (with less than 15 employees), you are entitled to take five days unpaid family and domestic violence leave every year. You can take this leave as one block of five days, separate days or any separate period less than a day.

From the 1 August 2023, employees of small businesses will be entitled to take 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave each year. Until then, small business employees can continue to take unpaid family and domestic violence leave.

If you are an employee of a non-small business (with 15 or more employees), you are entitled to 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave every year. You can take this leave as one block of five days, separate days or any separate period less than a day.

Paid family and domestic violence leave has to be recorded on a pay slip as normal pay for ordinary hours of work, or any other kind of payment for performing work, such as an allowance, bonus or overtime. You can also request that the leave is recorded as another type of leave.

For more information, see Family & domestic violence leave on the Fair Work Ombudsman website. 

If you want to continue working, you can ask your employer to change your working arrangements, for example your hours of work or place of work.

You can do this if you are:

• a victim of domestic violence
• caring for an immediate family member or member of your household who is a victim of domestic violence.

Your employer doesn’t have to agree to change your work arrangements.

If you are in Australia on a temporary visa, and you have experienced domestic or family violence in your relationship, you may be concerned about the effect that leaving your partner and getting an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) will have on you. If you are waiting for a decision to be made about an application for permanent residency, you might be worried that leaving your partner could lead to your application for permanent residency being rejected and you being forced to return to your home country.

In certain situations, if you are a victim of domestic or family violence, you may be able to end your relationship with your partner and still be granted a permanent visa.

For more information, see Visas and immigration.