Housing and tenancy dialogues — a rental inspection, a bond dispute, an urgent repair, a notice to vacate — are a staple of community interpreting and a regular CCL scenario. They mix everyday words with semi-legal tenancy terms and hard numbers, so they reward candidates who have drilled the register in advance.
How the housing domain is tested
A housing dialogue is a two-way conversation between an English-speaking professional (a real-estate agent, landlord or housing officer) and a community-language speaker (a tenant), played to you in segments of roughly 35 words. After each segment you interpret into the other language after a chime. Each dialogue is marked out of 45; you need at least 29 in each dialogue and 63 out of 90 overall to pass. Marks are awarded against the real NAATI marking criteria for accuracy, delivery and language quality — not an AI guess. See the full scoring guide for how marks are gained and lost.
The semi-legal terms are where marks are won
“Bond,” “notice to vacate,” “condition report,” “urgent repairs” — these have specific tenancy meanings. Everyday paraphrases lose marks. Learn the proper equivalent in your language and keep any amounts and dates exact.
Core English housing vocabulary by theme
| Theme | High-frequency terms you must know both ways |
|---|---|
| Lease & money | lease/tenancy agreement, rent, bond/security deposit, rent in advance, arrears, rent increase, receipt |
| Property & condition | inspection, condition report, wear and tear, damage, maintenance, urgent repairs, mould, smoke alarm |
| Moving in & out | notice to vacate, notice period, break lease, vacate, hand back keys, final inspection, bond refund |
| Disputes & rights | dispute, tribunal, tenancy rights, breach, entry notice, eviction, complaint, mediation |
| Bills & services | utilities, electricity, gas, water, connection, meter reading, body corporate/strata |
⚠️ Housing-domain traps that cost marks
- Bond vs rent. They are different amounts for different purposes — never merge them.
- Dropping the notice period. “14 days’ notice to vacate” — the number is the whole point.
- Paraphrasing tenancy terms. “Condition report” is not just “a list”; use the real term.
- Register. An agent is businesslike; a tenant facing eviction is stressed. Carry both.
How to drill it efficiently
- Learn the English core above until every term is instant.
- Build the pair — write the natural equivalent and register in your language for each term, using the vocabulary guides.
- Interpret full dialogues under timed conditions with the chime, scoring honestly against the marking criteria. See an annotated sample first.
- Move to the next domain once this one is solid.
Practise these dialogues in your language
80 timed dialogue sets per language across every CCL domain, scored against the real NAATI marking criteria, with a vocabulary trainer and full mock-exam mode. Paid members also get a 24/7 AI study coach.
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