Sometimes you might choose to move out of your rental, other times your landlord might want to end your lease. Either way, there are lots of things to think about when leaving a rental. This page explains what to do if your lease is ending and you are moving out.
For legal advice about this topic, please contact us here.
You can end your lease for many reasons such as by reaching an agreement with your landlord, by giving appropriate notice, by breaking your lease, by making an application to SACAT, by transferring your agreement, or by abandoning the property. You can also end your tenancy because of domestic abuse.
You and your landlord can end your lease anytime by agreement. Make sure the agreement is in writing, dated, and signed by you both. On the other hand, if your landlord asks you to leave without giving you a notice to vacate and the specific reason for doing so, you do not have to agree to this unless you want to.
f you want to end your lease at the end of the agreement for a periodic lease, you need to give your landlord at least 21 days written notice or a period equivalent to a single period of the tenancy, whichever is greater. For a fixed term tenancy, at least 28 days notice must be given.
We recommend that you use the appropriate forms on the Consumer and Business Services website: SA.GOV.AU – Forms and fact sheets for private rental tenancies
If you are on a fixed-term agreement and you do not give notice, you will go onto a periodic agreement after the lease end date.
If you want to end your tenancy agreement before the fixed-term end date, this is known as breaking the lease. If you want to break your lease, you will be responsible for certain costs so that your landlord is not out of pocket. You do not have to pay a penalty fee for breaking the lease.
Some of the costs you may be responsible for are advertising and re-letting fees (if you go through a real estate agent) to re-advertise and re-let the property. You can ask for an itemised list of any advertising costs to work out whether those costs are reasonable. For example, if the property is not advertised at all, it would be unreasonable for the landlord to ask for any costs.
Information about these fees is often included in your rental agreement. As a first step, we recommend that you check your agreement to see if it includes any details about calculating advertising and/or re-letting fees.
You may also be responsible for lost rent depending on how many months are remaining on the agreement. In this case, the landlord must do everything they can to find a new tenant quickly. If there is a dispute around how much the landlord can seek in lost rent, try to negotiate with them first. But, if that does not work, you can apply to SACAT to decide.
There are some circumstances where you can break your lease without incurring costs. You can contact us for advice about whether any of these apply to your situation.
You can apply to SACAT to terminate your agreement if:
You can assign or sub-let your lease to someone else if your landlord agrees in writing. Your landlord cannot unreasonably refuse your request.
If you do not have your landlord’s consent, the assignment or sub-letting will be invalid unless you have an order from SACAT saying otherwise. The landlord cannot charge you a fee for agreeing to this request, but they may ask you to pay for reasonable expenses relating to the assignment or sub-letting.
If you leave a property without giving your landlord a notice to vacate, this is called ‘abandonment’. If you abandon the property, your lease agreement ends. In general, if you stop paying rent or carrying out other tenancy obligations, and if it looks like you have left the property for good, you will be considered to have abandoned it..
The landlord can apply to SACAT for an order declaring that the premises have been abandoned.
If you have left your possessions behind, your landlord is required to notify you depending on whether the items are abandoned property or abandoned documents.
Your landlord can only terminate a tenancy early in certain circumstances, for example if you have breached the lease. A landlord will need to give you a formal document called a notice of termination.
Your landlord can give you notice (using Form 10 – Notice of termination by landlord where agreement frustrated) to terminate the lease immediately if the premises:
If you’re on a fixed-term lease, the landlord generally cannot end the lease early unless you both agree to it or there is a breach of the lease terms. A breach can be due to unpaid rent.
If you do not leave the premises as required after the landlord terminates the agreement, the landlord can apply to SACAT seeking an order that you leave.
If you disagree with the reasons included in the notice or you think the notice was not given to you properly, you can go to SACAT to dispute it. We strongly recommend you get legal advice as soon as possible before you take this step.
If you are on a periodic lease without an end date, your landlord can give you a notice to vacate at any time if they have a good reason. The date to vacate must generally be at least 90 days after you receive the notice to vacate, (but in some situations it can be 60 days).
If you are on a fixed-term agreement, your landlord can only terminate at the end of the fixed term for certain reasons. The landlord must give you at least 60 days notice using Form 9_Notice of termination by landlord at end of fixed term tenancy.
If you are given this notice, and you wish to leave before the end of the fixed term, in general you will not have to pay any rent after go, as long as you have told your landlord in writing when you are leaving.
A landlord can terminate a fixed-term tenancy for certain reasons including if:
For both a periodic and fixed term lease, the landlord must attach evidence with their notice to terminate if they require the premises for demolition, renovation, occupation or contract of sale, and they cannot grant a fresh tenancy within 6 months without the Tribunal’s consent. More information about the evidence needed can be found on the Consumer and Business Services page here Evidence-requirements-for-termination.pdf.
Blacklisting means being put on a residential tenancy database by a landlord or real estate agent. If you are blacklisted, it can make it harder for you to rent properties in the future.
You can only be included on a tenancy database if your tenancy agreement has ended, and you have breached the tenancy agreement (for example, by failing to pay rent) and that has led to you owing your landlord more than your bond amount, or if the Tribunal has terminated the agreement and has not made an order prohibiting the listing.
If a landlord wants to list you on a tenancy database, they have to let you know and give you 14 days to respond. It is an offence for the landlord not to follow this rule.
If your details are included on a tenancy database, they can only be kept for up to 3 years.
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