Introduction
When you are leasing or renting a property in NSW, there is a minimum notice that you need to give your landlord if you want to end the lease early. This guide explains what notice periods apply and how much they cost if you break your lease early.
Lease or license.
A lease is a rental agreement for a fixed term, while a license is more flexible and can last indefinitely.
If you're looking to rent or sublet your property, the type of agreement you choose will be based on what works best for you and your tenant or subtenant.
You may want to consider:
- Lease vs license?
- When do I need to give notice?
Notice periods.
If you're in a fixed-term lease:
You must give your landlord at least 60 days' notice if you want to leave before the end of the fixed term. If you don't give this notice, it's possible that if your landlord finds out about it later, they might try to charge you for breaking the lease.
If you're in a periodic agreement:
You must give 30 days' written notice (or 60 days if it's an early termination). If you give less than the required amount of notice, your landlord can still choose not to accept it but they may have other reasons not to accept your tenancy ending early.
Break lease fees.
What are the break lease fees?
Break lease fees are what you pay if you want to end your tenancy early. The amount of money depends on how much notice you give, but it can be a few hundred dollars or even thousands of dollars. It varies depending on where in Australia your property is located and how long left on your lease agreement is.
If you are in a fixed term agreement, you may need to find another tenant to take over the lease to leave early.
If you are in a fixed term agreement, you may need to find another tenant to take over the lease to leave early.
- Fixed term leases are for a set period of time (generally 3–5 years) and have specific terms at the end of each contract period.
- Periodic leases are renewed each month or year, depending on how often rent is paid.
- A break lease fee is paid by tenants when they terminate their tenancy early (usually between 3 and 12 weeks). The amount varies with the length of your lease, but it can be anywhere from $100-$1500 per week. This fee needs to be paid directly to your landlord/agent and usually goes toward paying back some of your bond money as well as covering any additional costs like advertising or re-letting fees etc).
To find someone else who might want share your place with you: check out Gumtree; Facebook groups such as “No one wants my share house” or “I need someone in my share house” ; Craigslist; local newspaper classifieds; websites like Share Accommodation; Stayz
Conclusion
If you want to leave a lease early, it’s important that you understand the notice requirements and break lease fees. If you don’t follow these rules correctly, then you could lose your deposit or be held liable for future rent payments.