Ending your lease

Ending rental agreements (leases) by:

• Mutual consent between you and the rental provider (landlord)
• Giving notice when your fixed term agreement has ended or is about to end
• Giving notice before the end of your fixed term agreement
• Applying to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to end an agreement because of family or personal violence, or hardship
• Transferring your agreement to someone else – also see our page Lease transfers and subletting

What’s not on this page

Notices to vacate

A notice to vacate is a request in writing from the rental provider for you to leave your rented home. Whilst in some instances if you have received a notice to vacate you can give a reduced notice in return, this page only deals with that reduced notice, not any other information on notices to vacate.

If you have received a notice to vacate please see our Notice to vacate and Eviction pages.  In some cases, you can challenge a notice and will not have to leave.

If you are behind in the rent also see our pages on Overdue rent and Financial hardship.

Moving out

If you want information on what you need to do to get ready to move out, such as information on cleaning and final inspections, see our Moving out page.

If you want to end your rental agreement (lease) before the end of the fixed term, please read the information on this page to see if there is an option available to you under the law that will allow you to end your agreement without having to pay ‘lease break’ costs.

If none of the options on this page apply to you, you can end your fixed-term agreement early by breaking your agreement. But if you end your agreement this way you may be asked to pay ‘lease break’ costs.

‘Lease break’ costs may include loss of rent and fees for advertising and reletting.

For more information see our page Lease breaking.

A rental agreement can be ended by mutual consent between you and the rental provider (landlord), even if it’s a fixed term agreement [sections 91C and 91D].

If you and the rental provider agree that you can move out without giving formal notice and/or before the end of your fixed term, we strongly advise you get the agreement in writing. The agreement should state that you will not be liable for any ‘lease break’ costs for moving out early and should be signed by you and the rental provider, or their agent. Make sure you keep a copy of the agreement.

Note that all the sections in brackets on this page, such as [section 91C], refer to Victoria’s Residential Tenancies Act 1997. See the bottom of this page for links to all of these.

A notice of intention to vacate is a written statement you give to the rental provider telling them that you want to end your rental agreement and move out.

In most instances a notice of intention to vacate is required if you want to end your rental agreement.

It needs to be given in writing, signed by you, and must include:

• The required minimum notice period
• The date that you will be moving out and returning the keys [sections 91Z, 91ZZN]

You can give more than the minimum notice period, but not less.

You can move out before the end of the notice period, but you will still be responsible for the rent for the entire notice period.

See also the section headed ‘Giving a notice of intention to vacate’ on this page.

If you are breaking your agreement, rather than ending it in one of the ways on this page, see our Lease breaking page for information on giving notice. There is no minimum notice period in those circumstances, but you should give as much notice as you can.

When a fixed term rental agreement ends it automatically continues as a periodic rental agreement, such as a month-to-month agreement, until either you or the rental provider give notice to end it [section 91Q].

28 days’ notice

If you have a periodic agreement and you want to move out, you need to give a written notice of intention to vacate.

In most instances, the minimum required notice period is 28 days [section 91Z].  However, there are some instances where you can give a reduced notice period of 14 days.  See below to see if any of these options apply to your situation.

You can also give a notice of intention to vacate if your fixed term agreement is coming to an end but the vacate date in your notice cannot be a date that is earlier than the end of the fixed term [section 91ZA].

14 days’ notice

If you have a periodic agreement, and any of the matters in the below list apply to you, the minimum required notice period you need to give in your notice of intention to vacate is 14 days.

If you have a fixed term agreement and any of the matters in the below list apply to you, you will be able to end your agreement with 14 days’ notice even if the vacate date you give is before the end of your fixed term. See the section headed ‘Notice before the end of a rental agreement’ on this page.

You can give a reduced notice period of 14 days if you:

• Need special or personal care and must leave to get care: you will need to include evidence of this with your notice of intention to vacate
• Have received, and accepted, an offer of public housing from the Victorian Government’s Homes Victoria or an offer of community housing: you will need to include evidence of this with your notice of intention to vacate
• Need to move to temporary crisis accommodation: you will need to include evidence of this with your notice of intention to vacate
• Have a disability and have asked to make reasonable modifications to suit, but the rental provider has refused – however, see our page on Modifications as you may be able to get modifications done to avoid having to move out
• Have been given a ‘notice of intention to sell’ by the rental provider and were not told of the rental provider’s intention to sell the property before you entered into the rental agreement
• Live in special disability accommodation and the rental provider’s registration to provide this accommodation has been revoked

You can also give a reduced notice period of 14 days, under section 91ZB, if the rental provider has given a notice to vacate for any of these reasons:

• Repairs, renovations or reconstruction [section 91ZX]
• Demolition [section 91ZY]
• The property is to be used as a business [section 91ZZ]
• The rental provider, or a dependent family member of theirs, needs to move in [section 91ZZA]
• The property has been, or is being, sold [section 91ZZB]
• The property is required for a public purpose [section 91ZZC]
• Your fixed term agreement is ending [sections 91ZZD and 91ZZDA]
• You are a public housing renter and are no longer eligible for public housing [section 91ZZE].

It is important to note that even though you have a right to give a reduced notice period if the rental provider has given you one of these notices to vacate, you may not necessarily have to move out.  See our pages Notice to vacate and Eviction for more information

If you have a fixed term rental agreement and you want, or need, to end your agreement early you may be able to do so in a way that you are not asked to pay ‘lease break’ costs.

If you are unsure if your situation would allow you to give one of the following notices, you may be able to apply to VCAT to ask for orders that you can end your rental agreement before the end of the fixed term. See Apply to VCAT on this page.

Property is unfit, unsafe or unavailable — before you move in

If you have entered into a rental agreement, but have not yet moved in, you can give notice that you are immediately terminating your rental agreement if you find any of the following problems with the property.  It:

• Is not in good repair
• Is unfit for human habitation
• Is destroyed, either totally or to an extent that makes it unsafe
• Is not vacant
• Is not legally available for use as a home
• Does not meet any of the rental minimum standards
• For any other reason is unavailable for occupation [section 91L]

Note that there is a high threshold for terminating your agreement this way. If the rental provider does not agree you are able to terminate your agreement for one of these reasons they may try to claim ‘lease break’ costs from you.

They may also try to claim ‘lease break’ costs from you if try to terminate your agreement this way, but they believe you have already moved into the property: for example, if you have started sleeping there.

To defend against any such claim you should make sure you have sufficient evidence to support your position that the property is in such poor repair that you cannot move in, or that it is destroyed, unsafe, unfit for human habitation, does not meet minimum standards or that you cannot move in for any of the other reasons in the list above.

Take photos or videos of anything that supports your notice to terminate the agreement as well as any communications you have had with the rental provider or agent, such as emails and phone logs. It may also be helpful to get reports from specialists such as electricians or engineers, though you will likely need to pay for these yourself and they can be expensive.

If the rental provider makes a claim for ‘lease break’ costs we recommend you do not pay anything until the claim has gone to VCAT, where you can present your evidence to show why you terminated the agreement and why you should not have to pay ‘lease break’ costs

Property is unfit or unsafe — after you move in

If the property becomes unsafe or unfit for human habitation after you have moved in, you can end your rental agreement early by giving an immediate notice of intention to vacate [section 91ZD].

There is no minimum notice period for these sorts of problems. You can nominate an immediate vacate date, or whatever later date suits you.

Again, there is a high threshold for terminating your rental agreement this way. If the rental provider does not agree you are able to terminate your agreement early for one of these reasons they may try to claim ‘lease break’ costs from you.

To defend against any such claim you should make sure you have sufficient evidence to support your position that the property is unsafe or unfit for human habitation. Take photos or videos of anything that supports your notice as well as any communications you have had with the rental provider or agent, such as emails and phone logs.  It may also be helpful to get reports from specialists such as electricians or engineers, although you will likely need to pay for these yourself.

If the rental provider makes a claim for ‘lease break’ costs we recommend you do not pay anything until the claim has gone to VCAT, where you can present your evidence to show why you terminated the agreement and why you should not have to pay ‘lease break’ costs.

You need a different property

You can give a notice of intention to vacate to end your agreement early if you need to move to a different property in some circumstances.

You can give the notice of intention to vacate under section 91ZB to move to a different property if you:

• Need special or personal care and must leave to get care: evidence is required with the notice of intention to vacate
• Have received, and accepted, an offer for public housing from the Victorian Government’s Homes Victoria or an offer of for community housing: evidence is required with the notice of intention to vacate
• Need to move into temporary crisis accommodation: evidence is required with the notice of intention to vacate
• Have a disability and have asked to make reasonable modifications to suit, but the rental provider has refused – however, see our page on Modifications as you may be able to get modifications done to avoid having to move out.
• Live in special disability accommodation and the rental provider’s registration to provide this accommodation has been revoked

The minimum required notice period you need to include in your notice of intention to vacate is 14 days [section 91ZB]. You can give more than 14 days’ notice, but you must not give less than 14 days.

If you end your agreement early by giving a notice of intention to vacate for any of these reasons you cannot be asked to pay any ‘lease break’ costs [section 91ZB].

The property is being sold

You can give a notice of intention to vacate to end your agreement early if you have been given a ‘Notice of intention to sell’ by the rental provider and were not told of the rental provider’s intention to sell the property before you entered into the rental agreement [section 91ZB].

The minimum required notice period you need to include in your notice of intention to vacate is 14 days [section 91ZB]. You can give more than 14 days’ notice, but you must not give less than 14 days.

If you end your agreement early by giving a notice of intention to vacate for this reason you cannot be asked to pay any ‘lease break’ costs [section 91ZB].

You can also give a reduced notice of intention to vacate to end your agreement early if you have been given a notice to vacate because the property has been, or is being, sold. See the section below.

You received a notice to vacate

You can give a notice of intention to vacate to end your agreement early, under section 91ZB, if you have received a notice to vacate for any of these reasons:

• Repairs, renovations, or reconstruction [section 91ZX]
• Demolition [section 91ZY]
• The property is to be used as a business [section 91ZZ]
• The rental provider, or a dependent family member of theirs, needs to move in [section 91ZZA]
• The property has been, or is being, sold [section 91ZZB]
• The property is required for a public purpose [section 91ZZC]
• Your fixed term agreement is ending [sections 91ZZD and 91ZZDA]
• You are a public housing renter and are no longer eligible for public housing [section 91ZZE]

The minimum required notice period you need to include in your notice of intention to vacate is 14 days [section 91ZB]. You can give more than 14 days’ notice, but you must not give less than 14 days.

If you end your rental agreement early by giving a notice of intention to vacate in response to getting one of the above notices to vacate you cannot be asked to pay any costs for rent that would ordinarily be owing to the end of the fixed-term date in your agreement [section 211A].

The rental provider may try to ask you to pay other ‘lease break’ costs, such costs to readvertise the property or reletting costs. However, they should not be reletting the property if they have given you a notice to vacate for any of the above reasons, so would not have any grounds to ask you for any of these costs.

If the rental provider asks you to pay any ‘lease break’ costs we recommend you do not pay anything until the claim has gone to VCAT, where the rental provider will need to prove to VCAT why they should be entitled to any costs.

It is important to note that even though you have a right to give a reduced notice period if the rental provider has given you one of the above notices to vacate, you may not necessarily have to move out. See our pages Notice to vacate and Eviction for more information.

Long-term agreements

If you have entered into a long-term rental agreement for a period of 5 years or more, but the agreement is not in the standard form required by the law, you can give a notice of intention to vacate to end your agreement early [section 91ZC].

The minimum required notice period you need to include in your notice of intention to vacate is 28 days [section 91ZC]. You can give more than 28 days’ notice, but you must not give less than 28 days.

If you end your long-term agreement early by giving a notice of intention to vacate because the agreement is not in the standard form you cannot be asked to pay any ‘lease break’ costs [section 91ZC].

Rental provider breaches

You can give a notice of intention to vacate to end your rental agreement early if the rental provider has committed ‘successive breaches’ of their duties – they have breached the same duty 3 times, but they must have been given notices of breach for breaching the same duty twice before that [section 91ZF].

You can also give a notice of intention to vacate to end your agreement early if the rental provider has failed to comply with a compliance order made by VCAT [section 91ZE].

Before you can give a notice of intention to vacate for these reasons there are steps you need to carefully follow.

You should also view our Landlord breaches and Applying to VCAT pages.

Step 1 – is it a breach?

First you need to make sure the breach is one that will allow you to give a ‘notice of breach of duty’ under the Residential Tenancies Act 1997.

The rental provider has breached a duty if they do not:

• Make sure the property is vacant and reasonably clean and vacant on the date you are supposed to move in [section 65]
• Allow you have ‘quiet enjoyment’ of the property [section 67]
• Keep the property in good repair, including safety-related repairs and maintenance and making sure the property meets minimum rental standards [sections 68, 68A, 65A]
• Keep gas and electrical safety-check records and provide them when you request them [section 68B]
• Provide locks that secure external doors and windows [section 70]
• Give you a key when they change a lock [section 70]
• Replace faulty appliances, fixtures and fittings for water, electricity and gas with a replacement meeting a minimum standard for efficiency [section 69]

The rental provider has also breached a duty if they give a key for a changed lock to someone excluded from the property under an intervention order or no longer on the rental agreement, where the lock was changed by someone experiencing family or personal violence [sections 70A, 70B]

Step 2 – give a notice of breach of duty

If the rental provider has breached any of the above duties, you can give them a ‘notice of breach of duty’. This tells them they must, within the ‘required time’ after receiving the notice, fix the problem and not commit the same, or similar, breach again [sections 3, 208].

You should make sure you have sufficient evidence of the breach because if the rental provider challenges the breach notice at VCAT you will need to be able to prove the breach to VCAT.

‘Required time’

For breaches of quiet enjoyment, the required time to fix the problem and not commit the same or similar breach again is 7 days. For all other breaches the required time is 14 days.

The required time starts from the time the rental provider receives the breach notice. If you send the breach notice by post make sure you allow extra time for it to be delivered.

See the page on VCAT’s website on ‘When to send notices’ for guidance on how much time you should allow for delivery if you are sending the notice by post.

Step 3 – 2 options

If the rental provider has not fixed the problem within the required time of receiving the ‘notice of breach of duty’ you have 2 options – apply to VCAT for a compliance order, or give a second breach notice.

Option 1 – Apply to VCAT for a compliance order

If the rental provider has not fixed the problem within the required time of receiving the ‘notice of breach of duty’ you can apply to VCAT for a compliance order [section 209].

Timing is important. Do not apply to VCAT too early as it may not make a compliance order for the breach if the ‘required time’ in the breach notice has not yet ended – that is, if the rental provider still has time to comply with the breach notice.

If VCAT makes a compliance order it will include a date by which the rental provider needs to fix the problem. If the rental provider does not do this by the time set out in the order you can give a notice of intention to vacate to end your agreement early [section 91ZE].

The minimum required notice period you need to include in your notice of intention to vacate is 14 days [section 91ZE]. You can give more than 14 days’ notice, but you must not give less than 14 days.

If you followed all the steps properly, including giving enough time before moving to the next step, you cannot be asked to pay any ‘lease break’ costs.

Option 2 – Give a second breach notice

If the rental provider has not fixed the problem within the ‘required time’ of receiving the first ‘notice of breach of duty’ or has committed the same, or a similar breach, you can give them a second ‘notice of breach of duty’ [sections 3, 208].

If, after receiving the second ‘notice of breach of duty’, the rental provider still has not fixed the problem within the ‘required time’ or has again committed the same, or a similar breach, you can give a notice of intention to vacate to end your agreement early due to the rental provider being in breach of the same duty provision for a third time – that is, ‘successive breaches’ [section 91ZF].

You should include with your notice of intention to vacate copies of the 2 breach notices you have already given to the rental provider, and any evidence of the breaches.

The minimum required notice period you need to include in your notice of intention to vacate is 14 days [section 91ZF]. You can give more than 14 days’ notice, but you must not give less than 14 days.

Timing is important. Generally, you need to give the rental provider the full ‘required time’ to fix the breach before you can take further action. Otherwise, the second breach notice or notice of intention to vacate may not be valid under the law.

For example, if you have given a breach notice for repairs the rental provider has the full ‘required time’ – 14 days – to do the repairs.

If they do the repairs in this time they are no longer in breach. You cannot give a second breach notice.

However, if they do not do the repairs in this time they are still in breach, and you can give a second breach notice.

Then, if after receiving the second breach notice they do the repairs in the ‘required time’ in the second notice, which is also 14 days, they are no longer in breach, and you cannot give a notice of intention to vacate.

However, if they do not do the repairs within 14 days of receiving the second breach notice they are still in breach, and you can give a 14-day notice of intention to vacate.

If you followed all the steps properly, including leaving enough time between giving the breach notices and the notice of intention to vacate, you cannot be asked to pay any ‘lease break’ costs.

If you are experiencing family or personal violence by someone else on the rental agreement and need move out to protect yourself or your children, you can apply to VCAT for an order to end the rental agreement, whether it is fixed-term or periodic [section 91V].

It is very important that you do not hand in your keys or break your agreement before VCAT hears your application, because otherwise you could be asked to pay ‘lease break’ costs.

If the rental provider makes a claim for ‘lease break’ costs, we recommend you do not pay anything until your application has gone to VCAT.

If you wait for the VCAT hearing and VCAT makes an order that your rental agreement can end early you cannot be asked to pay any ‘lease break’ costs [section 91X].

You will still be responsible for the rent while you are waiting for the hearing, but VCAT must hear your application within 3 business days of you making it, or the next closest hearing day if that is not possible [section 91V].

The application can be made without the consent of the rental provider or any other person who is on the rental agreement [section 91V].

If VCAT makes an order ending the rental agreement it will end on the date VCAT specifies in that order [section 91W].

In making the order VCAT will need to be satisfied:

• That you, or your children, would likely suffer severe hardship if the rental agreement is not ended
• That the hardship you, or your children, would likely suffer would be more than any hardship the rental provider would suffer if the order was made
• That it is reasonable to make the order given the interest of any other renters, except any person excluded from the property under an intervention order
• Whether the other renters, if any, support your application [section 91W]

You do not need an intervention order to apply if you are experiencing family violence. However, an intervention order will be required in circumstances of personal violence [section 91V].

If the person exposing you to family or personal violence is not on the agreement but you still need to move to protect your safety, or the safety of your children, you can apply to VCAT to end the rental agreement on hardship grounds. See the next section, headed ‘Apply to VCAT– hardship’.

You should know that you also have the option to stay at the property and there are steps you can take to make it safer. You can apply to VCAT for an order which ends your current rental agreement, fixed term or periodic, and starts a new rental agreement with your name on it, and the name of any other person you want to live with, but without the name of the person subjecting you to violence [section 91V].

For more information on these applications and options available to you, see our Family violence page and Family Violence Protection Tenancy Kit.

If something unforeseen happens and it would cause you severe hardship to stay in the property until the end of your fixed term rental agreement, you can apply to VCAT to either reduce the period of your fixed term or to end your rental agreement early [section 91U].

It is very important that you do not hand in your keys or break your agreement before VCAT hears your application, because otherwise it is more likely that you will be asked to pay ‘lease break’ costs.

If the rental provider makes a claim for ‘lease break’ costs we recommend you do not pay anything until your application has gone to VCAT.

The rental provider can ask VCAT to make an order for compensation for ‘lease break’ costs at the hearing but you will have an opportunity to argue why you should not have to pay these costs [section 91U].

For example, you are:

• Experiencing financial hardship and cannot afford to pay ‘lease break’ costs
• At risk of homelessness and paying ‘lease break’ costs will affect your ability to find and pay for future housing
• Experiencing family or personal violence and the reason you are leaving is for your safety, or the safety of your children

In making an order to reduce the fixed term or to end the agreement VCAT will need to be satisfied that:

• There has been an unforeseen change in your circumstances: for example, you have lost your job, and would suffer severe hardship if your rental agreement continues
• The hardship you would likely suffer if your fixed term were not reduced, or your rental agreement not ended, would be greater than the hardship the rental provider would suffer if the order was made [section 91U]

In deciding on whether ‘lease break’ costs are payable, VCAT must consider any severe hardship you are expected to suffer due to unforeseen circumstance if the rental agreement were to continue [section 211A].

You should include any evidence that supports your change in circumstances and resulting hardship in your application to VCAT. Take all your evidence to the hearing with you.

If VCAT makes an order reducing the fixed term or ending the rental agreement, the date for that will be included in the order. If the order reduces the fixed term, rather than ends the agreement, you still need to give a notice of intention to vacate when you want to move out.

This type of application can be made without the consent of the rental provider.

See our page Lease breaking for more information on ‘lease break’ costs.

If none of the options on this page apply to you, instead of breaking your rental agreement it may be easier to transfer, or ‘assign’, it to someone else.

However, this is not always the simplest option as you need to get the rental provider’s consent, update the rental agreement, and arrange for the transfer of the bond so you cannot be held accountable in future for the person taking over your rental agreement [section 81].

The rental provider can also charge you for reasonable costs they have incurred because of the transfer. However, they cannot charge you for giving their consent [section 84].

For more information on transferring your agreement see our page Lease transfers and subletting.

We recommend you use Consumer Affairs Victoria’s Notice of Intention to Vacate form (document) when giving a notice of intention to vacate so you do not miss any important information. If you use this form to give your notice it will need to be signed by all the renters on the agreement.

A notice of intention to vacate must be given in writing and signed by you. It must include:

• The required minimum notice period
• The date that you will move out and return the keys [sections 91Z, 91ZZN]

You should also include any evidence that supports why you are giving the notice, particularly if you are giving a reduced notice or notice that you are ending your rental agreement early.

You can give more than the minimum notice period, but not less, because otherwise you may be asked to pay ‘lease break’ costs.

You can move out before the end of your notice period, but you will be responsible for the rent for the notice period.

Before giving the notice and any supporting evidence to the rental provider keep copies of all of it. Make sure your copies are clearly readable and keep them safe in case you need to rely on them later if the rental provider tries to make a claim for ‘lease break’ costs.

Ways to give notice

You can give the notice in several ways [section 506].

In person

Give a copy of the notice, and copies of any evidence you have attached, to the rental provider or agent in person. Write down the date, time, and name of the person you handed it to.

By post

If you mail the notice, Tenants Victoria recommends using registered post. Keep your receipt and tracking number so you can prove when you sent it.

Allow extra time for delivery if the notice gives the rental provider a time frame to comply. See Australia Post’s delivery times.

By email

You can only send notices by email if the rental provider or agent has agreed to this.

Check If you to have something in writing from the rental provider or agent that says they agree to you sending notices by email – this might be in your rental agreement.

Also make sure you are using the email address the rental provider or agent agreed to in the written communication, as they may have more than one email address.

Check to see if you can add a delivery or read receipt to your email before you send it, so that you receive an automatic reply. In your email ask for a return email from the agent or rental provider, to confirm your email has been received, or call them.

You do not have to wait until your rent is due before you give a notice of intention to vacate.

If you want to leave in the middle of a rent cycle you can. You will be responsible for paying the rent up to, and including, the vacate date in your notice.

Example

You have a rental agreement that says the rent is payable per calendar month, due on the first of each month. You paid your usual monthly rent on 1 August but later decide you want to move out. You give 28 days’ notice that you will be moving out on 14 September.  When 1 September comes around you do not need to pay another whole month’s rent. You only need to pay the rent up to, and including, 14 September.

To work out how much you need to pay multiply your monthly rent by 12 then divide that figure by 365 to get the daily rent amount. Then multiply the daily amount by 14 to calculate the amount you need to pay to cover the period from 1 September to 14 September.

Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) has a rent calculator which can help you work out your daily rent amount.

Your rental agreement ends when you have vacated the property and returned the keys. Make sure you return the keys on the day that you leave, as you can be charged rent while you still have the keys.

You should contact the rental provider, or agent, shortly after you give notice to arrange how the keys are to be returned.

If you have changed your mind about leaving or want to stay a little longer, you should contact the rental provider to ask if you can withdraw your notice or change your vacate date. If you and the rental provider agree that your notice can be withdrawn, or your vacate date changed, you must get the agreement in writing, signed by you and the rental provider [section 91ZZQ].  Make sure you keep a copy of the agreement.

If the rental provider has already acted on your notice and spent money trying to find new renters, such as advertising the property, they may ask you to pay those costs if they agree you can withdraw your notice.

If the rental provider does not agree that you can withdraw your notice, and you stay at the property after the vacate date in your notice, they may apply to VCAT for a possession order, which may lead to you being evicted [section 322]. It can take a little while for VCAT to schedule a hearing for a possession order so you may be able to negotiate with the rental provider that you can stay for a few extra days or weeks rather than them applying to VCAT.

See our page Evictions.

Lease breaking
Moving out
Landlord breaches
Lease transfers and subletting
Notice to vacate
Eviction
Family violence