Ending or breaking your lease
- Published:
This information is a guide and should not be used as a substitute for professional legal advice.
Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria (RDRV) now handles some rental disputes instead of VCAT. Until we roll out more information, see our RDRV overview: tenantsvic.org.au/rdrv/
Summary
If you want to end your residency agreement and leave your rented caravan or caravan site, there are some rules you need to follow. There are different ways to end your agreement, including:
- Sending a ‘notice of intention to vacate’ to the site and/or caravan owner (whoever you pay rent and/or a hiring charge to)
- Coming to an agreement with the site and/or caravan owner
- Applying to VCAT (the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal) for an order to end the agreement, due to family or personal violence
- Transferring your residency rights to someone else
There are rules you need to follow for each situation.
What does ‘caravan park resident’ mean?
If a caravan in a caravan park has been your main home for at least 60 days in a row or you have signed a residency agreement with the park or caravan owner, you are likely a resident and have legal rights that don’t apply to holidaymakers. Find out more on our page about caravan parks.
The information on this page is not for people who live in a caravan park in their own cabin or movable home that cannot be registered with VicRoads. These are called Part 4A dwellings and are covered by Part 4A of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997. If you live in this type of dwelling, you may have a site agreement with the park owner, rather than a residency agreement. The Consumer Affairs Victoria website has more about site agreements in residential parks and villages. If you are unsure what laws apply to you, seek advice. This page has information about getting help.
Ways to end your residency agreement
If you wish to end your residency agreement, there are various steps to follow, depending on the method used.
Send a ‘notice of intention to vacate’
A ‘notice of intention to vacate’ is a written statement signed by you that tells the caravan and/or site owner that you want to end your agreement and leave.
You should give a notice of intention to vacate to the caravan and/or site owner (whoever you pay rent and/or a hiring charge to), when you want to leave the caravan or site.
You should also give a notice of intention to vacate if you want to end your agreement immediately, because the caravan is, or has become, unfit or unsafe to live in, or is destroyed. This includes if the caravan is not vacant when you move in. Note: The landlord may try to claim costs for you breaking the agreement, so you will need to provide strong evidence about the condition of the caravan or site.
The notice of intention to vacate must:
- Be in writing
- Be signed by you
- Include the required minimum notice period (the minimum amount of advanced warning the law says you must give)
- Include the date you will be moving out and returning the keys
- Be given to both the caravan and site owner, if you are renting both the site and the caravan, otherwise just who you pay rent or hiring charges to
We recommend you use the official Consumer Affairs Victoria form, Notice to owner of caravan or caravan park [Word 107 KB]
This is so you include all of the information that the rules require. If you use this form, it will need to be signed by any co-renters (other caravan residents whose names are on the residency agreement).
The notice of intention to vacate needs to be given with 7 days notice.
However, you can give your notice immediately if the caravan has been destroyed or has become unfit or unsafe to live in (before or after moving in).
When additional rent or costs are not payable
If you end your agreement with a valid notice of intention to vacate, with the correct amount of advanced warning, you cannot be asked to pay any additional rent beyond the end of the notice period, or any costs relating to finding a new caravan resident.
If the caravan or site owner asks you to pay any additional costs, we recommend you do not pay anything. The caravan or site owner would then need to make a claim at VCAT, where they will have to prove that they should receive the costs.
VCAT is similar to a court and hears many disputes in Victoria between renters and caravan or site owners, who must follow its decisions. If you need support or advice about going to VCAT, this page has information on how to get help.
When additional rent or costs are payable
If you end your agreement without giving the correct amount of advanced warning, or without giving a notice of intention to vacate at all, you may need to pay some costs. The most you can be charged is either 7 days rent and/or hiring charge, or rent until a new person moves in, whichever is less.
You do not have to wait until your rent and/or hiring charge is due before you give a notice of intention to vacate.
If you want to leave in the middle of a rent or hiring-charge cycle, you can. You will be responsible for paying the rent and/or hiring charge up to and including the vacate date in your notice.
Example of calculating final rent payment
You have a residency 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 decided you want to move out. You gave 7 days’ notice that you will be moving out on 7 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 7 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 7 to calculate the amount you need to pay to cover the period from 1 September to 7 September.
You can also calculate your daily rent amount using Consumer Affairs Victoria’s Rent calculator.
Get consent to leave early
A residency agreement can be ended at any time, without giving formal notice, if the caravan and/or site owner agrees to it. If you rent both the caravan and the site, both the caravan and site owner must agree.
If you and the caravan and/or site owner agree that you can leave a fixed-term lease early, we strongly advise that you get this agreement in writing.
The written agreement should state:
- That you and the caravan and/or site owner agree to end the residency agreement early
- The date the residency agreement will end
- That you will not have to pay any additional costs for moving out early
It should be signed by you and the caravan and/or site owner. Make sure you keep a copy of the signed agreement.
Get an order from VCAT due to family or personal violence
If you are experiencing family or personal violence by someone else on the residency agreement, and need to move out to protect yourself or your children, you can apply to VCAT for an order to end the agreement, or for an order to create a new agreement with your name but not the name of the person committing the violence.
You do not need an intervention order (made by a court) or a safety notice (issued by police) to apply, if you are experiencing family violence. However, you do need an intervention order or safety notice if you are experiencing personal violence (violence committed by someone who is not a family member).
Note: It is very important that you keep paying rent, while you are waiting to the VCAT hearing, but VCAT must hear your application withing 3 business days, or the next closest hearing day
If the caravan or site owner does ask you to pay costs for breaking the agreement, 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 agreement can end early, you cannot be asked to pay any additional costs. If VCAT does not make this order, the most you can be charged is either 7 days rent and/or hiring charges or rent and/or hiring charges until a new person moves in, whichever is less.
VCAT can also make orders about who is responsible for any outstanding costs, like rent, services or damage.
VCAT will look at whether:
- You, or your children, would suffer severe hardship if the residency agreement is not ended
- This hardship would be more than any hardship the caravan and/or site owner would suffer if the order was made
- It is reasonable to make the order, given the interests of any other renters, except any person excluded from the caravan under an intervention order
- The other renters on the residency agreement, if any, support your application
To apply, fill out VCAT’s form for family or personal violence applications.
You can complete the form online or download a PDF and fill it in electronically or print it and complete it by hand. If you want a hard copy form posted to you, call VCAT on 1300 018 228.
When you get to the section ‘What orders do you want VCAT to make?’, write section 206AG.
You may want to end the current residency agreement because it includes the person who committed violence, but you don’t want to move out. In this situation you can ask VCAT to make an order that a new agreement is created with only your name on it (and the name of any other co-renters) but not the name of the person who committed the violence. For more information, see our page on applying to VCAT.
VCAT will let you know the time, date and place of the hearing.
At VCAT the person who hears and decides a case is called a member. The member listens to each side, reviews any evidence and resolves the dispute, either at the end of the hearing or in writing later.
It is best that you go to the hearing to tell your side of the story. If you don’t go, you run the risk of not achieving the result you would like. While you may feel stressed about the hearing, VCAT is less formal than a court and Tenants Victoria and other organisations can help. If you need advice or support, this page has information on how you can get help. VCAT also has a family violence support team, which can assist you during the hearing, including attending by phone, if required.
Here’s what you can do next
- See our page on family violence and view the Tenants Victoria Family Violence Protection Tenancy Kit [PDF 4.3 MB]
- View our step-by-step videos on Going to VCAT and our Going to VCAT infographic [230 KB]
- Look at the information on the VCAT website about how to prepare for the hearing, including how to prepare evidence and what happens on hearing day and what help you can get from the family violence support team
Transfer your residency rights to someone else
If you own your caravan and you want to sell it, you can transfer your caravan park residency rights to the purchaser.
To do so, you need to use the Consumer Affairs Victoria form Transfer of residency right – caravan [Word 460 KB]
In most cases, the park owner cannot unreasonably refuse to give their consent. However, if the caravan has a serious fault that needs to be fixed, they may only give their consent if you (or the purchaser) agree to fix the fault within a reasonable time. The park owner also cannot charge a fee in exchange for their consent.
If the park owner unreasonably refuses to give their consent, you can apply to VCAT for an order that you can go ahead with the transfer without the park owner’s consent. For more information, see our page on applying to VCAT.
The purchaser of the caravan who obtains the residency right must occupy the caravan personally.
If you want the park owner to sell your caravan for you, they must have told you how much commission they will charge on the sale at the time you moved in.
Breaking your agreement and leaving early
If you leave early without using a notice of intention to vacate, or without giving 7 days notice, you may need to pay some costs. The most you can be charged is either 7 days rent and/or hiring charges or rent and/or hiring charges until a new person moves in, whichever is less.
If you are only thinking of breaking your agreement due to experiencing or being at risk of family or personal violence, you may be able to ask VCAT to end your agreement. See the information on this page about how to get an order from VCAT due to family or personal violence (VCAT order).
Get help and other resources
If you need support to end your lease, help is available.
Tenants Victoria services
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Renter Support Line
For all Victorian renters.
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Financial counselling
For all Victorian renters.
Other organisations
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Victoria Legal Aid
For all Victorians.
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Federation of Community Legal Centres
For all Victorians.
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Tenancy Assistance and Advocacy Program (TAAP)
For Victorian renters in private rentals, rooming houses and caravan parks who are in financial hardship or affected by family violence.
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Community Connection Program
For Victorians who are homeless or live in low-cost accommodation.
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Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG)
For Victorians aged 50 and older.
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Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT)
For all Victorians.
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Consumer Affairs Victoria
For all Victorians.
There are resources to assist you with understanding more about ending or breaking your residency agreement.
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Tenants Victoria factsheet
We have prepared a factsheet about ending your lease early, including information on lease-breaking costs and going to VCAT.
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Tenants Victoria Family Violence Tenancy Kit
Tenants Victoria’s informative Family Violence Protection Tenancy Kit contains detailed information about protections in renting laws for people affected by family violence.
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Step-by-step video on going to VCAT
This Tenants Victoria video walks you through the entire VCAT process – from gathering the necessary documents to understanding what happens during a hearing.
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Prepare for a VCAT hearing
VCAT has step-by-step information on how to prepare for a hearing.
The Residential Tenancies Act 1997 is Victoria’s main law for renting. It describes the rights and duties of renters and landlords in numbered sections.
The sections in this list relate to ending or breaking your lease. Click on a link to see more about the section.
- Section 183 – Statement of scale of certain charges, fees and commissions
- Section 195 – Transfer of residency agreement
- Section 196 – Caravan park owner unreasonably withholds consent
- Section 197 – Owner must not charge fee for transfer of resident’s rights
- Section 206AB – Termination after notice
- Section 206AC – Termination by agreement
- Section 206AE – Termination by abandonment
- Section 206AG – Application for termination or new agreement due to family or personal violence
- Section 206AH – Tribunal orders
- Section 206AI – Tribunal may determine parties liability
- Section 206AK – Notice of intention to vacate site or caravan
- Section 206AL – Notice if caravan destroyed or unfit for habitation
- Section 206AM – Rent or hiring charge payable on termination without notice
- Section 206AN – Rent or hiring charge payable if site or caravan vacated early
- Section 206AZH – Form of notice of intention to vacate
- Section 208 – Breach of duty notice
- Section 209 – Application for compensation or compliance for breach of duty
- Section 211A – Matters to be considered by VCAT in a compensation matter
- Section 506 – Service of documents
The Residential Tenancies Regulations 2021 and the Residential Tenancies (Caravan Parks and Movable Dwellings Registration and Standards) Regulations 2024 provide more detail and definitions, and specify updates to the Residential Tenancies Act.
