Ending or breaking your lease
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This information is a guide and should not be used as a substitute for professional legal advice.
Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria now deals with some rental disputes instead of VCAT. While we update our website see more info at: www.rdrv.vic.gov.au
Summary
If you want to end your rooming house agreement, there are several ways to do so. These include giving your rooming house operator notice (advanced warning), coming to an agreement with the rooming house operator to leave early, or applying to VCAT (the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal) for an order because of family or personal violence. There are rules you need to follow for each situation.
What is a rooming house?
A rooming house is a building with rooms for rent where 4 or more people can live. The rooming house operator decides who lives at the property and usually has individual agreements with each resident for paying rent. Find out more on our page about rooming houses.
Ways to end your rooming house agreement
You are allowed to end your rooming house agreement for any reason. However, there are rules that need to be followed, depending on the circumstances.
Give notice to the rooming house operator
If you want to leave your rooming house, you need to tell the rooming house operator. This is known as giving notice of your intention to vacate. You also need to give the right amount of advanced warning (also called a minimum notice period).
You can give notice to your rooming house operator verbally, unless they ask you to provide it in writing. We recommend that you give notice in writing, so that you have proof it has been given.
To provide notice in writing, you should include:
- The required minimum notice period (the minimum amount of advanced warning the law says you must give)
- The date you will be moving out and returning the keys
- Your name and signature
You should keep a copy of your written notice.
If you have a periodic rooming house agreement
If you have a periodic (month by month) rooming house agreement, you need to tell the rooming house operator 2 days in advance of the date you are vacating (leaving) the property.
If you have a fixed-term rooming house agreement
If you have a fixed-term rooming house agreement, you need to tell the rooming house operator 14 days in advance of your vacate date.
If the room or rooming house is destroyed, or unfit to live in
If the room or rooming house is unfit or unsafe to live in, or is destroyed, whether before or after you move in, no notice is required – your rooming house agreement will just end immediately.
Although it will be clear in most cases whether a property or room is unfit or unsafe to live in, or is destroyed, the rooming house operator may dispute this. If so, you may need to go to VCAT to officially end the agreement.
Please see our page on going to VCAT, which includes step-by-step videos and an infographic.
If you give notice with the correct amount of advanced warning, you cannot be asked to pay any additional rent beyond the end of the notice period (your vacate date).
If you didn’t give the correct amount of advanced warning, you will need to pay rent for the whole minimum-notice period. For example, if you were meant to give 14 days notice, because you have a fixed-term agreement, but you only gave 8 days notice, you will still have to pay rent for the full 14-day notice period.
You do not have to wait until your rent is due before you give notice of your 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 of calculating final rent payment
You have a fixed-term 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 wanted to move out. You gave 14 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.
You can also calculate your daily rent amount using Consumer Affairs Victoria’s Rent calculator.
If you ‘abandon’ the room (move out without telling the rooming house operator), the maximum amount you should have to pay is 14 days rent. However, the law isn’t clear on this topic, so you should give notice to avoid having to pay anything more than this amount.
Get consent from the rooming house operator to leave early
A rooming house agreement can be ended at any time, if the rooming house operator agrees to it.
If you and the rooming house operator agree that you can leave a fixed-term agreement with less than 14 days notice, or a periodic agreement with less than 2 days notice, we strongly advise that you get this agreement in writing.
The written agreement should state:
- That you and the rooming house operator agree to end the rooming house agreement early
- The date the rooming house agreement will end (your vacate date)
- That you will not have to pay any rent beyond your vacate date
It should be signed by you and the rooming house operator. Make sure you keep a copy of the signed agreement.
Get an order from VCAT (family or personal violence)
If you are experiencing family or personal violence by someone else in your rooming house, 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 on it but not the name of the person committing the violence.
You do not need an intervention order (made by a court) or 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).
It is very important that you keep paying rent, while you are waiting for the VCAT hearing, but VCAT must hear your application withing 3 business days, or the next closest hearing day.
VCAT will look at whether:
- You, or your children, would suffer severe hardship if the agreement is not ended
- This hardship would be more than any hardship the rooming house operator would suffer if the order was made
- It is reasonable to make the order
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 142S.
If you want to end the rooming house agreement but you don’t want to move out, you can ask VCAT to make an order that a new agreement is created with only your name, and anyone else living with you, 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 having your side of the story taken into account. 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
Transferring your agreement is not allowed
Victoria’s rental laws state that if you want to leave you cannot transfer your rooming house agreement to someone else.
This is different to a private rental home, where you can transfer your lease (officially called a rental agreement) to someone else, if you follow certain rules.
Get help and other resources
If you need support to end your rooming house agreement, help is available.
Tenants Victoria services
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Social Housing and Rooming House Priority Line
For Victorian renters in public housing, community housing and rooming houses.
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Financial counselling
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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Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG)
For Victorians aged 50 and older.
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Community Connection Program
For Victorians who are homeless or live in low-cost accommodation.
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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 your rooming house agreement.
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Rooming House Residents Handbook
View Tenants Victoria’s handy pocket guide on moving in, living in, and moving out of a rooming house.
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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 your rooming house agreement. Click on a link to see more about the section.
- Section 93 – Rights cannot be assigned
- Section 93A – Fixed term rooming house agreements
- Section 142M – Termination after notice
- Section 142N – Termination by Tribunal
- Section 142O – Termination by abandonment
- Section 142P – Termination if room or rooming house is destroyed
- Section 142Q – Residency rights – cancellation of licence or failure to renew license
- Section 142S – Application for termination or new rooming house agreement due to personal or family violence
- Section 142T – Tribunal orders
- Section 142U – Tribunal may determine parties liability under terminated agreement
- Section 142W – Notice of intention to vacate room
- Section 142X – Rent payable on termination without notice
- Section 142Y – Rent payable if room vacated early
- Section 142Z – Order of abandonment
- Section 142ZA – End of fixed-term rooming house agreement
- Section 142ZS – Form of notice of intention to vacate
- Section 142ZX – Resident may apply to Tribunal
The Residential Tenancies Regulations 2021 provide more detail and definitions, and specify updates to the Residential Tenancies Act.
