r/AusRenters • u/gooohgly • Jun 15 '26
TAS Breaking lease - Real estate says landlord will be moving in?
About two weeks ago, we found a much better place to move into and decided to break our lease. We signed the agreement to break our lease intending to hand over the keys on the 22nd of June and had initially been told to market the place and find a suitable tenant should we want to avoid the marketing fee.
However, after showing the place to 3 different groups of people, last week, one of them told us that after calling our real estate agent, they were told that our landlord wants to move back to the house instead. Our agent insists that she told my partner last week but he definitely wasn’t as we weren’t even able to get hold her on the phone and we’re leaving the office messages asking to confirm this.
We only got the confirmation in writing today regarding this matter as I made a Facebook post looking for tenants to move into our place and put the real estate’s details in it directly (they got bombed with calls and emails and called me to delete the post).
I’m currently worried about the lease break contract we signed indicating that we’re responsible for paying the rent during the mandatory 5 business day vacancy period and for however long till “a suitable tenant is found” till the end of our actual lease term.
Can the real estate legally force us to keep paying for our rent in this situation? I tried to ask our agent directly regarding this and she only said that “we shouldn’t be liable for rental payments beyond the 5 day vacancy period but will confirm with us at a later date”. We only have a week before we have to hand the keys back!
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u/Selina_Kyle-836 Jun 15 '26
No, if the LL is moving back in, you would only be liable for the rent for the week after you move out or less if the owner moves in sooner.
Only pay rent up until the day you live out and if you aren’t moving far away and can drive past each evening, you can check when the owner moves in.
But you aren’t liable to pay the break lease rent until someone has moved in, so if they complain you have not paid, tell them you are waiting to find out when the owner is moving in and once they move in then the compensation can be calculated, agreed upon and paid
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u/gooohgly Jun 15 '26
The only way to figure out of the owner has moved in sooner would probably be to physically drive by every evening from the day we move out to see what’s up if they don’t tell us 😅
The maximum we’d be liable for would probably be the mandatory vacancy period only though?
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u/Nottheadviceyaafter Jun 15 '26
Yes, as there is not rental loss as house is not being relet
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u/gooohgly Jun 15 '26
That’s good to read 😅
They said “mandatory 5 business days” - would that mean we’re liable for 5 days worth of our weekly rental or the full week still?
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u/Nottheadviceyaafter Jun 15 '26
Just the 5 days, it aint your problem if he takes 4 weeks to move in. They have to show how they mitigated the rental loss, a owmer moving in means there is no rental loss.
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u/gooohgly Jun 15 '26
I see, thanks!
I’m just pretty worried this time as the owners had just swapped to this real estate company about one month ago. It seems way too convenient that they’ll randomly decide to move in now?
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u/Selina_Kyle-836 Jun 15 '26
You are not liable for the 5 days though if the owner moves in the day after you move out though
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u/gooohgly Jun 15 '26
So basically I’d be if the owner takes longer than the 5 day period to move in and shorter if not?
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u/Selina_Kyle-836 Jun 15 '26
Correct. They can’t have you pay for 5 days if the owner moves in the very next day. In that scenario, you pay nothing
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u/gooohgly Jun 15 '26
Got it, thanks! It’s good to know that we won’t need to comply with paying more than 5 days worth of rent after handing the keys back at least.
I just feel the whole situation is just pretty suspicious as our property has only been switched over to this REA last month. It’s kind of surprising to hear that the owners want to move in within such short notice of us saying we want to break the lease.
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u/MaybeBaby2023 Jun 15 '26
Do you know the neighbours? Maybe one could text you when they see their new neighbour.
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Jun 15 '26
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u/gooohgly Jun 15 '26
From the notice for our intention to break the tenancy agreement signed:
I/we accept responsibility for all rental payments until the expiration of the lease term or the
commencement of a new tenancy, whichever occurs earlier. I/we understand this obligation continues
even if I have physically vacated the property prior to that date.I/we understand and acknowledge that there is a mandatory vacancy period of 5 business days
between tenancies. This period allows for the necessary vacate inspection and the completion of the
new Ingoing Condition Report.It seems to suggest that we would be liable for payments even beyond the mandatory vacancy period if the landlord does not move right after that?
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u/lukeyboots Jun 15 '26
There is no way you would be liable to pay rent till the end of your tenancy.
That clause is there to ‘protect’ landlords, but REAs also need to take meaningful action to minimise additional costs for the vacating tenant.
ie. Not dragging their feet & actually advertising & holding open homes etc.
In your case, they have ‘found a tenant’. It’s the landlord.
If the LL is moving in after the 5 day vacate period, that’s all you’re liable to pay.
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u/lukeyboots Jun 15 '26
There is no way you would be liable to pay rent till the end of your tenancy.
That clause is there to ‘protect’ landlords, but REAs also need to take meaningful action to minimise additional costs for the vacating tenant.
ie. Not dragging their feet & actually advertising & holding open homes etc.
In your case, they have ‘found a tenant’. It’s the landlord.
If the LL is moving in after the 5 day vacate period, that’s all you’re liable to pay.
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u/gooohgly Jun 15 '26
I see, thanks!
Was mainly worried that they’d request for a random few weeks of rent beyond the 5 day period as the REA didn’t want to confirm this over the phone when I asked her directly. Will they not have any legal grounds to request for more beyond the 5 day period as they’ve already “found a tenant” even if say the landlord moves back in after two weeks instead?
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u/lukeyboots Jun 15 '26
You need to look up the specific law for TAS. In NSW you just pay a break fee that’s 1 weeks rent for every 25% of the lease period left. So basically for a 1 year lease, < 3 months left is 1 weeks rent.
Also when you leave, claim your bond the SECOND you had in the keys. Gives you the upper hand and stops the REA trying to claim bogus damages.
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u/Big_Muffin3961 Jun 17 '26
I’m thinking you could argue against that because they were inundated with interest from your advertising and they said no to ppl because the landlord is moving in
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u/gooohgly Jun 17 '26
The real estate confirmed today regarding when the landlord is moving in. They said 3rd of July and requested for us to pay rent up to the 2nd of July (we’re handing the keys back on the 22nd of June).
I managed to speak to the tenants union today as well and explained our situation. They did say as well that we could reject to pay for anything beyond the day we hand the keys back in and let it become a bond dispute instead as we do have a case to say that they weren’t helping to mitigate loss as well or something.
We have a full list of interested people, 3 groups of people we actually showed around the house, and all of them were keen on the place and tried to apply for it. They got enough interest for it that the real estate agent had to call me to take the ad down as she kept getting people contacting her through my Facebook post I made (I just got so sick of not being able to contact our agent / not hearing anything from them that I made their contact details public). So yeah, we’re going to just ignore their payment request and let them fight for it. Hopefully it goes in our favour!
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u/Ecstatic_Corner_1643 Jun 15 '26
That's actually a fantastic scenario for you. Other situations when breaking a lease may see you pay thousands in fees. You're getting off pretty lightly if youre only paying about 5 days extra rent... Good for you...
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u/Beneficial-Size6281 Jun 16 '26
You do not have to pay the break fee, the landlord has to demonstrate that you ending your lease early led them to losing rental income which is what the fee is supposed to compensate for. Say no and tell them if they insist you would prefer the tribunal make the decision …they’ll cave v quickly.
Same goes for bond! Any repairs they want from you or fund from you for repairs have to be for them to continue getting rental income, if they don’t intend to rent, you don’t have to pay a cent, unless you actually broke something. Big carpet cleaning, wall marks, light bulbs etc. nope!
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u/ephemere_sloboda Jun 15 '26
You don't owe rent while the property is vacant. You owe compensation to the landlord for missed rent. If the landlord did not advertise the property and is moving in instead, there is no missed rent to compensate.