Returning to Australia

[bobby]

Hi,

My wife and I have been living overseas and intend to return to Australia next month. Our house in Sydney is tenanted and on a lease which will expire in August. Basically, is there anyway I can break the lease? I don't want to disrupt the tenants more than I intend to but am inquiring about the legalities. If there are no options other than to wait out the lease then we will rent until August.

Can anyone advise?

Thank you

 

[luckyone]

You can break it cause you're moving into it. I think that you need to give them 2 months notice though.

 

[bobby]

Leased property

Thanks Luckyone,

Gee I hope you are right...I was going to ask the real estate agent but she is good friends with the tenant and I just wanted a second and correct answer.

Thanks

 

[geoffw]

There might be a few clues in this thread

 

[shlemie]

Hi Bobby,

Basically you can't break their lease unless they want to break it themselves. (ie. you have to ask them nicely) - maybe try giving them some incentive eg. one week's free rent, or no requirement to clean when vacating etc.

Else, you have to wait till their lease ends in August, and you have to give them 30 days' notice.

Rgds,
Shelmie

 

[luckyone]

As I said, it's ok with 60 days (2 months) notice. From the law handbook. http://www.lawhandbook.org.au/handbook/ch10s01s06.php#

60-DAY NOTICES TO VACATE



Premises to be occupied by landlord or landlord’s family: The landlord may give a 60-day Notice to Vacate if the premises are to be occupied by:

■the landlord, landlord’s partner, son, daughter, parent or partner's parent; or
■a person who normally lives with the landlord and is substantially or wholly dependent on them (s.258).

The Notice to Vacate must specify the relationship of the family member or dependent person. The landlord or their family member must intend to occupy the premises immediately after the date on which the Notice to Vacate expires. The notice is not valid if a delay is planned between the termination date and the date the family member or landlord will take occupation of the premises.

 

[Fudge]

Hi Bobby,

Basically you can't break their lease unless they want to break it themselves. (ie. you have to ask them nicely) - maybe try giving them some incentive eg. one week's free rent, or no requirement to clean when vacating etc.

Else, you have to wait till their lease ends in August, and you have to give them 30 days' notice.

Rgds,
Shelmie

Must be different to Qld.

Up here, if you are the landlord and you want to break a fixed term tenancy, you need to give the tenants 60 days written notice.

F

Postnote. Ahh... Luckyone and I seem to be on the same page!

 

[bobby]

Thanks

Thanks for the replies,

I am guessing the real estate law is different in QLD and Vic to NSW. Anyone out there familiar with the current law in NSW...

 

[wylie]

Must be different to Qld.

Up here, if you are the landlord and you want to break a fixed term tenancy, you need to give the tenants 60 days written notice.

My cannot "end" a fixed tenancy in Queensland. You either sell the house with the tenant or pay the tenant to move early.

I've never heard of the rule in Queensland (like is often discussed here regarding Victoria) that a tenant can be asked to leave before the lease finishes if the landlord wants to move back in (but I'm happy to be wrong) .

Call the authorities who deal with this in NSW and get the answer from them about whether the fact the landlord wants to move back in has any sway in asking the tenant to move. If not, perhaps do what we did, and offer their moving costs, or offer some rent free period. If they know they must move in August anyway, they might jump at some free rent or having their moving costs paid. But get in all in writing.

I do know one family who were paid $10K to vacate a house the landlord wanted to sell. I also know that when we sold a house last year, and the tenant was very happy to move as his circumstances had changed, he was happy to move early if we allowed him four weeks rent free. It was cheap for us, and suited him.

 

[Terryw]

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/rta2010207/s84.html

If the fixed term has ended 30 days notice.

But if it is a period agreement, 90 days.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/rta2010207/s85.html

 

[bobby]

Thanks everyone,

The tenants are paying the rent so i think I will just rent in Sydney at a lower rent than I am getting in Randwick. it will ease me back into civilisation

Thanks

 

[Terryw]

Thanks everyone,

The tenants are paying the rent so i think I will just rent in Sydney at a lower rent than I am getting in Randwick. it will ease me back into civilisation

Thanks

That will probably save you more money because you will have the deductions to claim and be paying the lower rent. And it will keep the tenants happy.

How long have you been absent from the property? Are you going to use the 6 year rule for CGT exemption - another consideration.

 

[virgo]

Bobby

Hi Bobby

I remember you left Australia to spend part of your retirement in Malaysia...are you back in Sydney for good then? Would like to hear your experience

 

[ACTInvestor]

People, I don't know what you are reading but if the tenants are on a fixed term tenancy you can't just give them notice to leave because you want to move in. The only state you can do that is ACT - there is a specific posting clause inserted into the tenancy agreement for that. I already checked some time ago to see if I could have the posting clause inserted for one of my NSW properties - I could not. Of course, you can apply to the Tribunal to evict them, but most people's experiences are that the Tribunal is on the side of the tenants. The links inserted by previous posters were for periodic tenancies (read further down the page) not fixed term agreements.

 

[Scott No Mates]

Refer page 10 of the Standard form Residential Tenancy Agreement from Fair Trading NSW.

Item 3 in the notes - Ending a Fixed Term Agreement.

The notice may be given at any time up until the end of the fixed term but cannot take effect until the term ends.The landlord must give at least 30 days notice to the tenant and the tenant must give at least 14 days notice (no bias there....).

See linky thingy.

http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/pdfs/Tenants_and_home_owners/Residential_tenancy_agreement.pdf

 

[bobby]

Back Home

TerryW...thanks but it is solely an investment property. We have decided to convert one of our IPs to an PPOR, so the 6 year rule won't apply even if we decided to sell. Basically, we have been renting in Sydney and Asia for the last 8 years or so....


Virgo - We are in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I will PM you later today

Regards

Bobby

 

[geoffw]

Bobby

If it's about your experiences OS why not make a separate thread? People have mentioned the possibility of spending extended time overseas in retirement; I've mentioned Mexico in particular. I for one would be very interested to know how it all went.

 

[Fudge]

My cannot "end" a fixed tenancy in Queensland. You either sell the house with the tenant or pay the tenant to move early.

I've never heard of the rule in Queensland (like is often discussed here regarding Victoria) that a tenant can be asked to leave before the lease finishes if the landlord wants to move back in (but I'm happy to be wrong) .

I stand corrected Wylie.

You are spot on.

I got a bit mixed up there with my London prop. I am just about to give my tenants there 2 months notice to get out, so I can source better rates for the Olympics.......Hopefully. (There is supposedly places that have been booked out already and are charging up to 8 x the std rental fee)

F

 

[joeExpat]

I got a bit mixed up there with my London prop. I am just about to give my tenants there 2 months notice to get out, so I can source better rates for the Olympics.......Hopefully. (There is supposedly places that have been booked out already and are charging up to 8 x the std rental fee)

Many boroughs are clamping down on this sort of gouging are introducing permission requirements for short term Olympic letting. In any case not a very nice thing to do to your tenants.

 

[Fudge]

Many boroughs are clamping down on this sort of gouging are introducing permission requirements for short term Olympic letting. In any case not a very nice thing to do to your tenants.

I take your point.

Not really clamping down............... For tenancies less than 90 days, the law over there requires you to go through planning and get appoval . (like a material change of use).

Some boroughs though have been reported to be turning a blind eye on this. I know Camden and Westminster aren't though. Some boroughs are saying that they are already understaffed, and when the games are on, they aren't going to employ people to go around and check this out...... Where does this end...... Do you think they do it every year around Wimbledon?

Obviously, this is not targeted at long term tenants. I don't consider people going over to London to watch the games as a tenant..... more as a tourist...... and what happens when demand gos through the roof over that period of time......

You just need to be careful though that once the games have been and gone, that you will have less demand, hence may prove more difficult to find 'good' tenants. So, am getting advice from the guys over there.

Also, Joe. If you have a soft spot for tenants, maybe you're in the wrong game?

F