8 Rules to Keep in Mind when Breaking your lease

A tale of when everything that could go wrong, mostly did and how I got out a little poorer but mostly unscathed.

What you will need:

A positive attitude
Good communication skills by all parties
A friendly, helpful property manager
Good timing
Patience and understanding - Well, wouldn’t that have been just dandy? 🙂

Or in my case, I had:

A supportive boyfriend who talked sense into me when I literally though I’d set fire to the front lawn and watch the bleepin’ place burn
One (unbeknownst to me) bankrupt property agency that, after collecting a break lease fee of $490+GST from me closed down and handed my property over to:
One charming, dishonest, nasty, vindictive property manager with childlike tendencies at a new agency
Christmas time and New Year (seriously WTF was I thinking…..)
Advice from the RTA
Two months of crying, rocking, and thorough documentation

I won’t mention companies, or names because that’s not the point of this article. It’s to save you, you poor bastard, from coming out the other end of this experience with half the hair and sanity you started with.

My Break Lease Backstory

Here’s a bit of backstory. Girl was engaged to boy. Boy decided he no longer loved girl, or the enormous dog he insisted they adopt. Boy moved out into shmick bachelor pad apartment, while girl moved out into dilapidated Queenslander with inconceivably large yard so dog could lead happy, fulling life rolling in crap and getting walks two times a day rather than being surrendered to the shelter. Anyway, I digress.

Girl, resolves to life of blissful, drama-free singledom for all eternity and signs a 12 month lease. Followed by a 12 month renewal. Then one day, through an obvious orchestration by the universe, Girl becomes de-grinchified and finds her tender little heart-a-flutter for a man who is seemingly sculpted by the Gods. Towards the end of the year they decide they can’t stand to live apart any longer……Girl breaks lease.

With the copious amounts of grey matter between us, why the hell did we decide to move in together in DECEMBER.

RULE 1: If you’re going to break your lease, try not to do it in December or January.

Unless you’re a moron who takes delight in self-inflicting pain and suffering. People are thinking about parties, alcohol, and probably strippers – not about taking your place off your hands. OK so, some of what I had to work with was unavoidable. My initial property management agency, let’s call them Lamingtons Realty… upon me submitting my Intention to Leave notice (yes this is step 1 in breaking your lease) failed to tell me that they were wrapping up the business. AND that they would therefore, not actually have time to put into re-letting my property. SO MUCH JOY. Lamingtons’ property manager informed me that it was my sole responsibility to find a replacement tenant, that her time was “limited” BUT that they still needed to charge me a break lease fee of 1 week’s rent plus GST to “get the ball rolling” (unfortunately that’s pretty standard – some articles talk about this being charged pro-rata but its more hassle than it’s worth fighting about).

Lamingtons told me that I would need to conduct my own open homes, hold inspections by appointment and that I would need to direct any prospective tenants to the Lamingtons Realty website to apply for the property online. I always wanted to be a property manager in my spare time!…NOT. She also asked for over $200.00 to advertise the property on Realestate.com.au and Gumtree at which time I politely told her to get stuffed. I had professional photos taken of the house, and advertised the damn thing on Gumtree myself. I showed 12 people through and directed them to Lamington’s Realty to apply. Two of them did. At this point I was pretty chuffed with myself and considered going into real estate because I was awesome at this – f**king piece of cake.

RULE 2: Try your best to be civil and calm through the break lease process.

Remember that you are the one who choose to break your lease and you are asking a potentially complete f**knuckle who has no incentive, or interest to make your life easier, to help you find a new tenant. If you keep on the good side of your property manager you’re less likely to want to punch them in the face later. Give them the opportunity to play ball before you strike them out. Easier said than done, I know…

RULE 3: It is both your responsibility and the lessor responsibility (which is the property manager on their behalf) to minimise costs to all parties in a break lease situation.

Yes, let me repeat it for you, the lessor must also make an effort to limit the loss or expense. This is known as the ‘duty to mitigate loss or expense’ as per s 362 of the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act (2008). This also means that you must do everything you can to lease the property, even when it doesn’t feel like your job. I was ropable when Lamingtons told me I had to do my own open homes. Some agencies are more helpful than others with this and they’ll run open homes for you. I just happened to be dealing with an unhelpful piece of work who was busy closing the agency (which I had no idea about at the time). If in doubt, and you feel like they’re doing less than they should be, speak to the RTA flike I did.

It was December 15, 2016. I was sitting pretty, thinking I had at least 2 applications being processed. I had just moved all of my $hit out of the house between 7am and 2pm, had the place bond cleaned the same day, and trotted gleefully to Lamington’s office before 4pm to hand back my keys like the champion I was. I was unstoppable. I felt like the unspoken hero daughter of super woman and Mr Clean.

I arrived triumphantly at Lamington’s doorstep with a smug grin plastered across my face. Except the sign on the door told me the office had closed permanently. Errrrr…..wtf? This was the moment I found out Lamingtons sold its rent roll before going into administration, and that my ordeal was far from over.

EXIT Lamingtons aaaaaaand ENTER the new Property Management agency that my property was dumped unceremoniously upon like a burning sack of poop on an unsuspecting neighbour’s doorstep – we shall call them Care Less Realty. The applications I thought were being processed by Lamingtons had vanished and my initially lovely new property manager had committed to setting things straight. Let’s now start the process all over again. SUPER.

A week later another application came through my Gumtree ad – phew! We were all set to go and there was just the issue of the Bond. Care Less Realty instructed me to contact, and meet with this random prospective tenant who would give me cash in return for a signature on a Bond Transfer Form (Form 6)…..this seemed dodgy AF so naturally I checked with the RTA. They said it was ok but usually happened in circumstances when the tenant already knows the person they’re transferring the lease to. In this case it didn’t matter anyway because my miracle tenant from Gumtree turned out to actually be a broke mythical creature from Narnia, with no job and no bond money – great reference checks there Care Less Realty. So we start again…..for the third. F’ing. Time.

RULE 4: Know your options when it comes to transferring your bond.

You can apparently do this two ways. The first is to do a direct exchange with the new tenant, take their money, and fill in Form 6 and return it to the property manager. This is far easier for the property manager and means that there is a bond over the property the entire time. The other way is to go directly through the RTA where the new tenant lodges their bond and you claim yours back through a separate process. Don’t quote me on this one. I actually ended up putting in a Bond Claim with the RTA early in the process when Lamingtons Realty screwed me, just in case. Care Less Realty disputed my claim and the RTA kept it until everything was hunky dory, then released it back to me directly.

RULE 5: Think carefully about whether it’s worth saving money on advertising costs.

I was a tight-ass up front and advertised on Gumtree myself. This can lead to dodgy applications and poor visibility of your property in the market. If I had my time over again (shoot me now) I would have probably forked out the cash for a realestate.com.au ad back in December. You end up with more qualified prospective tenants instead of nosy timewasters from the mythical land of Narnia. I was lucky that when Care Less Realty took on my property, they listed it for me on realestate.com.au and used the professional photos I look of the place looking all fancy pants.

Unlike Lamingtons Realty, at least Care Less Realty hosted open homes so I had faith that they were working in my best interest. I never set up a direct debit arrangement with Care Less Realty because I thought the house would be snapped up in a week…so what was the point…which led to my first ever Breach Notice. My “rent” was 8 days overdue <insert audible gasp/shock/horror>. Well f**k. I apologised, paid the damn thing and waiting patiently for news that someone had fallen in love with the property while I was away on holidays and that it had been leased. Of course I was living in lalaland and that never happened. And I thought Care Less Realty and I were friends.

RULE 6: When you move out of the property after the date you indicated on your Intention to Leave form apparently this is the point at which your contract for the property ends.

You are no longer liable for paying “rent” BUT you do need to pay “compensation” to the lessor which happens to be the same amount as you were paying in rent each week. You are obligated to do this until a new tenant is secured for the property unless there are reasons not to (again speak to the RTA about these circumstances). I was told I could legally withhold “compensation” until a new tenant was secured, which is enough to light a fire under any property manager with half a brain when they could otherwise take their sweet ass time. Fair is fair – once a new tenant was found, I paid all of the outstanding “compensation” to the agency.

Also, I was told that a tenant cannot be issued with a Breach Notice after the agreement ends and that they cannot be threatened with black listing. I wish I knew that sooner….

Right. So. We’re faaaaaaaar into the silly season and I check in on Care Less Realty to see if we have any interest – it’s now January and I’m pretty pissed about the cash spilling out of my account and into their pocket in addition to the new rent I’m paying with Bae. I don’t own a fricking money tree and I am still recovering from my Christmas party bar tab. In reply to my email, Care Less Realty asks me when I plan to remove the mattress that I apparently left on the front porch of the property. The front porch on which there was no mattress (as evidence by my exit condition report) when I left the property and handed back the keys. THE FRONT PORCH THAT I LOCKED before I handed back the keys. Ok. I’ll suck it up, I thought. Care Less Realtytold me I’m still responsible for the property and that I need to move it. I didn’t question it. Like a naïve, trusting little lamb I scurried to the house the next evening to remove the f**king mysterious mattress that a squatter had probably been sleeping on, on the front porch that was left, unlocked, yes unlocked, by Care Less Realty.

RULE 7: If you’re not sure about your responsibilities in a break lease situation – ask the RTA.

The phone call doesn’t take long. In this case they probably would have told me it wasn’t my responsibility since Care Less Realty left the gate to the front porch unlocked…but I didn’t ask so I’ll never know.

The fun continues! We arrive at the property after work at 9:30pm to remove the God forsaken mattress. Of course, we find the gate to the front porch unlocked, which also meant that the inside of the property was accessible by sliding the front window open. Big no-no Care Less Realty…. I also made the joyful discovery that naughty Care Less Realty, in all their wisdom left the front door unlocked after an inspection in a way that says “Welcome oh great unwashed of Brisbane. Come use my shower and maybe have an orgy with your mates in the spare room. Please feel free to use the porch mattress too”. I felt a rage stir inside me and erupt through my skull in a fashion not dissimilar to Hades as famously portrayed in Disney’s Hercules movie. The door doesn’t lock without keys. I don’t HAVE f**king keys. It seemed logical to call my property manager from Care Less Realty so that they property could be secured, right? No answer on the telephone. No contact back until 5am the following morning when I was greeted with a lovely tirade that I’m posting to demonstrate what completely unprofessional behaviour looks like for those of you who have not had the thrill of experiencing it first hand:

First an SMS:

“To disturb me at almost 10pm is unreasonable. Don’t bother calling me in the morning because anyone could leave a gate at the front of the property unlocked. U were at the property. U should have secured the property n phoned me at a reasonable time. The last person at the property was my partner n he’s not young enough or stupid enough to leave it unlocked. Take it to the RTA. I’m over it.”

Followed by a beautifully scripted voicemail:

“It’s Dan from Care Less Realty and I hope I’m waking you up as much as you woke me up. To even be at the property at 9:30 to 10 o’clock at night, I don’t know what you could even see in the dark and then to have to ring me and disturb me. I know my partner’s not stupid enough to have left the door unlocked and the gate I really don’t give a damn about. In the meantime I’m that fed up from being disturbed and having the rubbish from this property – go rent it yourself. You’re not even showing the property, you’re not even attempting to rent it and the law states that you must mitigate the owner’s costs – not me – you. So I’ve had enough. Don’t ring me, don’t bother calling – call the RTA. Do what you want. OK? It’s 5:20 in the morning and I’m looking at your rubbish about you being on the property at quarter to ten at night, finding it unlocked. Lock the bloody thing and call at a reasonable hour.”

Let me re-iterate the no key situation.

Anyway.

RULE 8:Remain calm and document everything in a break lease situation.

Remember we spoke about remaining calm? This is especially important when dealing with people who have limited emotional intelligence and experience irrational bouts of aggressive verbal diarrhea. Remain calm and document everything – it’s very clear to demonstrate who’s in the wrong when you have all of the necessary evidence. Keep emails, take photos, and transcribe voicemails – because if you need to take it to court, you’ll need to be prepared. It shouldn’t be your objective to trip up your property manager and watch them gloriously face plant right in front of you, but if they do this all by their lonesome, then step aside. Sucks to be them.

After this “incident” I submitted a formal complaint to the RTA and made no further contact with Care Less Realty. They then attempted to issue me with additional Breach Notices for unpaid “rent”, to which I replied that I’d be withholding compensation and they should go take a seat in the naughty corner while they think about how they tried to manipulate me into making payments. Care Less Realty managed to find a tenant within 2 weeks without any further intervention. It’s amazing how quickly they moved their backsides when appropriately incentivised.

….and girl lived happily ever after with God sculpted man and oversized mutt.

Moral of the story: Keep calm, know your obligations and your rights (the “information is power” saying rings true here), and document everything as you go. Jebus Crisis – I’d rather stab myself in the eye with a $4.99 telescopic camping fork from BCF than to ever break a lease again.