Ending a Rental Agreement in Queensland without any penalty (not breaking a lease)

Please note that this is not provided as legal advice, this is only to be taken as friendly advice.

Ending a rental mid swim is probably one of the hardest things that can happen to you as you're ending a financial agreement that is between a Real Estate and yourself.

Lessor (Real Estate): A lessor is the person who gives the right to occupy residential premises under a residential tenancy agreement [s8] (1).

Residential Tenancy: A residential tenancy is the right to occupy residential
premises under a residential tenancy agreement [s11].

Tenant (Renter): A tenant is the person to whom the right to occupy residential
premises under a residential tenancy agreement is given [s13] (1).

The thing most people forget that the Real Estate is a representative of the owner, so any messages that the Real Estate manager or Property Manager take must be passed on to the owner of the property. This is a legal requirement and if things go badly and you have documented letters and emails that you have sent including phone conversations than really, any court will take your word as you are providing facts, not hearsay.

So, you want to end a contract, and you've been told that there are penalties that have been set by law, and yes, that is true. The Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (1 Nov 2013) has this section at the bottom of page 182 of the act:

[s277] (2) "A residential tenancy agreement ends by written agreement of the lessor and tenant".

This is the basis of a mutual agreement.

This is not abandonment, not financial hardship, not breaking the lease or a breach in paying rent. This is simply just asking to end the tenancy with the owner.

So how do you do it?  You can download a blank template of the agreement here (54kb) in rtf.

You might get a shock from your Real Estate manager when they get this because it doesn't follow their usual money route as they don't make anything from a mutual agreement. often, the other way is very costly, which is to abandon the property or to break the lease with a intention to leave.

You are not doing that. Quite the opposite.

If your looking for a better place to live, doing it this way can ensure you find the right place in the right time and not pay extra to cover two different places. the Real Estate still need to do maintenance on  property, why should you pay for them to be there?

If you are unclear about anything, contact the Queensland Residential Tenancy Authority.

http://www.rta.qld.gov.au/


References
Managing General Tenancies
http://www.rta.qld.gov.au/Resources/Publications/~/media/Publications/Publications%20for%20agents%20lessors%20managers/managing-general-tenancies.ashx Date accessed 6/11/2013

Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008
https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/LEGISLTN/CURRENT/R/ResidTenRAA08.pdf Date accessed 6/11/2013