Sometimes moving forward in life means a change of address. If you are also in the same situation, you should prepare for the end of the lease and the same applies to home lease or retail shop leases.
There are a few essential things you should know, and here we have five tips to help you ensure that you are covered in a practical and legal sense as far as a lease agreement is concerned.
When you are ending a lease in Brisbane, you can either move out beforehand or remain at the property till end date or get a new lease by paying legal fees/council rates on time. But remember that you have to be paying rent money.
Residential tenancy and tenancy agreement in Brisbane has a few guidelines which will help you understand how you can initiate the end of lease in Brisbane. Here are three main ways to end the tenancy and rental agreement:
- Giving notice to the property manager or landlord of your intention to end the tenancy and stop paying rent.
- If you get a ‘notice to vacate’ from your property managers or landlord after the fixed term agreement
- When both parties agree to end the tenancy and retail leases.
Note that if you have a fixed term lease but want to end your lease early, you need to give a written notice to the rental provider or landlord as soon as possible, mentioning that you are leaving instead of waiting for the rental agreement to end.
Also, breaking the rental agreement needs to be compensated.
Essential tips to sail peacefully after fixed-term lease agreement ends
Here are the five helpful tips which you should keep in mind while preparing for the end of your fixed term agreement in Brisbane
1. Provide a forwarding address
Never miss providing a forwarding address to your landlord or your real estate agent for any correspondence or outstanding bills which may be left over as you move to a new place. You should also leave this new house address and your new telephone number on the bond claim form.
2. Ensure you vet your end-of-the-lease cleaning providers
Most tenants do not consider it, but it is essential to have professional cleaning providers enter your rental property. Even if you do not supervise them, go for the service, which can show that every employee is thoroughly vetted, including background and police checks. By hiring professionals you can get peace of mind, and your property will be returned to you in its same condition so that renting to new tenant can be done without any worry.
3. Go for the ‘Bond Back’ guarantee.
The biggest argument between a tenant and the landlord at the end of lease is about the return and bond money. Landlords usually take advantage of this set period of time and claim for any damage caused to the property. So, it will be better to repair, clean, or fix any damage before moving. You can also hire professionals for the same, and they will ensure that the property is cleaned as per standard guidelines when the fixed term lease is about to end.
4. Settle any outstanding bills and pay rent
After giving the correct notice to vacate the commercial property, you need to sit down with your landlord to identify any outstanding rent or bill, maintenance money, repairs cost, other costs which you need to pay and start the process to end the premises. The landlord usually charges some cost, and that depends on the below points and the tenancy agreement.
- The property owner has lost items during your lease term.
- Any unpaid rent.
- If the tenant leaves any unpaid bills like gas meters etc.
- If there is any abandonment of the property.
- If cleaning is required, then the landlord may charge cleaning expenses
- If you or your visitors cause any damage.
- The landlord can apply to claim the entire bond in their name with bank guarantee.
Check out the final meter reading (gas, electricity, water, etc.) before your checkout, and make sure you share the same with the landlord. If you missed this, the landlord might charge you for the utilities. So make sure that entry condition report and exit condition report are same.
5.Pack and arrange your stuff for shifting
The first thing you should do after the lease ends is to pack all your stuff. Per the tenant guideline in Brisbane, a landlord can dispose of particular goods, including goods with no financial value, dangerous goods, perishable foods, etc.
So, suppose you end up leaving some belongings that do not fall under the abovementioned category. In that case, your landlord has to keep those items for 28 days and notify you within seven days that your items should be collected. The landlord will also allow you to reclaim the items, and you may have paid the cost of keeping them safe.
However, if the landlord is finicky and does not want to return your belongings, you can apply for compensation in court. But it will be better to ensure that you have moved everything. However, if any of your documents are left behind, like hard drives, cameras, photographs, official documents, etc., the landlord must keep them for 90 days.
Wrap Up
End of lease terms can be stress-free if you take care of every detail. And with the help of the above checklist, you can be assured that you will be less stressed. Either it is retail shop lease, commercial leases or any other lease agreement or periodic lease, above steps are beneficial for you. Businesses running on a lease property should also be vacate on time. There might be some different terms and laws involved in the agreement terms, however process to vacate the place will remain same.
