I have a pretty straight-forward question to ask and confirm: When a tenant submits a notice intending to vacate the premises on say 01/11/2021, does this mean all cleanings, vacate inspections, and handover of keys to be completed on 01/11/2021 or the tenant has to move all belongings out by midnight 01/11/2021; cleanings etc. can be done the following day(s)? Thank you
The actual time of day (close of business or midnight) was discussed here a while ago and I forget the outcome. Some agreements - and my own assumption, would stipulate COB. In practice PMs are usually happy to have the keys dropped off first thing the following morning as they wont be doing the vacate inspection before then anyway. Not withstanding the above, 01/11/21 means keys handed back with the property having been vacated and cleaned. The vacate inspection will be done whenever the PM gets around to it, usually within a couple days.
I think the answer is "it doesn't matter", because the tenancy terminates when the tenants offer vacant possession, whenever that is.
Unless things have changed, in Brisbane it used to be midnight on the final day of the lease. We had a druggie tenant who'd stopped paying rent, and we'd issued notice to leave. But if they didn't leave, I had no legal right to enter the property the next day. The handing back of the keys was the trigger to us gaining the property back, and at that time we could change the locks. We had police very willing to come with me at 7am the morning after the midnight deadline, because we knew we would never see the keys again. We noticed them loading up that final day so cancelled the police. We didn't get the keys back, but we did get the locksmith in that morning to change the locks regardless that we technically didn't have possession of the property. Edit: I suspect the police were willing to come with me as my husband could not come with me. They possibly didn't know the legalities that the RTA advised me (keys handed back etc), but separate from keeping me safe, they probably might have liked to make a drug bust.
