NSW Tenants can now walk with only 1 weeks 'cost' 25% of lease left?

I'm confused by this for example. How is the landlord losing money every day, if the issue is that the tenant is seeking to terminate the tenancy early?

The alleged perp of DV doesn't have to be a co-tenant for some of these provisions to apply. That at least seems very clear to me. A lawyer advised you otherwise?

 

yes.. absolutely! I will be in touch shortly for your details! Thank you!

 

Because the tenant has stopped paying - yet tenant furniture is still at the property, She is 14 days behind on her rent today. We haven't received a formal request to terminate - only a letter from a advocacy service at the local court.

REINSW

 

If she's not living there anymore, not paying rent, and also telling you that she intends to terminate the tenancy (i.e not coming back), then she's probably abandoned the property in a legal sense, and you can treat it as a break lease situation.

If they're anything like REIWA - and I imagine they are - I wouldn't trust a single thing from them on anything remotely technically legal. I doubt they have any lawyers assessing or supervising the "advice" they give out.

 

that's exactly what we are doing.

I will message you privately.

 

From the fair trading website:

introducing mandatory set fees for breaking a fixed-term lease early. The break fee will apply to all new fixed-term leases that are 3 years or less that are entered into after the new laws start. The break fees are:

• 4 weeks’ rent if 75% or more of the lease remains
• 3 weeks’ rent if between 50% and 75% of the lease remains
• 2 weeks’ rent if between 25% and 50% of the lease remains
• 1 week’s rent if 25% or less of the lease remains

This is ugly for landlords! I was unaware of these changes until now. Our previous leases have had 6 weeks/4 weeks break fees.
What's going to happen in areas close to a university? Students and staff are going to break with only 1 weeks penalty when term ends, leaving months of vacancy until the new term starts.

 

Agree @FredBear it is going to be very ugly for landlords, basically tenants can walk at any time BUT as landlords we don't have the right to kick them out with the same notice periods......

I still don't understand how this is even legal eg they signa contract saying 52 weeks.....but somehow the govt gets to make rules saying they don't actually have to follow the contract??

This said the early break lease laws have been "proposed" but have not been implemented, so far only the domestic violence laws have gone into place. Its my suggestion that you call you state member for parliament for your personal location and the location of any of your investment properties if in another location and ask to speak with them about this proposed legislation.

I know I did "though technically as an expat I don't get to vote......-but they didn't need to know that"

Ive reached out to Fair trading last week for an update on implementation dates.....they have come back saying still unknown as of last week.

 

Thanks Dean for your response. Back in the PPOR again for a while, and voted in the NSW election a couple of weeks ago. Only yesterday I drove past our member's (Gladys) electoral office, should have stopped and called in to discuss this. This is yet another hit for landlords, house rentals take a lot longer to find tenants that say a 2 bed unit in a popular location. There can easily be 4 - 6 weeks between tenants. As the landlord now has this vacancy risk, rents will have to increase to cover this risk. As you say, what's the point of having a lease if the break clause is like this?

 

Most of the discussion and commentary leading up to the changes was around making renting more "secure" for tenants. This kind of flies in the face of that as it makes it easier to leave earlier as opposed to easier to stay longer!

- Luke

 

Anyone know if this legislation has been passed for NSW yet? I thought would have happened soon after the election but nothing I can find.



New break fee will apply to all new fixed-term leases that are 3 years or less that are entered into after the new laws start. The break fees are:

• 4 weeks’ rent if 75% or more of the lease remains
• 3 weeks’ rent if between 50% and 75% of the lease remains
• 2 weeks’ rent if between 25% and 50% of the lease remains
• 1 week’s rent if 25% or less of the lease remains

 

I've been checking too but it looks like it hasn't been implemented yet. It pushes landlords towards having short leases - you are better off for example having an intial 3 month lease and then periodic rather than a one year lease, as after that 3 months you will get 21 days notice for the following 9 months, whereas with a 12 month lease you will get no notice and then 3/2/1 weeks break fee. I don't imagine a tenant giving any notice of breaking a lease - why would they? There are only negatives such as having to have open for inspections etc. Just hand the keys back with a 3/2/1 week payment and say we are leaving today. At least with 21 days notice you can organize advertizing, inspections, repairs etc. and have minimal downtime. You would be really lucky to have a tenant leave with 1 weeks break fee and have a new tenant in in less than 7 days with no notice!