Tenant Vacate Procedure

When you are made aware that a tenancy is going to end, whether that be that the tenant has given notice of their intention to vacate or the owner has instructed you to end the tenancy, it is vital that you consider the following information in your office processes.

Has the correct notice been provided?

In every state and location there is legislation that outlines what notice must be given both either the landlord or the tenant to end the tenancy. Unless there is mutual consent to end the tenancy you must ensure that you provide the minimum notice as per your governing tenancy law.

Remember there is a difference between the term days, weeks and months. If a notice period is outlined as 2 months (for example), this is not considered 60 days. It is 2 calendar months that you must provide (bearing in mind that some 2 month periods could in fact be 62 days in duration. 

Has the correct form been used?

If required, statutory forms should be used for all notices by the landlord and tenant when ending a tenancy.

Is the tenant ending the agreement early (known as a "break lease")?

You will often hear of a term used by agents where they say "my tenant is breaking their lease". The truth is the lease isn't breaking nor is the new tenant going to "take over" the existing lease.

Where a tenant wants to move out before the end date noted on their fixed term agreement, the tenant is ending their agreement early. Generally speaking in this situation a tenant would be responsible to reimburse the owner for any out of pocket expenses that the owner should not have had to incur (advertising costs, letting costs etc.).

PLEASE NOTE:

Where the tenant is ending their agreement early the owner has the right to claim from them an amount by way of their "financial loss". The following can be considered here:

• Rent up to the day that a new tenant's lease commences
• Reimbursement of costs regarding the letting fees incurred
• Reimbursement of costs regarding any advertising & marketing costs the landlord incurs.

At no stage does the agent "charge the tenant" for a letting cost or for advertising. The tenants will always be reimbursing the owner for out-of-pocket expenses in this situation.

Ultimately the landlord will have an expense on their statement (as per the terms of the management agreement) and the tenant will then reimburse them for these costs.

Do you use the Head Office Rental Support service?

For the Head Office Rentals Team to be able to assist you in the tenant vacating process it is vital that you provide and input the relevant information into the @realty CRM with regards to the upcoming vacate. 

It is VITAL that you put the vacate information into the Tenancy as quickly as possible for the Head Office Team to be alerted to the upcoming vacate. Once they receive this notification they will be able to begin the process of putting together the relevant information to assist you in ending the tenancy (amount of rent your tenant will owe to vacate, any outstanding invoices for water etc.).

If you are unsure how best to use the CRM to do this, please book in for 1on1 training with our Support Team. You can book in for support via the Dashboard of your CRM login (down the bottom in blue) or simply phone Head Office to book in.

Bond, Repairs, Cleaning etc. after the tenant vacates

One of the most important things to remember is that when a tenant is handing keys back to you (returning possession of the property) they are required to return the property to the condition it was at the start of their tenancy, fair wear and tear excepted.

Typically there is nothing that mandates that a tenant must be afforded the opportunity to return to address any cleaning or repairs that may be required once you conduct the vacating inspection but you may find this is the lesser of two evils and the more viable way of getting the property ready for its next tenants. 

If you need to book a Contractor to conduct some works (whether that be for a hole in the wall or a gardener to mow the lawns etc) it is important for you to be mindful that you are not booking these works "for the tenant". At this point the tenant has returned possession of the property and you are arranging this work on the owners behalf, to get the property ready for its next tenant.

Your owner and landlord should be advised that the work is being booked to return the property to the condition it should be, in accordance with any ingoing documentation and photos. This work is work that is being booked on the owners behalf and the invoice should be paid by the owners income / funds as soon as the invoice comes in. The claim from the tenant is then considered "reimbursement for financial loss" back to the owner. No contractor should be waiting until a bond is finalised before they get paid - especially when you cannot guarantee that the bond will be awarded to the landlord in these instances.

Smoke Alarms

If there is a requirement in your state, territory or country to have smoke alarms tested and checked prior to a new tenancy commencing, its a great idea to actually book this out as part of your vacating procedure. That way you are not rushing to get this done once an application is approved - it is already booked in and completed!

Time between tenancies and occupancies

Whilst it's always good to minimise time between tenancies for your client it is just as important to ensure you have allowed adequate time for the following this to be done between tenancies.

• Vacating inspection
• Ingoing inspection / entry report
• Unforeseen cleaning & repairs
• Planned maintenance between tenancies

Generally speaking we would encourage agents to allow 3-5 business days between tenancies to ensure there is enough time to finalise a tenancy and also have the property ready for the next tenant. An agent should never have a tenant move out and the new tenant move in the very next day - this simply does not allow time for the work that needs to be completed between tenancies.