Lessor ending a tenancy

A property owner and lessor has the ability to end a tenancy. However they would need to ensure they end the tenancy on the grounds outlined under the relevant state legislation that applies to residential tenancies.

Typically a tenancy can be ended by a landlord under specific grounds and if a fixed term agreement is in place the ending of an agreement cannot end before the expiry date of the current fixed term agreement, unless the tenant has breached the terms of their agreement.

It is important for an agent to ensure that they have written authority and instruction from a property owner to end the tenancy. A phone conversation is not sufficient in this instance. If the property owner refuted an alleged instruction to end the tenancy and suffers financial loss they could have the ability to make a claim against the agency for this financial loss.

It’s important to ensure that the terms noted on an Notice to Vacate that is issued to a tenant match what grounds your state tenancy legislation allows you to end the tenancy

e.g. in Queensland if an owner wants the tenants to vacate at the end of a fixed term the grounds would be noted as “end of a fixed term”.

Similarly, in Queensland If the tenant has been issued a Notice to Remedy Breach for rent arrears and does not remedy their breach and a Notice to Leave is issued the grounds of this notice would be “failure to remedy a breach”.