The most common methods a tenant vacates their townhouse unit is to:
- move out at the completion of their lease;
- move out in the middle of their lease, also known as breaking a lease; or
- be asked to move out at the completion of their lease.
If you wish to move out at the completion of your lease, then you are required to submit an RTA Form 13 – Notice of intention to leave and provide this form to the manager two (2) weeks prior to moving out. Failure to provide the manager two weeks notice may result in the tenant being requested to pay two (2) weeks rent from the date of receipt of the RTA Form 13.
If you wish to move out in the middle of your lease, then you are required to submit an RTA Form 13 – Notice of intention to leave and provide this form to the manager. Upon receipt of this form the manager will attempt to find a replacement tenant to take over the remainder of your lease, however if you have decided to break your lease during a period where it is difficult to find a replacement tenant, you will be require to continue to pay the rent until such time as a replacement tenant is found. Once a replacement tenant is found, a “break-of-lease” fee equivalent to one (1) weeks rent + GST is payable and normally deducted from your bond.
From time to time an owner may decide not to renew a lease and ask the tenant to move out at the completion of the lease. Should this occur the owner will request the manager to submit an RTA Form 12 – Notice to leave and provide this form to the tenant no less than eight (8) weeks prior to the completion of the current lease.
It is important to note that once an RTA Form 13 – Notice of intention to leave has been received by the manager that it is difficult for the tenant to withdraw this form. This is because once a Notice of intention to leave has been received, the manager will begin searching for a replacement tenant and quite often in preparation the new tenant pays rent, bond, arranges utility services and for removal. If you do change your mind about moving out then please contact the manager ASAP however there is no guarantee that your decision can be reversed.
As per your lease both the apartment and carpets need to be cleaned and returned to the same standard as the carpets were provided at the start of the tenancy agreement. Once completed we will inspect the apartment to ensure that the apartment can be leased to a new tenant and your bond will be released.
The process for move out is shown below. We request tenants to move all furniture out 2-3 days prior to the tenancy end. Professional cleaning is then carried out 1 day prior to tenancy end with the carpets being shampooed on the last day. We generally allow 1 spare day to ensure carpets dry and to assess the unit prior to the new tenant moving in.
Bond Return
On the last day of the tenancy we will ask you to come to our office to sign an RTA Form 4 – Refund of rental bond. Please ensure you have your bank details on hand and that each person who signed the original RTA Form 2 Bond lodgement is available to sign. The RTA normally returns the bond refund within 3 working days.