Notice after notice given | Rental rants | Flat Chat Forum

leahzbaker said

According to the NSW Department of Fair trading website: 

"If your landlord serves you with a termination notice you can move out any time before the notice ends without having to give your own notice. If you were given notice because of the end of the fixed term, you are responsible for paying the rent until the last day of the fixed term. Otherwise no further rent is payable from the day you hand back vacant possession after getting a termination notice from the landlord." (Quote from the government website).

This information seems to contradicate the advice you have given in this forum. Can you please confirm which one is correct.

Hi Leahzbaker

Thanks for finding the above section from the Fair Trading website.  What I wrote clearly only applies to fixed term lets but I should have noticed that the original posters are probably on a continuing tenancy.

I checked the Fair Trading website and then dug around TenantsNSW and found this on FactSheet 10 which deals with landlords ending the agreement: "At any time before the termination date, you may give vacant possession. Upon doing so (except at end of a fixed-term agreement) you can stop paying rent."

So, if we assume Glinijay is on a Continuing Tenancy (and he/she did say their lease had expired so they probably are) you're right and I was wrong.

I will fix this on the online version of the story.  Thanks for pointing this out. I'll write to glinijay directly and tell them the good news.

Glinijay said:

Our lease has expired and as the owners wish to move in we have been given 90 days notice to vacate our rented premises.  Do we still have to provide the 21 days notice if we wish to leave earlier than the date in the vacation notice?

Technically, yes, but there are lots of conditions under which you can vary that.  Have a look at this fact sheet produced by Tenants NSW to see if any of them apply to you.

However, I would be asking the agent if the owners really want the full 21 days or would they like to get in earlier.  It's the kind of thing that can work for both parties and you may not need to get into the legalities of it at all … apart, of course, from having their agreement in writing to make sure you get the bond back in full.