Advice on breaking lease WA

[Taylors4]

Just wondering if anyone has experience of breaking lease in WA, our lease isn't up until 1 August. We are going to tell the agent when she comes to do an inspection this Monday 3 Feb. This will give us 4-5 weeks to find a new tenant. Does anyone know what the associated charges are?

 

Also, as we are leaving on Friday 7 March, how long in advance should we vacate the property in order for us to get our bond back before we leave Perth? The office that holds our bond is in perth city. I had heard that if you have your form signed by the estate agent you can go along and collect your bond from the office. This is (all being well with finding a new tenant) is what we would propose to do, so we have the money before we leave perth.

 

Does the agent come and inspect the day you hand the keys in, if we do t get a tenant in that time, we will just give the. The keys back anyway, as we will leave the country. Also, if they know you are moving overseas are they more likely to try a bit harder to get a tenant?

 

anyway any advice would be most appreciated.

[legoman]

Lots of bad stories with regard agents giving bond back, seems they find any reason to trim it. you will have to pay for re advertising the property and admin break lease fees.

 

one agent we had was really good, wetook videoes of the place on taking up rental showed them to her to prove marks on wall were already there so she couldnt charge us 300 dollars repaint. also had one ripped us off, I landscaped the whole overgrown garden did the plumbing repairs ( as the landlord hadnt made any profit on the house for a year )

we were charged 250 lawnmowing fees, many other fees, in the end we were told we were due 124 dollars from our 1800 dollar bond. tried to bill us for new hotplate and electrical works carried out, wiring melted in roofspace. they seem to treat tenants second class in oz whereas in uk my tenants seem to have more power. so we have had good and bad

[ali]

You'll be liable for the rent until new tenants are found, your lease is until August, they won't try very hard to find anyone I imagine as you'd still theoretically be paying the rent.

[Sapphire]

You could always try advertising the 'lease break" yourself, on Gumtree .There seems to be a few ads on our Gumtree for that

That way the new tenant would give you the bond back,and just take over the tenancy

Obviously the agent would have to ok, it and vet them etc, but you would then not be liable for advertising costs, as you have found the prospective tenant yourself.I think the agents can sting you for a fair whack for advertising , and finding a new tenant, and some of them dont really bother, as they are getting the rent from you, so they are in no hurry!

I would put an ad on Gumtree, see how you go,it will cost you nothing, and you have nothing to loose by trying.You can put that its available from, whenever suits you,and you could save yourself a lot of money.

[Taylors4]

You could always try advertising the 'lease break" yourself, on Gumtree .There seems to be a few ads on our Gumtree for that

That way the new tenant would give you the bond back,and just take over the tenancy

Obviously the agent would have to ok, it and vet them etc, but you would then not be liable for advertising costs, as you have found the prospective tenant yourself.I think the agents can sting you for a fair whack for advertising , and finding a new tenant, and some of them dont really bother, as they are getting the rent from you, so they are in no hurry!

I would put an ad on Gumtree, see how you go,it will cost you nothing, and you have nothing to loose by trying.You can put that its available from, whenever suits you,and you could save yourself a lot of money.

 

Good idea, I had though of this as I had seen it done before and wondered if this maybe the way forward. The agent and the owner came around yesterday as they had to do a 6 month building check (as the house was new as at July). Yesterday was a bit painful as they were going over the top on what good tenants we were and how we had kept the place immaculate, they were hoping we would stay for a long time.

 

I emailed her to tell her we were contemplating a move back to the UK and asked for a breakdown of costs for a break lease. She emailed back forgetting to give the costs as she was again going on at how the owner as impressed etc (I think she may have been his mother) lol. Lovely people, so feel really bad now .........

 

Is it just me, but when you tell people that you maybe going back to the UK, even though we like it here (for us it's just not financially viable, and we were better off in the UK, also OH and DD realise they prefer the cold to the heat lol), people look and take it very personally that you want to leave. I won't even go there with what our relatives have said. Not sure they will speak to us again. Tried to get across that we love OZ, but just don't want to carry on here, although we love it for holidays and will come back I the future.

 

They all look so wounded by the words "moving back to the UK".

 

Anyway, will post and let you know how we get on.

[Sapphire]

Good Luck with everything

I really would not worry about what anyone else thinks or says, its your life and you have to do what is right for you all.

People can look at you very weirdly when they think you do not like Aus, or are planning to head back to the UK, for whatever reason.

There is this myth in Australia that it is the best country in the world and anyone who does not plan to stay here, or who fails to gush praises about Australia, must be very odd indeed

Why on earth would anyone possibly want to live anywhere else, they must be mad!!!!!

Hope all of your plans to get home go well, and please let us know how you get on with everything x

[Guest]

It does depend on the agent - we were really lucky and the agent found a tenant straight away without advertising and we had no fees whatsoever and got all our bond back without a quibble. In WA I think you do have to get it from the city centre dept. - the incoming tenant can't simply give it to you.

 

Once you have the signed form you can get it on the spot but I think it took about a week for us to get that - the agent is not necessarily going to do the inspection the day you move out & process the paperwork straight away. It doesn't sound like you will have any bother but you should allow time for any additional cleaning/repairs they might insist on.

 

As for what others think, if they are close friends and family it's hard. I tend to think that anyone who believes 'Australia is the best country in the world' can't have seen much of the world or has a very narrow view. Nothing particularly wrong with it as a place to live but the UK has just as much to offer, as have many other places - horses for courses.

 

We had some Australian friends come and visit recently - I am SO happy back in the UK and I was mindful that my overbearing exuberance might be offensive so I was circumspect and focussed on how good it was to be home and even quoted Tim Winton and said it was the same for me but seeing mountains rather than the Indian Ocean...what happened next was amazing because my friend said that she couldn't explain it but coming to Sussex felt like a homecoming to her (her parents had been £10 poms) and they were now thinking of moving to the UK and couldn't wait to come back again! Holiday fever I suspect and I did give them a few dire warnings about the migrant experience! Not all Aussies think we're mad though, very many migrate to the UK every year!!!