Break of Lease in Victoria

srcc1 on 04/08/2015 - 15:57

Hope that someone has experience with this:

We've moved into our current apartment in November last year and decided to get a dog in the meantime. Landlord accepted that and only had to pay another bond for having a pet.

Now that our dog has grown a little bit and that there are some days on which no one will be home for around 5 hours, we feel like moving to a larger place with a backyard or garage to keep him while we're gone. At the moment he is in his crate when no one is at home and seems to don't mind it as he's still a puppy and just sleeps.

So the lease of the current place runs out mid November. This is the main problem. As I study full time it will fall onto exam period so a move is going to be very stressful (looking at places, cleaning and moving) and probably not so good for studying etc.

4 months left of the contract, we started to consider to break the lease or rather apply for a new place and try to find someone to take over the current lease.

If we're lucky we could find someone to move in as soon as we move out and only pay the transfer fee. Worst case is advertising cost + 4 months of rent for two places.

Has anyone got any experience with this? How big are the chances to find someone for the current place within 3-4 weeks?

Current place is a 2 bedroom apartment with air con in every room + garage space in St Kilda (very good location close to tram stop).

Thanks for the help

Home & Garden

Comments

  • stevednj48 on 04/08/2015 - 16:07

    we done this last year when we purchased a property we had six months left on the lease.
    We had to pay $800 advertising fee and a re-let fee which was around $600 and we had to pay rent until a new tenant moved in which was around 6 weeks.

    • srcc1 on 04/08/2015 - 21:09

      Oh that's quite a bit more than I expected

    • stevednj48 on 05/08/2015 - 09:07

      Maybe check with your agent they can you how much exactly it will cost.

  • spackbace on 04/08/2015 - 17:16
    +1

    When lease is up, try to go month-to-month instead (periodical lease). Explain your situation. With the current rental climate, I'm sure they won't mind. At the end of the day, their money comes in.

    But personally I think better to do that, than deal with break lease fees and moving house over winter.

    • srcc1 on 04/08/2015 - 22:36

      Thinking about it, I think this would be the most ideal way to do it. Let's just hope that the agency will agree to it :)

      • spackbace on 04/08/2015 - 22:37

        If you pay your rent, keep it clean, they shouldn't have reason not to :)

  • try2bhelpful on 04/08/2015 - 17:26
    +1

    Given the location I don't think it would take much time for the landlord to find another tenant. Also, given the current rental market I think you should work out where you can rent before you try to break the lease on this one; it might take you a few months for you to find something suitable that will take the dog. I agree that the best thing to do is sit tight now and go for a month by month for your exam period and then find something suitable after that. Rather than a crate is there a room you can confine the dog in; the crate seems a bit restrictive for that time period. Try to give the landlord as much notice as you can without causing yourself an issue, it is best not to burn bridges.

    • Randxyz123 on 04/08/2015 - 22:22

      If you have a spare room that the dog can hang out in all day I reckon it should be ok till the end of the year.

      They pretty much sleep most of the day till they are 6-8 months. If you can get up early enough take him for a long walk in the morning so he can snooze for the rest of the day.

      What kind of dog is it?

      Also there are great little entertainment things you can buy like the this that you fill up with treats and the dog nudges it around and the treats fall out.

      You could even employee a dog walker for when you have exams or are really busy and don't have time to take him for a long walk - will be cheaper breaking the lease.

      In the meantime however start looking for a dog friendly place with a backyard. It might take a while to find something.

      • srcc1 on 04/08/2015 - 22:35

        Yes we've tried that but there was always something he started chewing on while we were gone. Let it be the chairs or the pillows.

        It is not very often that he's by himself but those 1-2 days a fortnight still feel bad.

        He's a Border Collie/ Labrador mix, 7 months. Gets his 2-3 walks but I'd still prefer him in an open space while we're gone. He'll be fine in his crate for the rest of the lease I guess. It's quite big and lots of things inside to chew on.

        • Randxyz123 on 04/08/2015 - 22:50

          Alright so an intelligent dog. Another possible option is getting a bunch of baby gates and extensions to make a kinda make shift play area so he can walk around but your pillows will be safe on the other side.

          You may have to secure it to the wall which will involve drilling so it might be a bit tricky given you are renting.

          It is not very often that he's by himself but those 1-2 days a fortnight still feel bad.

          Fair enough but don't feel too bad leave him plenty of toys and things to chew

          I feel your pain with the chewing. My puppy chewed and took all the stuffing out of most of her toys in my back yard while I was at Uni once. It looked like it had snowed in my backyard!!

        • try2bhelpful on 05/08/2015 - 11:20

          @knick007: Remove the chewable items from the room and get the dog a Kong chew toy. Also put down lots of bedding to lie on. We had a house trained rabbit, learnt to use a tray from the cat, the problem was it chewed everything including power cords.

        • Randxyz123 on 05/08/2015 - 11:49

          @try2bhelpful: Yeah I recommended a toy above. The ones that dispense food provide heaps of entertainment of them trying to figure out how it works

  • hangdog on 04/08/2015 - 19:02

    If you and your dog can stand it, you could consider boarding your dog in the more critical exam period.

    • try2bhelpful on 05/08/2015 - 12:28

      Can't bring myself to board my cats. I usually get someone to stay with them if I'm not around. Been lucky so far. Our current home is a warehouse conversion in Fitzroy, which helps with getting takers.

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