28 Days Notice to Leave A Rented Property Is an Issue When Looking to Move

expatOz on 29/06/2018 - 11:36
Last edited 29/06/2018 - 12:04 by 1 other user

Hi,

My apartment lease expired last year and I'm on a month-to-month basic since then. Now I need to move to a bigger apartment but the 28 day notice seems to be an issue because:

1) Most of the properties are open for inspection only a week or two before they're rented out again.
2) It's too risky to give the notice and then look for properties.

It's a tricky situation where I could end up losing at least two weeks of rent at either property unnecessarily.

So I wonder if anyone has had a similar experience and are there any ways to minimize the loss?

Home & Garden

Comments

  • gaz3342 on 29/06/2018 - 11:42
    +5

    A situation most renters will find themselves in at least once.

    I have always 'taken the risk' and given 28 days notice, then gone hard on the hunt / application, I haven't regretted it so far.

  • Rhubarb Jones on 29/06/2018 - 11:57
    +8

    A 1-2 week overlap can make for a less stressful move and exit clean. Or do your best at negotiating the move in date to minimise the overlap to what you're comfortable with. A decent landlord would prefer a quality long term tenant as opposed to 1 - 2 weeks extra rent…

  • cansydint on 29/06/2018 - 12:00

    My partner and i recently left a month to month with a one week overlap. That was almost perfect for moving apartments, cleaning the old, and being fairly relaxed about the move.

    Most properties may be available a week or two after the inspection but if you are an applicant they will want then they may wait a week for you, from my anecdotal experience, renters have more leeway these past few months as lots of properties have been sitting on the market for a while when compared to my last rental hunting experience in early 2015.

    The month-month lease was perfect as it allowed us to find our perfect next apartment, with only going to a viewing we really wanted to go to (and ended up getting)

    Sydney based***

  • HighAndDry on 29/06/2018 - 12:05
    +6

    It's a tricky situation where I could end up losing at least two weeks of rent at either property unnecessarily.

    It's not "unnecessarily", it's to "mitigate risk of being homeless and losing all your stuff to homeless people."

    • [Deactivated] on 29/06/2018 - 12:47
      +2

      Not sure why you got negged. Must be because you used the H-word.

      Redundant rent is part and parcel of being a renter.

      • HighAndDry on 29/06/2018 - 13:29

        Yup. OP should think of it like insurance. You pay for that without thinking it's a waste just because you didn't use it.

  • JimmyF on 29/06/2018 - 12:53
    +1

    I could end up losing at least two weeks of rent at either property unnecessarily.

    Can't have it both ways, you either have a roof over your head, or you're homeless for a few weeks.

    Pick which one you like the best and go with it.

    PS Just like everyone else in this world, you'll have to factor in two weeks overlap on rent if you don't like being homeless. You're not special.

    • Rhubarb Jones on 29/06/2018 - 13:28
      +1

      Sounds kinda special to me..

      • JimmyF on 29/06/2018 - 14:03

        yes I know….. welcome to the snowflake generation starting to rent.

    • gringo on 29/06/2018 - 15:11
      -8

      At ~400 p/w paying for 2 properties concurrently, while also coming up with the bond before the other one is refunded is a substantial amount of money. The govt should really have some short term no interest loan scheme for this purpose.

      • HighAndDry on 29/06/2018 - 15:16
        +10

        What? Why the hell should the government be involved? Maybe people can do this thing called "saving".

    • pjetson on 29/06/2018 - 16:21

      You're not special

      Hey! We're all special.

  • CLoSeR on 29/06/2018 - 12:56

    Huh; it's minimum 21 days notice. You can provide more notice if you think it's too short.

    Find an apartment you want; secure it and then put in your notice. Yes you may end up paying an extra week or so where you are currently renting.

    Life, it's difficult at times.

  • tomleonhart on 29/06/2018 - 12:56
    +1

    Let’s face it. 1 or 2 weeks overlap gives you time to sort your stuff out.

    There’s really no way around it unless everything lines up perfectly which in the real world it won’t, I tried to line thing up between renting period before, it was really stressful and I still ended up with 1 week overlap.

  • pyramid on 29/06/2018 - 13:00
    +1

    Overlap - a way to go. Or Ask friend/Family to let you stay at their place when you don't have home.

    • dasher86 on 29/06/2018 - 14:42
      +1

      kinda means two moving costs. move your stuff somewhere temporarily..

  • peterpeterpumpkin on 29/06/2018 - 13:07

    Sorry to sidetrack.

    While I know of families that suddenly became homeless due to similar reasons, they had temporary accommodation available from friends/family. I wonder what the logical order of steps to take would be?

    These days, if someone in your family had a full time job and you still had a bond in hand you could probably find something temporarily affordable via airbnb or Gumtree in "low season". A last minute place for 2 adults and 2 kids over Christmas in Sydney might be a harder ask.

    Do government services like FACS even have a database of places for the temporarily homeless? I've heard most permanent places that FACS offer have a 10+ year waiting period so that's no really a short term option. And I don't know if Centrelink would even help someone with information unless they're receiving benefits.

    • HighAndDry on 29/06/2018 - 13:20
      +5

      The government and our social welfare system shouldn't be used to make up for people's poor planning. Between someone like OP, and a family (with children) who actually can't afford rent, 100% of the time welfare should be helping the second.

      Keep in mind - OP isn't saying they don't have money. They just want to save a week or two of rent. In this situation, it's as bad as trying to save money by not buying insurance, under the logic that: "If I pay for insurance but don't use it, it's a waste."

      • peterpeterpumpkin on 29/06/2018 - 14:16

        Of course. I'm just wondering if there are services in place regardless?

        [Let's say a family of do-good, Aussie battlers are evicted and despite looking for a place for a month leading up to Christmas they find themselves out of luck. It doesn't help that they all have a rare genetic condition that makes them look and sound like stereotypical monsters from cartoons that scare away prejudiced, un-Australian landlords. One of the kids, the one that gave his only warm blanket to a stray dog, can be seen pulling a wooden train on a string.]

        • HighAndDry on 29/06/2018 - 16:01
          +1

          You already mentioned public housing through FACS. Though…

          I've heard most permanent places that FACS offer have a 10+ year waiting period so that's no really a short term option.

          There isn't a short-term housing option because housing is housing, and people who need long-term housing generally have a much higher need than someone who only needs short-term housing. So if there is vacant housing… it goes to the one needing it long-term.

          On the other hand, I'd like to see the statistics on how much being forced into homelessness for even short periods contributes to chronic homelessness, and whether - despite all that stuff above - putting aside some short-term housing to people who're only facing short-term hardship might prevent them from sliding into longer-term homelessness.

  • myusername on 29/06/2018 - 13:34

    it's all a part of life and growing up.

    everyone who has ever rented has been in this position before

  • try2bhelpful on 29/06/2018 - 13:56

    If you have a good relationship with the agent you could see if they have something coming up that might suit and give the notice to coincide with availability. Might give you an inside running on a decent property and you can rent when it becomes available.

  • DemocracyManifest on 29/06/2018 - 14:02

    Its tough bikkies unfortunately.

    • DemocracyManifest on 29/06/2018 - 14:03

      make sure you are ready to move first with all your stuff packed up/things fixed and go from there, sometimes landlords can find tenants really quickly and if you are organised you have a chance to minimise your loss

  • [Deactivated] on 29/06/2018 - 15:45

    If you haven't found somewhere and you old place hasn't been rented out your landlord MIGHT be a bit accomodating.

  • mogy1808 on 30/06/2018 - 12:21

    Totally normal to have an overlap of 1-2 weeks. If there is little or no competition for a property you might have some negotiation room.

  • Candour on 30/06/2018 - 17:51

    I found that it was less stressful to find a place first and then give notice. I paid the extra rent in 2 places overlap but had peace of mind. It wasn't that easy to move and I needed a few days to organise movers etc. then there was cleaning the place to get back the bond. It is hard to not lose out in life. the landlord also has to lose out rent as he may not get a new tenant immediately.

  • HeWhoKnows on 30/06/2018 - 22:36

    Dear OP.
    Thousands of people are on the same set of laws and dont have a problem.
    So whats the point of this post?
    Do you want our sympathy? Sorry, that wont help you.
    Just do some planning, deal with it and move on.
    Bye Bye

  • expatOz on 01/08/2018 - 15:31

    So as it turned out the agent didn't even mention about the 28 days notice. They just asked what day we want to vacate the property and accepted it. I was worrying too much.

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