Ending a tenancy in Queensland: notice periods and grounds for each side

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Kooky

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A tenancy agreement in Queensland is a binding contract, and the law is specific about how it can be brought to an end. The Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) puts it in one sentence: to end a tenancy lawfully, both tenants and property managers or owners must have a valid reason under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008, and must give the correct amount of notice.

The two sides do not have the same options. A tenant can leave a periodic tenancy, or leave at the end of a fixed term, without giving a reason. An owner cannot: since 1 October 2022, according to the Queensland Government's summary of its rental law changes, property owners must have grounds to end a tenancy, and each ground carries its own notice period.

This guide sets out those grounds and periods for general tenancies, meaning the ordinary lease of a house or unit, using the RTA's published pages and the Department of Housing's summary of the law. Rooming accommodation and moveable dwellings in caravan parks have their own periods and are mentioned only where they help explain the main rules. It describes the general position. How a rule applies to one tenancy depends on its facts, and the RTA and the tribunal are the places where that is worked out.

Residential Tenancies Authority, notice periods for ending a general tenancy.

Three ways an agreement comes to an end

Every ending fits one of three routes.

The first is agreement. The RTA notes that the Act allows the parties to agree in writing to end a tenancy on a specific date. There is no official form for it. The authority suggests the document be signed by everyone on the agreement, and says it may record any compensation that forms part of the arrangement. Mutual agreement is the one route that can end a fixed term early for any reason, because both sides consent.

The second is notice. One side gives the other a prescribed form, stating a ground the Act recognises and a date that allows at least the minimum notice. An owner or manager uses a Notice to leave (Form 12). A tenant uses a Notice of intention to leave (Form 13). The date on which the tenant is to hand back the property is called the handover day.

The third is an order of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT). Some grounds, such as excessive hardship or repeated breaches, cannot be used in a notice at all. They exist only as reasons the tribunal may accept.

Fixed term and periodic: why the type of agreement matters

A fixed term agreement has an end date. A periodic agreement has none and runs until someone ends it. Almost every rule that follows turns on which of the two applies.

During a fixed term, each side is committed until the end date. The RTA's notice period table marks most of the owner's grounds, including sale, the owner moving in and major renovation, as unable to end a fixed term early. An owner relying on one of them gives the required notice, but the handover day cannot fall before the term expires.

At the end of a fixed term, the agreement does not simply stop. If the owner wants the property back, they must give a Notice to leave on the ground that the fixed term is ending, with at least two months' notice. The RTA explains that the notice can be given up to the day before the term expires, in which case the tenancy ends when the notice period runs out, not on the original end date. A tenant who wants to leave at the end of the term gives at least 14 days' notice, and the handover day is the later of that 14th day and the end date of the agreement.

A periodic agreement can be ended by the tenant at any time with 14 days' notice and no reason. The owner needs one of the grounds in the next sections.

When the tenant gives notice

The tenant's grounds are listed below with the minimum notice the RTA publishes for a general tenancy.

A few of these need a word of explanation. "Without grounds" is, in the RTA's words, a reason only tenants and residents may use, and it is different from breaking a lease, which is leaving during a fixed term with no ground at all. "Not liveable" covers a property that has been destroyed, has become unfit to live in or can no longer be used lawfully as a residence. The condition-of-premises ground is available only within seven days of the tenant moving in. The co-tenant ground applies where the death makes it impractical for the remaining tenants to continue, or would cause them excessive hardship.

There is also a ground tied to a sale. If the property is advertised for sale or shown to buyers during the first two months of a tenancy, and the tenant was not told in writing before signing that a sale was intended, the RTA says the tenant may end the agreement with two weeks' notice on Form 13. The notice must be given within two months and two weeks of the start of the tenancy.

When the owner gives notice

An owner or property manager has more grounds but no "without grounds" option.

Two further grounds are specific to particular housing. In purpose-built student accommodation, either side may give one month's notice when the tenant stops being a student. In public and community housing, the provider may give seven days' notice for a serious breach, and may end a tenancy when eligibility for housing assistance has ended.

These periods are minimums. Nothing prevents either side from giving more notice than the table requires.

Grounds that come with conditions

The grounds added in October 2022 gave owners clear reasons to recover a property, and the law attaches conditions so that a ground is used for the purpose it names.

The first condition is the one already described: sale, owner occupation, change of use, significant repairs and demolition cannot bring a fixed term to an early end.

The second concerns what happens afterwards. The RTA states that an owner who ends a tenancy because the property is being sold, because the owner will occupy it or because its use is changing must not let the property again for six months, and that penalties apply.

The third is the protection against retaliation. The RTA defines retaliatory action as a Notice to remedy breach, a Notice to leave or a rent increase given in response to a tenant asserting their rights, in order to intimidate or punish them. A tenant who believes a notice is retaliatory may make an urgent application to QCAT, and the RTA says this must be done within one month of becoming aware of the action. The tribunal decides on the evidence.

Breaches and the notices they lead to

A breach is a failure to do what the agreement or the Act requires, by either side: rent not paid, repairs not carried out, entry without proper notice. It does not end a tenancy by itself. The process the RTA describes has two stages. The side that has been let down first gives a Notice to remedy breach, which sets a period to fix the problem. Only if the breach is not remedied in that time can the other side give notice to end the tenancy on that ground.

The notice periods at that second stage differ by side and by breach. A tenant relying on the owner's unremedied breach gives seven days. An owner gives seven days where the breach is unpaid rent and 14 days for any other breach.

A pattern of breaches is treated differently. The RTA describes a repeat breach as the situation where two or more breach notices have been given for the same breach within 12 months, each was fixed, and the problem then occurs a third time. If it is of a serious nature, the tenant or the owner can apply directly to QCAT to have the agreement ended. The authority adds that the tribunal may decline to end the agreement if the breach is not serious.

Leaving before a fixed term ends

A tenant who leaves partway through a fixed term with no ground is breaking the agreement, and the RTA says the side that breaks it is likely to owe compensation. For a tenant that usually means reletting costs. The same principle runs the other way: an owner who ends a fixed term early without grounds may owe the tenant's moving costs.

For fixed term agreements entered into on or after 30 September 2024, reletting costs are capped by a scale based on how much of the term has passed.

The cap is a ceiling. The RTA explains that the amount payable is the lesser of the figure from the scale and the rent due until a new tenant moves in. It also says no additional reletting costs can be requested beyond the statutory calculation, and that the owner or manager must take all reasonable steps to mitigate the loss, which in practice means starting to relet promptly.

A worked example, with illustrative figures. A tenant on a 12-month agreement at $650 a week leaves after five months. Five-twelfths of the term, about 42 per cent, has expired, which falls in the second band, so the cap is three weeks' rent, or $1,950. If a new tenant moves in two weeks after the first one leaves, the rent lost is two weeks, or $1,300, and that lower figure is what the scale allows.

For agreements longer than three years, the RTA gives a different rule: the lower of one month's rent for each 12 months remaining, up to a maximum of six months' rent, and the rent payable until a new tenant moves in. Agreements signed before 30 September 2024 keep their existing terms where those were compliant.

Tenants who need to leave early have other routes the RTA lists: asking the owner to agree in writing to an early end, asking to transfer the tenancy to someone else, or, where their circumstances are severe, applying to the tribunal on the ground of excessive hardship.

When the property is sold

A sale does not end a tenancy. The RTA's page on properties for sale sets out what happens instead.

The owner must first give the tenant a Notice of lessor's intention to sell premises (Form 10). Open houses and on-site auctions need the tenant's written consent. If the tenant is on a fixed term, they stay until it expires and the buyer takes over as owner under the same agreement, unless the parties negotiate an early end. If the tenancy is periodic and the buyer wants vacant possession, the owner must give at least two months' notice on Form 12 after the contract of sale has been signed.

The rent rules travel with the property. A new owner cannot increase the rent until at least 12 months have passed since the current rent became payable. After the sale, the tenant must be told in writing who the new owner is and where rent is to be paid.

If a lender takes possession of the property, the tenant is entitled to at least two months' notice to leave, given by the mortgagee on Form 19.

Domestic violence, hardship and death

Some endings arise from events neither side chose, and the law treats them separately.

A tenant experiencing domestic and family violence can end their interest in a tenancy with seven days' notice, using a dedicated form (Form 20) and supporting evidence, and can leave immediately. The RTA says the tenant may show the evidence to the property manager or owner without handing it over, and that from 1 January 2026 a police protection direction is among the documents accepted. The departing tenant is not liable for the costs of ending the agreement, for reletting costs or for damage caused by the violence. They remain responsible for rent to the end of the seven days and for unrelated matters such as earlier rent arrears. For any co-tenants, the agreement continues. Within seven days of receiving the notice, the owner or manager must tell the departing tenant whether they intend to ask QCAT to set it aside.

Excessive hardship is a ground for either side, but only through the tribunal. The Act does not define the term. The RTA says an adjudicator weighs each case, and the applicant must show how they would suffer excessive hardship if the tenancy continued. Its examples are loss of a job that leaves the tenant unable to pay rent, a relocation required by an employer and a serious physical or mental health condition. The tribunal may attach orders: compensation to the owner for lost rent or reletting costs, or to the tenant for moving costs.

When a sole tenant dies, the tenancy ends on the earliest of four dates: 14 days after written notice of the death is given by either side, a date agreed between the owner and the tenant's representative, a date set by QCAT, or, if none of those occurs, one month after the death. When an owner dies, the tenancy continues and the legal representative of the estate becomes the lessor.

If the tenant does not leave

A valid notice sets the handover day, but it does not give the owner the right to take the property back by force. The RTA is explicit that an owner cannot make a tenant leave without an order.

If the window passes before the warrant is executed, the RTA says the owner must generally apply for a second one. A tenant against whom a warrant is granted may be ordered to compensate the owner for losses, which can come out of the bond.

A related case is abandonment. Where an owner has reasonable grounds to believe the tenant has gone for good, such as unpaid rent and uncollected mail, they may inspect after giving an entry notice and then issue an abandonment termination notice (Form 15). The tenant has seven days from the date of that notice to dispute it at QCAT. If they do not, they are taken to have abandoned the property.

Counting the days and the final weeks

A notice period only works if the other side has the notice for the whole of it. The RTA reminds both sides that a notice sent by post must allow time for the mail to arrive when working out when the period ends.

Once either side has given a notice to end the tenancy, the rules on entry tighten. Since 1 May 2025, according to the Department of Housing's summary of the law, an owner or manager may enter no more than twice in any seven days after the notice has been given, and entry generally requires 48 hours' notice.

On the last day, the RTA's guidance for tenants is practical: complete the exit condition report (Form 14a), take photographs, return every key, remote and access card, and make sure rent is paid to the vacating date. The property is to be left in the condition it was in at the start, fair wear and tear excepted. The authority advises against claiming the bond before the handover date, and describes an agreed refund through its online service as the fastest way for the money to be released.

Tenants may leave without a reason. Owners need one, and the reason they choose sets the notice they must give.

The RTA's notice period tables are the reference for any case this guide does not cover, including rooming accommodation and caravan park tenancies, where the periods are different and in many cases shorter.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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