Free guide · Queensland · checked 4 October 2026
Breaking a lease in Queensland: what it costs, and how to do it properly
Most people who need to leave early expect a bill they can’t argue with. For most Queensland leases now, the bill has a ceiling, and it’s often lower than the ceiling, because you only pay until someone new moves in. Here is the rule, the forms, the times you can leave without paying it at all, and how to make the number smaller.
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Work out your cap with the break-lease calculator →Your rent and lease dates in, the most you can be charged out, and the day it drops.
The short answer: if your fixed-term lease was signed or renewed on or after 30 September 2024, the most you can be charged for leaving early is 4, 3, 2 or 1 week’s rent, depending on how far through the lease you are. You pay the lower of that cap and the rent for the days until a new tenant moves in. Rent up to the day you hand back the keys, and anything else you owe (unpaid rent, water, damage), are separate.
The cap, and how to read it
The RTA calls it the reletting cost. It covers as one capped amount what used to be charged in pieces: advertising, the letting fee and the rent lost while the place is empty. Nothing else can be added for re-letting.
| How much of the fixed term has passed when you leave | The most you can be charged |
|---|---|
| Less than 25% | 4 weeks’ rent |
| 25% to under 50% | 3 weeks’ rent |
| 50% to under 75% | 2 weeks’ rent |
| 75% or more | 1 week’s rent |
The lower of two numbers. If the cap is 3 weeks and the agency finds a new tenant who moves in after 1 week, you owe 1 week. If the cap is 2 weeks and it takes 5 weeks to re-let, you still owe 2. The RTA’s own example: a place re-let 5 days after you leave costs 5 days’ rent.
Leases longer than 3 years work differently: the lower of one month’s rent for each full year left (up to 6 months’ rent) and the rent until it’s re-let.
Signed before 30 September 2024 and not renewed since? The cap doesn’t apply. You can be asked for reasonable reletting costs and the rent until a new tenant moves in or the lease ends, whichever comes first. The owner still has to keep that cost down (see the duty to re-let, below) and can’t claim costs they could reasonably have avoided.
The part people miss: the agent has to re-let it
The owner or agent must take reasonable steps to keep your cost down. In practice that means advertising promptly, at a fair rent, and showing the place. They can’t leave it empty and bill you for the wait. If the place sat unadvertised for two weeks, ask what was done and when, and dispute the part that wasn’t reasonable.
In our experience the cheapest break is the one where the tenant makes re-letting easy: flexible inspection times, the place clean and photographable early, and a clear move-out date given in writing as soon as you know it.
Doing it properly, step by step
- Check your agreement. Is it fixed term or periodic (no end date)? When was it signed or last renewed? A periodic tenant leaving with 14 days’ notice isn’t breaking anything.
- Tell the agent in writing, early. Give a Form 13 Notice of intention to leave with your hand-back date. On a fixed term with no other reason, leaving before the end date is breaking the lease. The notice still matters, because it starts the re-letting.
- Ask how and when they’ll re-let it. When will the ad go up, at what rent, and when are inspections?
- Make inspections easy. The sooner a new tenant signs, the smaller your bill.
- Hand back properly. Fill in the exit condition report (Form 14a) when you return the keys, take dated photos, and return every key and remote. Your rent runs to that day as normal.
- Check the bill. It should be the lower of your cap and the rent until the new tenant moved in, plus only what you actually owe besides. Ask for it itemised.
- Get your bond back. See getting your bond back, including what to do if you don’t agree with a claim.
When you can leave early without the break cost
Some reasons to leave aren’t “breaking” at all. The forms and notice periods are set by the RTA; check the RTA page for yours before you rely on it.
Domestic and family violence. You can end your interest in the tenancy with a Form 20 notice and 7 days’ notice, and you can leave straight away. You aren’t charged reletting costs, and you aren’t liable for damage caused by the violence. You pay rent for the notice period. The RTA lists the evidence that’s accepted, and the bond has its own refund form (Form 4a).
The owner doesn’t fix a breach. Give a Form 11 Notice to remedy breach. If it isn’t remedied in time, a Form 13 with 7 days’ notice ends the tenancy.
The place isn’t fit to live in, or didn’t meet the minimum housing standards when you moved in: there are separate, shorter notice rules.
You weren’t told it was for sale. If the property was being sold and you weren’t told before you signed, you may be able to end the tenancy early with 2 weeks’ notice, provided you act early in the tenancy. The RTA page on sales has the timing.
Excessive hardship. If staying would cause you excessive hardship (losing your job or serious illness, for example), you can ask QCAT to end the agreement. It can still order you to pay some lost rent or reletting costs.
What not to do
Don’t just stop paying and leave. The owner can treat it as abandoned (Form 15) and claim what’s owing, and you lose the chance to keep the bill down.
Don’t agree to a “break lease fee” on top of the cap if your lease was signed or renewed on or after 30 September 2024. No extra reletting cost can be asked for, and a special term in the lease can’t change that.
Don’t sign a blank bond refund form. Agree the numbers first, in writing.
Don’t skip the exit report. It’s your record of how you left the place, and the first thing anyone looks at if there’s a dispute.
Know your number before you talk to the agent.
Put in your rent and lease dates and the calculator shows your cap, the date it drops to fewer weeks, and what you’d pay if the place re-lets quickly.
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