I got a notice to leave

Host: Welcome to The Not A Lawyer podcast. I am your host, and I am not a lawyer. Before we start: everything in this episode is general information about Queensland law. It is not legal advice.

Host: Today's situation: "I got a notice to leave." With me is a Queensland lawyer. Welcome.

Guest: Thanks for having me. And to be clear, I can only talk generally today. If you have a notice in your hand, a tenancy service can look at your actual papers.

Jess gets a letter

Host: Let us start with a story. Say someone called Jess. She rents a unit in Brisbane. She has been there two years. One afternoon she opens an email from the agent, and the subject line says "Notice to leave".

Guest: That is a very common moment. And a frightening one.

Host: What does Jess think? She thinks: I have to be out. Tomorrow. Probably.

Guest: Right. And that is the first thing worth knowing. A notice to leave usually does not mean you have to be out tomorrow. It sets out a date, and a reason, and that is all it does.

Host: So what is it, exactly?

Guest: It is a form. The official name is a Notice to Leave, and the form number is Form 12. It is how a lessor, meaning the owner, or their agent, says that they want the tenancy to end.

Host: Lessor. I love that word. It sounds like someone who has lost something.

Guest: It is just the landlord. The person who rents out the home. The tenant is the person who rents it.

Host: And the date on the form. What is that?

Guest: It is called the handover day. The day the lessor says you should hand the property back.

Host: Handover day. Sounds like a relay race.

Guest: It does a bit. But here is the key point. The notice does not end your tenancy by itself, and it does not, on its own, force you out. Only the tribunal can order that, and only if the lessor applies.

Host: Hold on. Say that again.

Guest: In general, a notice to leave is the lessor's first step, not the last. If you do not leave by the handover day, the lessor usually has to apply to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. People call it QCAT. And the tribunal decides.

Host: So Jess can stay put?

Guest: I would not say that to anyone as a plan. It depends on the notice and on the reasons. But yes, it is important to know that the notice is not the same as an eviction. Nobody, not the lessor, not the agent, is allowed to remove you or lock you out themselves. That is an offence.

This recording covers the opening of the episode. The written guide, A notice to leave, goes through the reasons a lessor can use, how to check a notice and what to do next.