End of lease: reward, reset or replace?
End of lease is one of the few moments you can meaningfully reset the terms of a tenancy. Rent, lease length, even who lives there. Most owners drift through it and roll the lease over by default. The owners with the strongest returns treat it as a decision with three options.
Reward the tenant worth keeping
The tenant pays on time, the property comes through inspections in good condition and the rent is roughly at market. Keep them, and make keeping them easy. A relet is never free: advertising, a letting fee and every vacant week at $900 is $900 you do not get back. A reliable tenant who stays three years is worth more than a small rent premium from an unknown one.
Rewarding does not mean freezing the rent forever. It means fair increases, prompt maintenance and a renewal offer that arrives early enough to feel like an invitation rather than an ultimatum.
Reset the terms, keep the tenant
The tenant is fine but the rent has fallen behind the market. This is the most common situation and the most avoided conversation. The move is a moderate increase supported by real comparable evidence, often paired with a longer fixed term so both sides get certainty.
In NSW a rent increase needs 60 days written notice in the prescribed form, so the conversation has to start well before the lease ends. Most tenants accept a fair adjustment when they can see the evidence and hear it explained like adults. What they leave over is a letter with a number and no context.
Not sure how this plays out for your property? A quick call gives you a straight answer.
Replace when the file says so
Consistent arrears, repeated breaches, damage beyond wear. When the tenancy file tells that story, a relet is the right call even with the short-term cost. The mistake owners make is waiting one more lease term hoping it improves. It rarely does, and every extra term adds risk to the property and the income.
The 60 to 90 day window
Whichever call you make, it has to happen 60 to 90 days before the lease ends. That window is what makes each option real: time to serve a proper increase notice, time to negotiate a renewal, time to market the property so a departing tenant hands over to an arriving one with minimal vacancy.
Decisions made 14 days out are not decisions. They are reactions, and reactions at the end of a lease are where owners lose money.
The end-of-lease checklist
- Pull the file 90 days out: ledger, inspection reports, maintenance history
- Get current comparable rents, not last year's
- Decide: reward, reset or replace
- If resetting, serve the 60 day rent increase notice properly
- If replacing, plan marketing so vacancy is measured in days
- Confirm compliance items before a new tenancy starts
How we run it
On managed properties this decision is scheduled, not remembered. Every lease end sits in a pipeline that opens 90 days out with a rent review against live market evidence and a recommendation to the owner: reward, reset or replace, with the numbers behind it. The owner makes the call. We make sure it is made early enough to be worth making.
Lease ending in the next three months?
A quick call now is worth more than a scramble at day 14. We will tell you which of the three calls the evidence supports.