Your business has shrunk, the location stopped working, or your landlord has become impossible to deal with. Whatever the reason, you need out of a commercial lease that probably has years left on it. Walking away is almost always the worst choice — landlords sue, bank guarantees get called, and personal guarantees follow you home. The good news is that Australian commercial tenancy law gives you five legitimate exits, and most disputes are settled by a properly drafted letter long before anyone sees a court.
Option 1: Surrender by agreement
The cleanest exit is a negotiated surrender. The landlord agrees in writing to release you from the lease, usually in exchange for a surrender payment (often three to six months of rent) and on the condition you leave the premises in good order. This is governed by ordinary contract law plus the relevant state statute — the Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW), the Property Law Act 1958 (VIC), the Property Law Act 1974 (QLD), the Property Law Act 1969 (WA), the Law of Property Act 1936 (SA), or equivalent. A surrender deed must be signed by both parties to be effective; an oral agreement will not stop the landlord coming after you for the rest of the term.
Option 2: Assignment to a replacement tenant
Most commercial leases let you assign the lease to a new tenant with the landlord’s consent. Under the Retail Leases Acts (NSW 1994, VIC 2003, QLD 1994, WA 2011, SA 1995, ACT 2001) the landlord cannot unreasonably withhold consent, and in many cases must respond within a fixed window — 28 to 42 days depending on state. Find a financially comparable replacement tenant, present them to the landlord, and the landlord’s room to refuse is narrow. Once the assignment is executed, you are usually released from future rent (subject to any guarantee you signed).
Option 3: Frustration of contract
If the premises become physically unusable through no party’s fault — a fire, a structural collapse, a pandemic-era forced closure — the doctrine of frustration may discharge the lease. This is narrow and contested. COVID-era cases mostly went against tenants, but where the premises are genuinely destroyed or rendered illegal to occupy, frustration applies and you can walk without penalty. A written notice citing the frustrating event is essential.
Option 4: Breach claim against the landlord
Many commercial landlords are themselves in breach — failing to repair the roof, ignoring HVAC failures, allowing other tenants to interfere with your quiet enjoyment, breaching essential services covenants. Where the breach is serious and ongoing, you can issue a Notice to Remedy Breach giving the landlord a reasonable period (usually 14 to 28 days) to fix the problem. If they fail, you may have grounds to terminate the lease for repudiation and claim damages. This is the path most viable for tenants who are genuinely being failed by their landlord.
Option 5: Retail Leases Act protections
If your lease is a “retail” lease under your state’s Retail Leases Act, you have extra protections that can void or rewrite onerous terms — disclosure statement defects, unconscionable conduct, prohibited “ratchet” rent reviews, illegitimate landlord outgoings, and more. A defective disclosure statement at the start of the lease can entitle you to terminate within the first six months in NSW (and similar windows elsewhere). This is worth checking before you assume you are stuck.
Putting it in writing
Whichever path you take, the document does the work. A surrender request, an assignment proposal, a frustration notice, a Notice to Remedy Breach, or a Retail Leases Act termination notice — each must cite the right Act, set out the facts cleanly, and demand a specific outcome by a specific date. Verbal conversations are worthless when the dispute escalates.
What Claim Done delivers
For a flat $79, Claim Done drafts your Notice to Remedy Breach, surrender request, or assignment letter as an Australian-law-compliant PDF — correctly addressed, citing the right state Act and lease clauses, and framed to maximise your negotiating position. Around ten minutes in the wizard, no solicitor appointment required. Compare that to the $600–$1,500 a commercial property lawyer would charge for the same letter.
What happens after
Most landlords respond within 7 to 14 days of receiving a properly drafted notice — either agreeing to negotiate a surrender, accepting the proposed assignee, or fixing the breach. If they refuse, you have the documentary record needed to escalate to the relevant state tribunal (NCAT, VCAT, QCAT, SAT, SACAT, ACAT) or to the Supreme Court for larger commercial matters. Either way, you are no longer the one in the wrong — the paper trail proves you tried to resolve it properly.