Domestic violence termination notice

What is a domestic violence termination notice?

If you (or your child) are experiencing domestic violence, you can give your landlord a domestic violence termination notice to end your tenancy immediately, without penalty.

You can do this if the offender is:

• someone you have, or had, a domestic relationship with
• a former or current co-tenant
• a former or current occupant.

You can do this during the fixed term of your tenancy.

You can choose whether to:

• give your notice and then leave the property, or
• leave the property first and then give your notice afterwards, if it is safer to do so.

Once you have given your notice and left the property, your tenancy agreement ends, and you don’t have to pay any more rent. You also don’t have to pay a break lease fee for terminating your tenancy early.

Your landlord or real estate agent can’t list your information on a tenancy database for giving a domestic violence termination notice.

Giving notice

To give a domestic violence termination notice, you can use the:

• Sample domestic violence termination notice by tenant to landlord/agent on the NSW Government website, or
• Sample letter on the Tenants Union of NSW website.

The domestic violence termination notice must include:

• a termination date, which can be on the same day you give the notice or a later date
• supporting evidence showing that you are in a domestic violence situation because of the perpetrator.

You must give your notice to your landlord with one of the permitted forms of supporting evidence.

You must also give your co-tenants a copy of your notice, including the offender if they are a co-tenant. You don’t have to give your co-tenants a copy of your supporting evidence.

You can do this:

• by hand
• by post, or
• by email, if they have already agreed to receive notices by email.

There is no minimum notice period for giving a domestic violence termination notice. 

Supporting evidence

You can use one of the following documents as supporting evidence showing your domestic violence situation:

• a domestic violence declaration
• a domestic violence order (DVO) made against the perpetrator where you are the protected person
• an injunction made by the family court to protect you from the perpetrator
• a certificate of conviction, which shows that the perpetrator was charged and convicted for the domestic violence

If you are relying on a certificate of conviction or a domestic violence declaration, it must be for a domestic violence situation that happened during your tenancy.

Domestic violence declaration

If you don’t have a court order or certificate of conviction relating to the domestic violence you are experiencing, you can ask a competent person to complete a Declaration by competent person to use as supporting evidence.

If your child is the one experiencing domestic violence, you should use the Declaration by competent person (for a tenant’s dependent child) form.

The following competent persons may provide a declaration:

• registered health practitioners who hold either general or specialist registration in one of the following health professions:
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practice
  • Chinese medicine
  • chiropractic
  • dental (including the profession of a dentist, dental therapist, dental hygienist, dental prosthetist and oral health therapist)
  • medical
  • medical radiation practice
  • midwifery
  • nursing
  • occupational therapy
  • optometry
  • osteopathy
  • paramedicine
  • pharmacy
  • physiotherapy
  • podiatry
  • psychology
• social workers who are a member of the Australian Association of Social Workers,
• employees of a NSW government agency that work in child protection,
• employees of non-government agencies that receive government funding to provide services relating to domestic violence/sexual assault or refuge/emergency accommodation, and
• approved counsellors under the Victims Rights and Support Act 2013.

The declaration does include:

• your details and children, if any
• the name of the perpetrator and your relationship with him or her
• the declaration by the authorised person based on the consultation with you.

The declaration does not include the details of the domestic violence situation.

For a declaration by a competent person form, see Information for professionals who can make a domestic violence declaration on the NSW Fair Trading website.

Domestic violence order

A domestic violence order (DVO) can be:

• a final, interim or provisional apprehended domestic violence order (ADVO) from NSW
• a similar order from another State
• a DVO made in New Zealand

The DVO must  still be in-force. It can't be expired.

Bond

If you paid part or all of the bond, you can ask your co-tenants for a refund. To do this, you should send you a written request for a refund of your share of the bond, less any rent owed or other reasonable costs, to be paid within 14 days. Your co-tenants can deduct any rent or other reasonable costs you owe from your bond. If they don’t pay, you can apply to NCAT within 28 days for an order for payment of the bond.

If the offender damaged the property during an incident of domestic violence, only they can be held responsible. You and any other tenants are not responsible.

You may be responsible for any other damage to the property not caused by a domestic violence incident.

For more information, see the factsheet Bond on the Tenants Union of NSW website.

Remaining tenants

For the two weeks after you give your notice, any remaining tenants, who are not the offender, are only required to pay same amount of rent that they owed before you gave notice. The two weeks begins on the date you give notice. This gives your co-tenants time to find a new co-tenant or apply to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal to end their tenancy.

If your only remaining co-tenant is the offender, they are responsible for paying the full amount of rent once your tenancy is ended.

For more information, see:

• Ending a tenancy because of domestic violence on the NSW Government website
• Domestic violence and renting factsheet on the Tenants Union of NSW website.