Key Takeaways
- The Property Law Act 2023 (Qld) came into effect on 1 August 2025 with new provisions surrounding leases ending.
- The old legislation required a notice to remedy breach be issued prior to a lessor exercising its right to re-enter land, but the new legislation waives this right where it is evident that the lessee has relinquished possession.
- Where a lessor exercises their right to re-entry, they are required to notify all persons listed on the lease as soon as practicable.
- This amendment provides a commercially practical, expedited resolution for the recovery of premises where a lessee’s conduct has amounted to a breach as well as clear abandonment.
What’s new?
The Property Law Act 2023 (Qld) (PLA) was recently updated and came into effect on 1 August 2025. With this update has come new provisions, including section 156, which provides that a notice to remedy breach may not be required if the lessee has given up possession. In cases where a breach has occurred and it is apparent the lessee has abandoned the premises, lessors may have an immediate right of re-entry
What has changed?
The old PLA required that a notice to remedy breach needed to be issued first before a lessor could re-take possession of the land. This was an impractical provision in instances where the lessee had clearly given up possession of the property itself and any notice sent merely served as a formality. If a lessee had given up possession, any notice or correspondence sent to their business address would be unread and effectively pointless. This would prolong the lessor’s timeline to recover their property.
The changes to the PLA account for the artificial process that existed in reclaiming property where it was clear a lessor had relinquished possession. Now, instead of being forced to arbitrarily give a notice of breach, there are avenues to directly issue a termination notice where certain prerequisites have been met.
The new regime
The new provision waives the requirement for a lessor to firstly issue a notice of breach to the lessee before exercising their right to re-entry. Under the previous PLA, if a notice had not been issued first, a right of re-entry was impermissible and would not be enforceable.
The updates to the PLA place emphasis on the modernization of property law and ensuring that the rules relating to leases are simplified. The updates to the termination regime reflect this by accounting for circumstances in which issuing a notice to remedy is an unnecessary step.
In order for a lessor to validly re-enter the property, the PLA sets out clear conditions. The lessor may re-enter where:
- A term of the lease has been breached;
- The lessor reasonably believes that the lessee has given up possession of the land; and
- As soon as practicable, after exercising a right to re-entry, the lessor must notify each designated person under the lease that this right has been exercised.
The third and final point requires that the lessor must give a notice to each designated person for the lease whose name and address is known to the lessor. Lessors must be proactive and conscientious to comply with this final step.
The new provision is consistent with a practical approach to mutually ending a lease. This enables both parties to commercially mitigate loss by expediting the termination (and recovery) process.
What you should be mindful of
As a lessee, it is imperative you are aware that the joint relinquishment of the premises together with a breach of your lease enables a lessor to re-enter the property. Simultaneously, lessors should be proactive in exercising this right to re-enter where it is clear that the necessary prerequisites have been met.
We recommend that, out of an abundance of caution, a lessor takes steps to communicate with the lessee prior to exercising this right. There may be cases in which the conduct of the lessee has left no room for interpretation other than clear abandonment. This may include, but is not limited to, the lessee handing back (or attempting to hand back) the keys to the property or evidencing their intention to relinquish possession through writing or formal correspondence. We reiterate that in circumstances such as these, paramount care should be taken and legal advice should be procured to consider your options.
For further discussion or assistance, please contact our Disputes team.
