The Lease

The termination immediately turned into a housing problem.

Only weeks earlier I had signed a twelve-month lease, paid the bond and rent, ordered an internet connection and begun treating Adelaide Terrace as home. Every practical decision I was making assumed I would still be living in Perth well into 2027.

I contacted the property manager at Adelaide Terrace on 19 August.

I explained that my probationary employment had been discontinued and that I would now need to return to Melbourne.

The next day the agency sent through the break-lease process and the potential costs.

Rent could continue until a replacement tenant was found.

There were advertising costs.

Condition-report fees.

Tenancy database checks.

A pro-rata letting-fee reimbursement.

The precise final amount would depend on how quickly the property may be re-let.

This was the practical side of interstate recruitment that employment contracts rarely capture.

A job can end in one meeting.

A lease cannot.

By 23 August I had completed the break-lease form and was asking how quickly the property could be advertised.

I explained that I had relocated in good faith on the basis of the employment and that without income in Perth I could not justify maintaining the apartment while my family remained in Victoria.

I asked for every reasonable effort to re-let the property quickly.

The initial inspection is scheduled for the same day I intend to vacate: tomorrow.

I simply need to know where to put the keys.

Once they are handed back, I will be in the car.

That sentence in the email is almost brutally practical.

Once I leave the apartment, I will no longer be in Perth to return to or attend the property.

There will be no emotional flourish.

There is a route east and a departure time.