how does the CPA affect lease agreements?

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Fiza

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can someone please tell me how does the CPA affect a lease. if i signed a 3 year lease and want to ancel during the term of a lease, how does the CPA come into play? i read somewhere on a cpa forum that it can be cancelled with a 20 day notice period but the landlord/owner can charge a reasonable penalty for early cancellation. how much can that penalty be?
 
You can cancel with 20 business days notice...effectively 1 month written notice. However the penalty is "reasonable" and not a set amount. The wording also states that the Lessor must take into account the remaining period. Nothing has been held in law (no case law yet) but it has been considered that a court would hold reasonable to be the period of lost income to the lessor between the termination date and the finding of a new tenants commencement date. As a minimum I would think that you would forfeit your deposit.
 
Did you sign the contract before the CPA came into affect? I dont think it applies then. Give the landlord notice as soon as possible that you would like to move out, e.g. tell him now so that he can start looking for a new tenant. Generally they wont care as long as they dont loose money by having the place stand empty.
 
Also depends whether the landlord is a business or renting property is their business. If it's a private individual the CPA doesn't apply.
 
Fiza said:
i havent signed the lease yet. but the landlord wants me to sign a 3year lease
Click to expand...

If you haven't signed the lease, don't do it if you aren't happy with the terms. 3 Years is a really long time for a lease, normally it's a year and I wouldn't suggest signing up for any longer than that. Even if you can enforce the CPA, it's going to be a lot of effort, time and frustration to get out of the contract.
 
the problem is, thats the only suitable property for what i want in the area i want to be in
 
is it for personal or business purposes?

Business rentals are often 3,5,10 years.

Spoke to a petrol station owner(total) once. According to him total holds the lease for his garage with the owners of that centre for 99 years...
 
CPA does not apply in any way when the client is a business. It's the CONSUMER protection act. :)
 
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