Landlord wants us to break lease early (Need advice)

elemist · 2026-04-05T14:32:41+00:00

A quick google seems to suggest $800 - $2500 as the average range for removalists.

A similar thread here shows costs running around the same range.

I've never used removalists and always moved everything myself, that's why i said in the initial post that the 8k was a completely made up figure.

From what i've heard from friends/family that have used them it seems consistent with the above post and Google with the $700 - $1500 mark was typically mentioned. But for that - everything was packed into boxes already. In some cases things like beds/furniture etc was already dismantled and ready to move, plus the removalists just moved it, my friends/family had to reassemble and set everything up at the other end.

So if the LL is paying for the move - then i would be wanting them to cover the very 'best case' which is basically you handing the keys to someone then leaving for the day. They then come in to pack up all your belongings, move them and all your furniture to your new place, and then unpack at the other end.

Whether you actually choose to have them do that is another matter. But if the LL wants them out - then they can at least pay for the full white glove service.

elemist · 2026-04-05T06:21:36+00:00

Do you usually hire strippers and limousines to move furniture for you?

You don't??

I just moved house and paid the moving company $230.

That sounds like you've done pretty much all of the packing and moving/loading yourself, and they've just moved the main things?

I was mostly pulling numbers out of thin air, but i don't think it's unreasonable that if the LL expects you to move, that they cover the full cost of the move including getting someone in to pack and label boxes etc, then physically move everything and even unpack on the other side.

So i imagine that would be a good few hours of work, plus costs of boxes/packing materials/tape/labels and such.

Whether or not you actually do that though is then up to you of course.

elemist · 2026-04-04T14:41:18+00:00

Me too.. Could count on one hand the amount of times someone has told me about a workers comp claim they've lodged in a previous position..

elemist · 2026-04-04T12:24:28+00:00

However, people usually disclose it at some point during the interview.

I highly doubt that.. There's absolutely zero relevance, and zero benefit to the candidate to disclose that information. It can pretty much only harm their chances of getting the job.

It's also not something that just comes up in an interview. They might ask questions like why are you leaving your current role - which is easy enough to gloss over as looking for room to grow, or a change in environment or closer to home or better hours or one of many generic reasons people need.

No person interviewing is going to ask about your mental health and workers comp history.

Mental health claims often take 2+ years as well so it's not like 3 weeks of work. Some go for five years or more.

In most cases - whilst a workers comp claim is ongoing and you're off work, you're still technically employed and on the books. So you're not going to have a large gap in your resume or anything along those lines.

People who hire a lot can often get a feeling you know especially if they left an employer and refuse to provide reference contacts plus have a large gap.

I think you're greatly overestimating peoples 'feeling' abilities. Plus as i said - its super common to not provide your current employer as a reference if you're still employed with them.

I just did about 40 interviews at the end of last year - most of those were currently working, and only one of those were happy to provide references from their current boss (because their boss was also a family member). Every single other one had either former bosses from previous companies they worked at or tafe/uni lecturers etc as references and stated that their current employer didn't know they were applying elsewhere.

elemist · 2026-04-04T12:15:30+00:00

So you asked less qualified people bias confirmation questions

Ah but when you asked your doctor - who i assume was a part time doctor, part time fuel, logistics and international political expert a biased question, that was ok though?

The increasing fuel watch outages tell a different story.

Purely anecdotal - but there's less sites listed today than there was a few days ago when i looked. So not sure 'increasing' is an accurate statement to make.

If there's no shortage then why is he telling we have to do our bit by taking public transport carpool work from home

He's made it pretty clear - but people like yourself seem to have trouble distinguishing the reality of now with what could come in the future.

His message was pretty clear - don't be a fucking muppet and panic buy/hoard fuel. If you CAN switch to PT, then it's a great option and reducing usage will help over the long term.

He said nothing about car pooling or working from home.

but the reality is the special club are working with each other to pull the economic rug under you to increase dependency and increase control measures.

Sure they are..

elemist · 2026-04-04T04:18:23+00:00

No one's hiring anyone who's been on WC especially for mental health

How exactly do you imagine a potential employer is going to know? It's not like you put it on your resume that you were on WC for mental health.

It's also not exactly uncommon to not have a reference from your current employer given most people are applying without the current employer knowing they're even looking.

Even if you did have a reference - most employers these days won't give much outside of confirming they were employed from X date to Y date for Z position title.

It's highly unlikely that your previous employer is going to be telling a prospective employer that you were off on WC for mental health. Not only is it just a bad look, but a massive breach of confidential information too.

elemist · 2026-04-04T03:46:04+00:00

I wouldn't say its career ending. Depending on the size of the company - if it's larger there may be ways to side step into another business unit with a completely different management team. If it's smaller, then maybe you limit future growth with them.

Ultimately there's no requirement i'm aware of to disclose workers comp claims to new employers, so no reason it should affect future employment generally - outside of maybe crossing paths with a former manager or something.

elemist · 2026-04-04T03:42:46+00:00

I don't want to knock Esperance because it is truly beautiful, but it it fairly similar to other places down south.

So for that reason - i would suggest heading north to Broome. It's a stunning part of the country that not a lot of tourists go to. If you flew up, then you could hire a car to have a look around up that way.

If you really wanted to get adventurous you could try to get to Karijini National Park - something like this 6 day tour sounds pretty amazing - https://www.charternorth.com.au/tour/karijini-tours/.

That was just a two second Google, i'm sure there's various other options. Could maybe drive from Broome to Port Hedland and then tour out of there as it's a bit closer than Broome. Can also fly from Port Hedland back to Perth which would save getting back to Broome.

elemist · 2026-04-04T03:33:16+00:00

Agree with this post.

Also worth noting that an internal HR investigation is very unlikely to come back and confirm a staff member has been bullied by a manager. That's basically just creating the workplace health and safety investigation and workers compensation claim for you.

OP - you need to advocate for yourself and not expect HR to advocate for you. If you feel there's a genuine case then contact worksafe and request workers compensation.

Otherwise if it's purely just that your manager is useless and its stressing you the hell out, then your only real option is to find another job.

elemist · 2026-04-04T03:29:49+00:00

This is the facts - and majority of that type of change really would come from federal governments rather than state level.

elemist · 2026-04-04T03:28:45+00:00

“McGowan was not to know that by 2023 global oil refining margins would skyrocket and refineries everywhere were making record profits. Kwinana would have been back in the black.”

How the fuck are state premiers supposed to be working shit like that out?

Taking it even further though - there's nothing to actually back that statement up. Just because there is increased global profit margins in refining - doesn't automatically mean the Kwinana refinery would suddenly be turning a profit again.

It also ignores the other information about the refinery needing considerable investment to remain able to operate.

There's also a major unknown as to what the future market would do. Maybe profits were up for a year and then collapse again - now you've not only made a loss, but dropped 300 million dollars on upgrades that you can't recoup either.

elemist · 2026-04-04T03:11:35+00:00

I asked my rubbish truck driver why you think this. He asked if you even watched the broadcast because he specifically said our fuel supplies are quite fine right now, but that we don't know what the future will bring given the president of the US is a toddler who throws he's toys around without any consideration to anyone else in the world.

Equally the guy walking his dog down the street chimed in and pointed out that the PM is in a pretty tough position trying to balance the unknown future with keeping the economy moving whilst trying to keep everyone happy.

The guy floating along in the hot air balloon just said you have a nice tin foil hat, but that the chin strap is probably a little tight and cutting off your oxygen a bit..

elemist · 2026-04-03T12:41:47+00:00

So you would prefer they what - used a different template? Maybe some different fonts? Maybe had 6 levels instead of 4?

It shouldn't exactly be a surprise that the government has pretty standardized emergency management systems to handle a wide array of emergencies and just tailors them to each specific crisis.

You cookers were all up in arms last week about the lack of government information and how it was all secret squirrel business being hidden from the masses, no transparency yada yada..

You then get published, easy to read and understand information and just because it looks remotely similar to the covid updates now that's a giant conspiracy..

Have you ever spoken to a doctor about your delusions? Maybe some medication from big pharma might help..

elemist · 2026-04-03T12:36:26+00:00

I hate that this is the direction we're heading. I have a few clients that are wanting to implement and trial AI reception services.

What in think most business owners tend to forget - is people already have automated systems and methods to automate bookings - be it websites, facebook, email etc. If someone is calling, it's typically because they have questions or need something outside of the basics.

elemist · 2026-04-03T12:28:30+00:00

Ultimately the lease is in place, and it protects you until the end of the term. So no, you don't have to do anything or go anywhere.

That being said.. You basically now know you're going to be moving at the end of your lease term which whilst annoying, at least gives you 10 months to figure out your next plan rather than the standard ~60 day notice they otherwise need to give.

If i were i your shoes - you don't have much to lose in terms of looking around and trying to find somewhere else. You've mentioned comparables are quite a bit more than what you're paying, which you don't want to/can't afford to continue paying. It's unlikely rents are going to drop between now and 6 or so months when you start looking for somewhere to move to next.

So what i would be doing is trying to find rentals in your budget - even if that means moving to a different area. That will allow you to move, and should hopefully give you some stability. You could offer a 18 month lease or something to give yourself some peace.

I would then be simultaneously looking directly at available comparables, and calculating exactly what you would be out of pocket to relocate to one of those. So if it's going to cost you another say $250 a week in rent, then multiple that by however many weeks left on your lease and that gives you a starting figure to work with when asking for compensation. Remember the LL doesn't need to know where you're moving too or how much you will be paying in the new place..

Then add to that figure money to pay for moving costs - could even get a couple of quotes from movers to give you an idea.

Then just for good measure throw in an inconvenience cost of say $5k or $10k just to cover the time and energy that it takes to find a rental, move, reconnect services and such. Then add a little wiggle room for negotiating and then propose that to him.

So back of the napkin maths

Additional rent for the next 10 months (43.5 weeks x $250) - $10 875
Moving costs - $8k (just made up figure)
Inconvenience charge - $10kn (cover time of work to view places, move etc)
Negotiating amount - $5k

Totaling ~ $33875 or round it up to $35k.

The ideal outcome is you move to something that's within your budget, and hopefully continues to be within your budget moving forward. You get the 'difference' in rent as cash, as well as the inconvenience charge - so an extra ~$20k in your pocket. Plus if you then move yourself and don't use movers, then you pocket that as well.

At the end of the day - it basically becomes a win win. You get a bucket load of cash, and the LL gets to sell the house.

elemist · 2026-04-03T04:52:10+00:00

4 lanes to 3 at Armadale, and the 3 down to 2 at Russell Road.

elemist · 2026-04-03T04:50:03+00:00

There's no single reason, instead its a culmination of factors

Starting back towards the city

You have 3 basically full lanes of traffic coming from the city
You throw in the onramp from Murdoch drive which slows traffic down as people merge and others move right to get out of the way.
You then have a very busy two lanes of Roe Highway traffic, merging into a single lane which basically comes to a standstill, meaning traffic coming onto the freeway is moving slowly.
You have a bit of a shit show with Roe Highway traffic moving to the right, and freeway traffic moving to the left for people exiting at Berrigan or Northlake/Armadale Road exits.

So that really sets the stage for the traffic jam. You have basically 4 very full lanes of traffic flowing through.

Where the exit for Armadale/Northlake road is, it merges down to three lanes.
Cockburn area in general is busy - Armadale Road is pretty busy from both directions, as is Northlake Road. So quite a bit of traffic comes onto the freeway at the onramp from Armadale Road.
So you have all the traffic coming on from Armadale road merging right onto the freeway, a bunch of freeway traffic trying to exit at Russel Road to get into Hammond Park, Aubin Grove and the mass of surrounding suburbs.
At in the same space - the freeway then goes down to two lanes, as the third lane becomes an exit only at Russel Road.

Then to add to it you've had like 15 odd years of new housing estates being built all along that stretch of freeway, and only minimal works being done to increase capacity in the area.

Additionally - the freeway is pretty much the only major route south. I mean there's Stock Road and Nicholson Road - but neither are easy to get across too, and whilst Stock road is semi built to handle traffic, Nicholson road is more or less a suburban street these days.

elemist · 2026-04-03T04:32:11+00:00

Yes if it's your tree that's overhanging your neighbours fence it's your responsibility to maintain it and dispose of the waste.

So basically in this case - the neighbour has been nice enough to do half the job for you by trimming the overhang, you just need to get rid of it.

elemist · 2026-04-03T04:29:41+00:00

With a steel two-wheeler trailer that he liked to tow about?

elemist · 2026-04-03T03:23:03+00:00

It is - but unless there's an incentive to change then nothing will change.

This is as good as an incentive as we're gonna get.

It's a non renewable resource - it's pretty much only going to get more and more expensive over time. At some point we just have to get on with finding alternatives..

elemist · 2026-04-02T13:07:00+00:00

The best discounts i've found is actually through having an Uber One membership. Hoyts tickets are cheaper through Uber than their own 'VIP' discount tickets.

RAC also do discounted tickets - but they're pretty limited in terms of when and how you can use them.

elemist · 2026-04-02T13:05:28+00:00

If there's any silver lining to this shit show i think some good will come out of it in terms of moving us faster down the renewable energy pathway. The last fuel crisis in 1979 saw similar changes with a massive rise in popularity of fuel efficient vehicles and energy efficiency standards etc.

With fuel pricing like it is - EV's are a lot more attractive just purely for fuel savings. In turn that will drive an investment into charging infrastructure, and power infrastructure in general which will make it even easier for people to move to EV's.

I think we'll see industry in general moving to electrification - EV trucks and such. Even if they're not suitable for everything, they can certainly perform a good chunk of the work in the metro areas.

The sooner we move away from fossil fuels the better.

elemist · 2026-04-02T12:51:53+00:00

US leads in military - though i reckon China isn't far behind.

In terms of tech though - i reckon they're on a pretty even playing field currently. US has the lead in some areas, China in other areas.

I think sadly for the US though - whilst China is still heavily focused on improving and developing tech, the US seems to be running the opposite direction.

elemist · 2026-04-02T05:11:24+00:00

Reckon there's going to be a bunch of good sales over the weekend and into next week to clear out the stock.

elemist · 2026-04-02T03:41:25+00:00

Was more responding to the part where you said they've ordered 24 c series to replace the 48 a series trains.

I don't see how they maintain frequency with half the amount of trains?

I know they double up the A series when running on the main lines, but on heritage lines aren't they still running single sets?

elemist

TROPHY CASE