Breaking a fixed-term lease usually costs three things: rent until someone new moves in, part of the agent's reletting fee, and part of the advertising. Enter your details and this works out what a landlord can claim for each, under the rules and the CBS formula. It runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
How the calculator works
It applies four rules, in this order.
Some reasons for leaving carry no break-lease costs
If you end the tenancy by notice because the place doesn't meet minimum housing standards (s.85B), because the landlord breached the agreement and didn't fix it (s.85), to move into care, social housing or crisis accommodation (s.85C), because of domestic abuse (s.85D), or because the place was destroyed or can no longer lawfully be lived in (s.86B), neither the Act nor the Regulations gives the landlord a claim for break-lease costs, provided you haven't breached the agreement yourself. You still owe rent up to the day the tenancy ends, and the place has to be left in reasonable condition.
Rent stops when someone new moves in, and it's capped
You're generally liable for rent until the place is re-let or the lease ends, whichever is sooner, and the landlord has to take reasonable steps to keep that loss down (s.78, s.94). Since 1 July 2024 there's also a cap: if less than 24 months of the lease is left when you hand back the keys, the most rent you can be made to pay is one month's rent. Otherwise it's one month for each whole 12 months left, up to six months (s.75A).
The reletting fee is apportioned
CBS publishes a formula that, in its words, SACAT "generally applies": the agent's fee (at most two weeks' rent plus GST) × weeks from re-letting to the end of the lease ÷ ¾ of the total weeks of the lease. It only applies if you stayed at least a quarter of the lease. If you didn't, CBS says the whole fee can be claimed.
Advertising is apportioned too, from a different date
Total advertising cost × weeks from when you left to the end of the lease ÷ ¾ of the total weeks. CBS also says reletting and advertising fees can't be claimed if the place isn't re-advertised or re-let as soon as possible.
It shows what the Act and CBS's formula allow, not what your landlord will accept or what SACAT would decide. The CBS formula is published guidance, not law. "One month's rent" is worked out here as weekly rent × 52 ÷ 12, which is our conversion. The Act doesn't say how to convert weekly rent. It doesn't calculate anything else a landlord might claim. If your claim includes other items, ask for each one to be itemised and evidenced. And it can't judge whether the landlord re-let the place as soon as they reasonably could.
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Common questions
How much does it cost to break a lease in South Australia?
Usually rent until the place is re-let or the lease ends (whichever is sooner), capped under section 75A of the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 (SA) at one month's rent if less than 24 months of the lease is left, plus a share of the agent's reletting fee and advertising costs. Consumer and Business Services publishes a formula for those two shares, which it says SACAT generally applies.
Is there a cap on rent when you break a lease in SA?
Yes. Since 1 July 2024, section 75A limits the rent a tenant who ends a fixed term early can be made to pay: one month's rent if less than 24 months of the term remains, otherwise one month for each whole 12 months remaining, up to six months. It caps rent only. Other compensation, such as reletting costs, is not affected.
Can I leave a lease early without paying break-lease costs in SA?
On some grounds. Where a tenant ends the tenancy by notice under sections 85, 85AA, 85B, 85C, 85D or 86B and has not breached the agreement, neither the Act nor the Regulations gives the landlord a claim for break-lease costs. Rent is still owed to the termination date, and the place must be left in reasonable condition.
Sources
The rules this calculator relies on. Look them up yourself.
- s.75A
- s.78
- s.84A
- s.85
- s.85B
- s.85C
- s.85D
- s.86B
- s.89
- s.94
- reg 27
- CBS fact sheet 117
Residential Tenancies Act 1995 (SA), authorised version 15.1.2026. On that page, take the link marked Current.
CBS fact sheet 117: Formula for advertising and reletting fees (June 2024). This is published practice, not legislation. It predates the s.75A rent cap and doesn't mention it, so this calculator applies the cap separately.
Fact sheet 117 was read on 29 October 2026, and CBS's two worked examples ($67.69 and $26.77) are used as this calculator's test cases. Every rule on LucidLaw is read at the source and recorded with its section. Where something can't be verified, we don't state it. How we check this.