Exit & Relocation · Article
Reinstatement, Exit and Relocation: 9 Hazards That Cost Tenants
The exit is where a lease sends its final bill — and it's usually the one nobody budgeted for. Here are the reinstatement and relocation hazards that quietly cost tenants the most.
A tenant called me a few months out from moving to a bigger site, pleased with the new deal. Then his old landlord sent through the make-good schedule.
Strip out the fit-out, the partitions, the HVAC. Patch, plaster, repaint. Return floors and ceilings to original. It was a mid-five-figure bill he'd never priced — and he was still paying rent on the old place while fitting out the new one. The exciting move suddenly had a very unexciting cost attached.
The exit phase is where a lease sends its final invoice, and it's usually the one tenants forget exists. Here are the nine hazards that cause the most damage — and where the money quietly goes.
First, understand what Lease reinstatement is
A commercial lease has three cost phases: entry, occupation, and exit. Reinstatement sits in the exit phase, and its size depends entirely on the wording you agreed to years earlier.
Most leases require you to remove everything you installed and return the premises to their original condition. Skip maintenance or redecoration during occupation, and the landlord can pile those jobs onto your exit before releasing you. It compounds from day one, unseen.
The nine hazards that cost the most
- Not researching the new market: wrong catchment, wrong rate, and a move that goes backwards instead of forwards.
- Not understanding the new lease terms: the new lease is written by the new landlord, so the fine print favours them, not you.
- Not assessing the new premises properly: hidden roof, structural, drainage, electrical or asbestos issues you inherit on signing.
- Not pricing the new additional costs: OPEX, maintenance, redecoration and reinstatement that never appear in the sales pitch.
- Ignoring zoning, body corporate rules and restrictions: rules that can stop you operating the way you need to.
- Not negotiating the new lease: accepting the owner's first draft as if it were fixed.
- Not understanding the make-good on your OLD lease: the obligation that turns your exit into a five-figure bill.
- Guessing the timeline: a rough idea of defit, fit-out and consents leads to paying double rent across the gap.
- No contingency plan: delays, consents and construction slip — and without a plan, the slip is yours to fund.
Where the real money sits
Two costs do the most damage, and both are avoidable. The first is the make-good on the lease you're leaving — scope it early and you can plan or negotiate it down instead of being handed a number.
The second is the overlap: paying rent on the old premises while fitting out the new one. Get the timeline wrong and you carry two occupancy costs at once, plus lost productivity if trading is disrupted. Both are matters of planning, not luck.
Facing a move or an exit? A short call will tell you what your make-good really is and how to plan the transition without paying twice.
How to exit and relocate the right way
- Scope the make-good on your current lease early, before it's scoped for you.
- Treat the new lease as a fresh negotiation — reviews, renewals, make-good and incentives all included.
- Inspect the new premises properly and price every phase: entry, occupation and exit.
- Build a real-world timeline covering defit, fit-out and any consents, then add contingency.
- Get someone acting only for you across both the old lease and the new one.
Key takeaways
- The exit phase is where a lease sends its biggest unbudgeted bill.
- Your make-good is set by wording agreed years ago — scope it early.
- The overlap between old and new premises can mean paying two rents at once.
- The new lease is written for the new landlord; negotiate it as its own deal.
- A realistic timeline and contingency plan are what keep an exit from getting expensive.
What to do next
If a move or a lease expiry is on the horizon, the time to plan the exit is now — well before the make-good schedule lands.
Book a no-obligation call and I'll help you scope the real cost of leaving, and how to move without paying for two premises at once.
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