Office make good checklist: from lease notice to handover

Use this checklist to plan an office make good from the day you know you are leaving to the day your security comes back. Tick each box as you go, and print it for the person running the move.

It is general information, not legal advice. Your lease sets what you must do, and lease wording varies a lot. If your clause is unclear or you are in a dispute, talk to a lawyer or your state's Small Business Commission. For what the work itself usually involves, see our office make good page.

What should I do 9 to 12 months before the lease ends?

This stage is about knowing your obligations before anyone quotes.

• Find the signed lease, every variation, and any licence or side letter.
• Mark the key dates: lease expiry, any deadline to exercise or decline an option, and any notice period for vacating.
• Read the make-good clause. Write down, in one sentence, which shape it takes: back to the condition at the start, back to base building or shell, or remove your alterations and repair.
• Read the alterations clause and any landlord consent for your fit-out. Consents often say what must be removed at the end.
• Find the condition report or photos from when you moved in. Both the Victorian and NSW Small Business Commissions recommend agreeing a condition report at the start and keeping a copy, so check your records and your agent's.
• Check whether your lease is a retail lease. Many office leases are not, but in Victoria premises used mainly for "the retail provision of services" can be retail premises (Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic) s 4). If you are unsure, ask a lawyer.
• Decide who in your business owns the make good, and who can approve spending.

What should I do 6 to 9 months before?

This stage is about agreeing the scope with the landlord.

• Ask the landlord or their agent in writing for their make-good requirements. Some landlords issue a schedule; others wait until the end, which is riskier for you.
• Ask what they would like left in place: partitions, kitchenette, meeting rooms, carpet, cabling. A reusable fit-out can suit the next tenant.
• Get every "you can leave it" agreement in writing, listing the items.
• Ask building management for the building rules, contractor induction, loading dock and goods lift booking process, and any hours for noisy work.
• Ask whether the building requires its own nominated trades for fire services, sprinklers, building management system or security. Some buildings do.
• If the building was built before 31 December 2003, ask for the asbestos register. In NSW one is required for workplaces built before that date (SafeWork NSW). In Victoria, the person who manages or controls the workplace must review the register before refurbishment or demolition work (OHS Regulations 2017 (Vic) regs 240 and 241).
• Ask whether the landlord would accept a payment instead of works. The NSW Small Business Commission notes this is common, but it is by agreement.

What should I do 3 to 6 months before?

This stage is about quotes you can compare.

• Write a scope list from the lease and the landlord's requirements, room by room (use the walkthrough below).
• Have two or three contractors inspect the site and quote against the same scope. Quotes from photos alone often miss items.
• Ask each quote to show: each item, GST, exclusions, provisional sums, the program, after-hours loadings, waste disposal, and who supplies building inductions.
• Check each contractor's ABN, public liability insurance and that electrical work will be done by licensed electricians. In Victoria, prescribed electrical installation work must be done by a licensed worker and inspected by a licensed inspector (Electricity Safety Act 1998 (Vic) ss 38, 45). In NSW you need a licence for any electrical wiring work (NSW Government).
• Compare quotes line by line. The cheapest total is not always the same scope.
• Book the works so they finish at least two to four weeks before the lease ends. That margin covers defects, a final inspection and fixes. If works run past your end date, you may be holding over, which can cost you rent or compensation depending on the lease.

Office walkthrough: what to check room by room

Take this list around the floor with your contractor and the landlord's requirements in hand. Tick only the items your lease or the landlord actually requires.

A repainting clause can be stricter than you expect. The Victorian Small Business Commission's FAQs note that a tenant can be required to repaint to new condition, even if the walls were in poor shape at the start, if that is what the lease says.

What should I do in the final month?

• Confirm lift, dock and after-hours bookings with building management for each work day.
• Move out furniture and IT first, so trades have a clear floor.
• Check that hidden work is right before it is closed up, for example capped services above the ceiling.
• Book the end-of-lease clean for after the trades finish, not before.
• Ask for electrical certificates and any compliance paperwork from your trades.
• Book a joint final inspection with the landlord's representative before the lease ends.

What should happen on handover day?

• Walk the floor with the landlord's representative, using the scope list.
• Take dated photos and a video of every room, ceiling and floor.
• Record any defects raised, and agree in writing who fixes them and by when.
• Return all keys, swipe cards and remotes, and get a signed receipt.
• Read final meters if the lease makes you responsible for them.
• Ask for written sign-off that the make good is accepted, from the person the lease says can give it. A verbal OK from an agent may not bind the landlord.

What should I do after I hand back the keys?

• Ask in writing for your bank guarantee, bond or deposit to be returned.
• Know the timing that applies. For Victorian retail leases, a security deposit must be returned within 30 days after the lease ends if the tenant has met all its obligations (Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic) s 24). The NSW Retail Tenancy Guide says a landlord should release a bank guarantee within two months unless money is owed. Non-retail leases follow the lease.
• Keep the lease, approvals, quotes, invoices, certificates, photos and sign-off together for at least as long as a claim could be made.
• If the landlord makes a claim you disagree with, ask for it itemised. For retail leases, In Victoria, VCAT generally cannot hear a retail tenancy dispute until the Small Business Commission certifies that mediation has failed or is unlikely to work (Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic) s 87). In NSW, NCAT says mediation is compulsory for most retail lease claims. Get legal advice before you agree to pay.

How MAKE GREAT can help with this checklist

1. Analyse my lease. Upload your lease and our lease check drafts a preliminary list of make-good requirements, with references to the clauses it relied on. It is a starting point, not legal advice: a person at MAKE GREAT checks anything unclear or high-risk, and unclear clauses are flagged for you to check with a lawyer.
2. Get my make-good quotes. We turn your scope into a structured brief and send it to up to three independent contractors we have checked (ABN, insurance, and licences for trades that need them). If fewer than three are eligible, we tell you. They inspect and quote, and you compare itemised quotes side by side. See how we vet contractors.
3. You choose and contract directly with the contractor. You are never obliged to accept a quote.

How we are paid: Free for tenants. If you hire a contractor through us, they pay us a referral fee. Nobody can pay to rank higher.

Leaving a warehouse or industrial unit instead? Use the warehouse make good checklist. For local detail, see office make good in Melbourne and office make good in Sydney.