Checklist · Commercial Property & Leasing
End-of-lease make-good: checklist, schedule of works, settlement letter and return of security (NSW notes)
A checklist and letter set for the end of a commercial or retail lease: reading the make-good obligations, building the schedule of works from condition reports, a cash-settlement letter, the NSW damages cap for repair covenants and the return of bank guarantees and bonds.
- Kind
- Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Where it applies
- New South Wales, Australia
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 18 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 18 October 2026 against the 3 authorities it cites, for New South Wales and Australia.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use 6 to 12 months before a lease ends, or when the parties start discussing exit, for either the lessor or the lessee. It also helps price a make-good claim after the lessee has left.
How AI may be used
AI may extract the make-good clauses and build the schedule of works from the lease, plans and condition reports; the lawyer checks what the lease actually requires and the client decides any settlement figure.
AI may
- Extract make-good, reinstatement, fit-out removal, yielding up and security clauses from the lease, variations and fit-out approvals
- Build a schedule of works by comparing the entry condition report, plans and photos with the current condition
- Diarise expiry, notice and security return dates
AI must not
- Must not set or recommend a cash settlement amount
- Must not treat a cost estimate as the measure of damages where the s 133A cap may apply
- Must not send the claim or the response letter
The lawyer checks
- The lease wording has been read for what must be removed, reinstated or repaired, to what standard, and by when (before or after expiry)
- Works in the schedule are traced to a lease obligation and the baseline condition, and wear and tear exclusions are applied
- For a damages claim for failure to repair or leave in repair, the diminution in value of the reversion has been considered
- The security return dates and the method (bank guarantee, or bond held by NSW Fair Trading for retail leases) are correct
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
More in Commercial Property & Leasing
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- Notice exercising an option to renew a lease, with the exercise-window checklist and NSW option protections
- Deed of surrender of lease, with mutual release, make-good settlement and registration steps (NSW)
- Notice to remedy breach of lease before re-entry (Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW) s 129 notice)
- Letter of advice to a tenant on a proposed commercial or retail lease (NSW)
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