After five years in their Coburg rental, and a good relationship with their landlord, Dougal and Mileta thought they should be able to end their lease early after being given notice to vacate.

The landlord plans to sell the home in the spring selling season, and gave them notice to leave at the end of their fixed term lease, July 27.

The pair heard nothing from their property manager after asking to leave early if they found a new place to live. They pressed ahead with finding a new property and have already signed a lease and paid a deposit and bond.

But Dougal’s property manager refused to release them from the lease.

“I just hoped it would be OK and from a practical perspective for losing that property, there was a sense of urgency,” Dougal, who did not want his surname published, said. “I may not have changed what happened and there’s the risk had I got to the end of the current lease and I hadn’t found a property, I’d be in a world of pain.”

He understood that he could be made to pay rent until the end of the lease, but was disappointed with his landlord.

“My disappointment comes twofold. We’ve been in the property so long and we’d treated it so well; it wasn’t our decision to leave,” Dougal said. “It’s a good property, and the owners stand to make about $1.1 million.

“They’re not giving any consideration for the exit of the contract. It just grinds my girders a little.”

Dougal has been on the other side of this situation, as a landlord of an investment property in Hobart.

“The tenant there was looking for a larger property, they had a new family,” he said. “I was very happy to release them from their obligations. I did that because I was a renter and I thought that was the fair and right thing to do.”

Tenants Union of Victoria chief executive Mark O’Brien said the rental system was still unfairly geared toward landlords, and there should be official channels to account for situations like Dougal’s.

“Given the market is pretty competitive all around it just increases the financial hardship for tenants when they’re moving to one place to the other,” he said. “They should be entitled to possession up until a certain point but be able to give a window to vacate in that period.”

A Consumer Affairs spokesman said the state government’s proposed rental reforms would give tenants the ability to give 14 days notice to leave a property after being served an “end of fixed term” notice like Dougal and Mileta. But some have questioned if those reforms will pass parliament, given there are just 24 sitting days before the state election.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria vice-president Leah Calnan said the system, which relies on the goodwill of the landlord, was adequate.

“They’re not being taken advantage of, they chose to take this lease,” she said. “It’s always terribly sad to tell a tenant they have to leave a property. [But the landlord] worked around the fixed lease agreement in order to be able to facilitate [the sale].”

Ms Calnan said the financial or personal circumstances of the property owner could mean they simply could not afford to go without the rental income.

“The owner was clearly strategic in wanting to sell in the spring market,” she said. “The owner may have budgeted to the end of the lease for the sale of the rental property. It’s really hard to actually judge.”

Dougal felt compelled to speak out about the issue not because of his financial position, but because he felt disadvantaged renters could be hit hard if their landlord were indifferent.

“Rental laws at the moment are generally focused on protecting the property owner rather than the tenant.”