Guide 4 of 6 · After the week
How do I cancel a gym membership?
The codes agree on one thing: put the cancellation in writing. After that the rulebooks part. Western Australia and the ACT give the gym seven days to answer, the ACT bills you for 14 days after your notice, and in Queensland and New South Wales the day the membership ends is the day your contract says.
General information about gym membership law, not legal advice. Your state’s fair trading office is linked at the foot of this page.
- 1The ACT: the notice in a periodic billing agreement says a member is liable for membership fees until 14 days after providing written notice of termination to the fitness centre.
- 2The gym answers within seven days. Western Australia: a supplier must respond to a notice within 7 days of receipt, confirming the amount of the last payment due and the date the termination takes effect. The ACT: the notice a member signs says the fitness centre must respond to its receipt of a written notice within 7 days.
- 3Western Australia, past the break: if a client gives a notice, the agreement is terminated with effect from the day specified in the agreement, being no later than 30 days after the day on which the supplier receives the notice.
- Western Australia, also inside the first week: if the notice is received during the cooling-off period, the agreement is terminated with effect from the day the notice is received.
- Queensland and New South Wales, not lit: there the day the membership ends is the day the contract says, and both offices say to read it before signing and to keep written proof of when you asked.
Send it in writing
Every code here expects a written notice, and the days run from the notice, so the writing is what the rest of the page depends on. Western Australia allows any form and says membership can be cancelled by email; it expressly prohibits a gym from requiring someone to cancel in person or demanding written cancellation on a specific form. In Western Australia, consumers can cancel at any time by letter or email. Queensland’s advice is blunt: you need to cancel in writing. New South Wales says that in every instance you should provide a written cancellation, so you can prove the date you requested the membership to end. In the ACT, a consumer who terminates a membership during the cooling off period must give notice to the supplier in writing and include evidence of membership. Victoria’s Consumer Affairs says consumers should be able to cancel their memberships by written notice to the centre, and that a membership contract should terminate upon written notice, allowing for any notification period.
The day each clock stops
One notice, sent on the same day to four different gyms, lands in four different rulebooks. Take a written notice sent on Monday 2 March 2026 and received the same day.
| Where | What the law says happens | The day, on this notice |
|---|---|---|
| Western Australia | If the notice is received during the cooling-off period, the agreement is terminated with effect from the day the notice is received. Otherwise, the agreement is terminated with effect from the day specified in the membership agreement, being no later than 30 days after the day the supplier receives the notice. The supplier must respond within 7 days of receipt, confirming the last payment due and the date the termination takes effect. | The end is no later than 1 April 2026, thirty days after 2 March. The gym’s answer is due by 9 March 2026. |
| The ACT | The member is liable for membership fees until 14 days after providing written notice of termination. The centre must respond within 7 days of receipt. On receipt of a termination notice for a periodic billing membership, the supplier must immediately tell the billing agency and ask that deductions cease as soon as possible. | Liability runs to 16 March 2026, fourteen days after the notice. The answer is due by 9 March 2026. |
| Queensland | Queensland’s Office of Fair Trading sets no single day for a voluntary cancellation. It says that after the cooling-off period you will need to check the details of your agreement to find the circumstances in which you may end it, that a client can cancel for other reasons by giving written notice, that the provider must make every reasonable effort to respond quickly and fairly, and that the maximum termination fee is the termination fee stated in the agreement. | Whatever the agreement says. This is the row to read before you sign, not after. |
| New South Wales | The contract is the rulebook: check your contract first, because its terms and conditions outline the requirements of cancellation, including any cancellation fee and whether you must attend in person. Always give the cancellation in writing so you can prove the date you asked. Where a gym collects by direct debit, you will often need to give 30 days written notice to stop deductions. | Whatever the contract says, counted from the date you can prove you asked. |
Two rules sit under all four rows. The codes put the duties on the supplier, the business that sold you the membership. And keep a record of the day you gave notice, because the clocks in the table run from your notice.
The seven days a gym has to answer in WA and the ACT
Both codes that set a response time set it at seven days. In Western Australia, a supplier must respond to a notice given under clause 18(1) within 7 days of receipt, confirming the amount of the last payment due under the agreement and the date that the termination takes effect; the supplier must also, on receipt of the last payment due, cease deductions and instruct any third party to cease them. In the ACT, the acknowledgement a member signs in a periodic billing agreement states that the fitness centre must respond to its receipt of a written notice within 7 days. Where no code sets a response time, the consumer guarantees still apply to the service, and a failure to meet them has its own remedies under the Australian Consumer Law.
What those remedies look like when a gym simply does not answer is set out by Consumer Affairs Victoria: there are circumstances when a consumer is entitled to cancel a contract for services under the Australian Consumer Law, for example when a service fails to meet a consumer guarantee, cancellation takes effect when the consumer tells the supplier they intend to cancel, and cancelling gives the right to a refund.
Stopping the direct debit
A membership that keeps billing after it has ended is the complaint pattern Western Australia sees most: cancelling a membership is the issue Consumer Protection hears about most often in this industry. That is why the WA code puts the direct debit duty on the gym: a fitness service provider must cancel any linked direct debit agreements when a membership is cancelled, may not continue accepting direct debit payments after the membership is cancelled, and may not expect the consumer to separately cancel a third party direct debit contract the provider set up. In New South Wales the advice is more practical: lots of gyms ask for payment by direct debit, a membership expiring does not necessarily stop the debits, and to be sure the payments stop you can talk to your financial institution.
Across Australia, the money side of a direct debit is regulated at the bank as well. A direct debit moves money from your account to another automatically, and to stop one you usually contact your bank and the service provider. Once your request reaches the bank it has to stop the payments and pass the cancellation on to the service provider’s bank, and keeping a record of what you sent is what makes the date provable. If paying by direct debit is a condition of the service, the advice is to get legal advice before cancelling it, because money still owed needs another way to be paid.
Refunds after a cancellation
Where a prepaid membership ends early, the codes return the unused part. In Western Australia, if a client terminates a membership agreement, the supplier must refund a proportion of the fees and charges paid representing the unused part of the agreement, and pay it within 7 days after the day the termination takes effect. In the ACT, where a member terminates over permanent incapacity, the unused portion of a pre-paid membership is calculated from the date the supplier receives the written notice, and the refund is due within 21 days. In Queensland, where a client ends an agreement because of permanent sickness or physical incapacity, the supplier must refund a proportion of the fees paid representing the unused part of the agreement, and pay it within 21 days after the client terminates. In New South Wales, where the problem is with the service rather than with you, suppliers should give any refunds in the same form as your original payment.
If the gym will not act
A complaint is the next step, and each state has one door. In Queensland, if the business will not help you can make a formal complaint to the Office of Fair Trading. In New South Wales, if you cannot resolve your matter you can submit your complaint using Fair Trading’s form. Both offices ask for the paperwork that shows what you tried: when making a complaint you should include copies of any correspondence that shows how you have tried to resolve the matter. In Western Australia, Consumer Protection’s contact centre is on 1300 30 40 54. In the ACT, where a complaint cannot be resolved, the supplier must advise the complainant of their right to have the complaint referred to the Commissioner for Fair Trading. In South Australia, Consumer and Business Services is one of the offices behind the gym membership page linked below. The complaints register in New South Wales lists businesses that have had 10 or more complaints lodged with Fair Trading against them in one calendar month, which is worth knowing before you sign anywhere.