Guide 2 of 6 · The first 168 hours

Can I change my mind after joining a 24/7 gym?

Queensland’s window is 48 hours, two of the week’s seven days. Western Australia gives you seven days, counted from the day you sign. In the ACT the code requires an agreement for a period of 3 months or more to state that it is subject to a cooling off period, and where no code sets a window, the contract is where one comes from.

General information about gym membership law, not legal advice. Your state’s fair trading office is linked at the foot of this page.

1Queensland: 48 hours, the first two days, from the day you sign or from opening day if you signed before the centre opened. Written notice ends it, and the refund is due within 21 days.
2Western Australia: the cooling-off period for a client entering into a membership agreement starts on the day on which the client enters the agreement, and ends 7 days after it (7 days after the day the centre opens, if you signed before it opened).
The ACT: a supplier must ensure that a membership agreement states that an agreement for a period of 3 months or more is subject to a cooling off period, in accordance with clause 11 of the code, which is linked below.
New South Wales, not lit: no state code sets a cooling-off period; check the contract, and any administration fee may be non-refundable even inside it.
South Australia: the state’s health and fitness code has applied since 1 September 2022; check your contract for any cooling-off period. Consumer and Business Services is linked here for the code’s own terms.

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The windows, side by side

Nothing about a gym membership is national. Each jurisdiction below is read from its own code or its own consumer agency, in its own words.

Jurisdiction	The window	When it starts	Notice	What can be kept
Queensland	48 hours, ending 48 hours after the cooling-off period starts.	The cooling-off period, for a client entering into a membership agreement with a supplier, starts on the day the client enters into the agreement when the centre has already opened, and on opening day when the client signed before the centre opened.	Written notice, before the 48 hours end.	The fees paid, less an unpaid fee that was disclosed, and an administration fee: 10 per cent of the membership fee, up to $75. The refund is due within 21 days.
Western Australia	7 days, which Consumer Protection calls a minimum.	The cooling-off period for a client entering into a membership agreement starts on the day on which the client enters into the agreement; if the agreement relates to a fitness centre and you signed before it opened, it ends 7 days after the day it opens.	Written notice, no specific form required.	A fee that reasonably reflects the administration costs, and any services you have used.
The ACT	A cooling off period applies to an agreement for a period of 3 months or more, in accordance with clause 11 of the code, which is linked below.	The code sets the day in clause 11; the agreement itself must state that the cooling off period applies.	A consumer who terminates a membership during the cooling off period shall give notice to the supplier, in writing, and include evidence of membership.	The reasonable cost of any service provided, and a reasonable administration charge.
New South Wales	If the contract gives one. NSW Fair Trading says a cooling-off period allows cancellation in writing within a limited time and, if applicable, is set out in the contract.	The contract.	In writing; keep evidence of the date you asked.	Administration fees may be non-refundable even if you cancel during the cooling-off period.
South Australia	Check your contract for any cooling-off period. The state’s code, in force since 1 September 2022, gives members a notice one month before an initial fixed period ends so they can choose to continue or cancel.	See the code.	See the code.	See the code.
Victoria, Tasmania and the Northern Territory	Check your contract for any cooling-off period. Victoria’s Consumer Affairs says consumers should be able to cancel a membership by written notice to the centre, and that cancellation forms may be offered but their use should be optional.	The contract, and the Australian Consumer Law.	Written notice, allowing for any notification period.	The ACCC’s description of cooling-off is that it is written into the terms of some contracts; and the unfair contract terms law applies to standard form consumer contracts.

Read across the rows and the windows differ: 48 hours in Queensland, seven days in Western Australia and the ACT. Read down a column and the second pattern appears: the ACT counts its days one way, Western Australia another, and Queensland another.

Queensland: 48 hours, the first two days

Queensland’s code gives every new membership agreement a cooling-off period of 48 hours. The code’s own words: the cooling-off period, for a client entering into a membership agreement with a supplier, starts on the day the client enters into the agreement when the centre has opened, and on the day the centre opens if the client signed before then, and it ends 48 hours after the cooling-off period starts. Cancel inside it and no reason is needed: the Office of Fair Trading’s own wording is that you can change your mind about joining and cancel without giving a reason.

The notice has to be in writing and has to arrive before the 48 hours are up, and the Office advises keeping evidence that the centre received it inside the window. The refund is the fees you paid, less an unpaid fee that was disclosed to you before you signed, less an administration fee of no more than 10 per cent of the membership fee or $75, whichever is the lesser. It is due within 21 days of the notice. The agreement itself must state each of the following, as the code requires a supplier entering into a membership agreement to ensure: that the agreement is subject to a cooling-off period, and when the cooling-off period starts and when it ends.

Queensland lights the first 48 hours: two days of the week.

Western Australia: the whole week

Western Australia’s commencement provision brings the regulations into operation on 1 July 2021, and the code gives a new fitness agreement a cooling-off period. The code’s own words are that the cooling-off period for a client entering into a membership agreement starts on the day on which the client enters into the agreement, and ends 7 days after the day on which the client enters into the agreement, or, if the client signed before the centre opened, 7 days after the day on which the fitness centre opens. The agreement summary the gym must put at the beginning of the agreement puts the same rule plainly: the client may end the agreement at any time within 7 days after the day on which the agreement is signed, or 7 days after the day on which the centre opens if it has not yet opened.

The notice is written, on no particular form, and the code says membership can be cancelled by email. Consumer Protection lists two things a gym may not do: require someone to cancel a membership in person, or demand written cancellation on a specific form. If the notice arrives during the cooling-off period, the agreement is terminated with effect from the day on which the notice is received. Where a client terminates a membership agreement during the cooling-off period, the supplier may charge a fee that reasonably reflects the administration costs incurred and the services used; any unconsumed prepaid fees are refunded, with the refund due within 7 days after the day the termination takes effect.

Western Australia lit across all seven days, bracketed at the right edge: 7 days from the day you sign.

The ACT: a cooling off period with a condition, and a length the code keeps

The ACT’s code of practice came into force in 2026, when it revoked the 2009 instrument. What the code requires of the agreement is specific: a supplier must ensure that a membership agreement states that an agreement for a period of 3 months or more is subject to a cooling off period in accordance with clause 11 of the code. Clause 11 is where the code sets the period itself and the day it begins, and reading it is a minute’s work on the code linked in the sources list; what follows here is what the code says about ending the membership and about the money.

A consumer who terminates a membership during the cooling off period shall give notice to the supplier, in writing, and include evidence of membership. Where the supplier has provided services before the termination, the amount refunded may have deducted from it the reasonable cost of any service provided together with a reasonable administration charge, and the refund is due within seven days of the supplier receiving notice of termination. The condition is the part to hold onto: a membership of less than 3 months does not carry the statutory cooling off period that clause 11 describes.

How each law counts its days

The windows are counted by different statutes, and the counting rules are part of the window. In Queensland, a period provided by an Act is calculated by excluding the day of the act or event, and if the last day of a period calculated forwards falls on an excluded day, the period ends on the next day that is not an excluded day. An excluded day there is a day that is not a business day in the place in which the thing must or may be done.

In computing time for the purposes of a written law, Western Australia’s Interpretation Act provides that where a period of time is expressed to begin at, on, or with a specified day, that day is included in the period, and where a period is expressed to be reckoned from, or after, a specified day, that day is not included. Where the time limited for doing a thing expires on an excluded day, the thing may be done on the next day that is not one; an excluded day is a Saturday, Sunday, public service holiday, or a bank or public holiday throughout the State.

The ACT’s Legislation Act works out periods of one day or longer with a table: a period described as beginning at, on or with a stated day includes the stated day, and one described as beginning from or after a stated day does not. If a period of time would end on a non-working day, the thing must or may be done on the next day that is a working day. These rules are why the drawing counts the week in hours rather than days: the same seven days end at different moments in Perth and Brisbane, and the interpretation laws in more than one state move the last day to the next working day when the window closes on a weekend.

A membership sold at your door or by an uninvited call

There is one cooling-off period that is national. The Australian Consumer Law gives a right to cancel an unsolicited consumer agreement, and the period during which the consumer may terminate the agreement is whichever of the periods in s 82 is the longest: if the agreement was not negotiated by telephone, the period starting on the day the agreement was made and ending at the end of the tenth business day after that day; if it was negotiated by telephone, the period ending at the end of the tenth business day after the day the consumer was given the agreement document. The notice may be oral or written, and one sent by post is taken to have been given to the supplier at the time of posting.

An unsolicited consumer agreement occurs, in Consumer Affairs Victoria’s description, when negotiations for a sale take place somewhere other than the seller’s place of business, the seller or the agent approaches the consumer uninvited, and the total value is more than $100 or cannot be determined when the agreement is made. If you invited the seller, it is not an unsolicited agreement and the same rights do not apply. The document you are given must carry the statement of the right to cancel within 10 business days.

If the gym questions the window

Start with the state office that wrote the rule. In Queensland, the Office of Fair Trading is where a formal complaint goes if the business will not help. In New South Wales it is Fair Trading, which takes complaints through its own form and has a register of businesses with 10 or more complaints lodged against them in a calendar month. The sources list at the foot of this page holds the exact page for each state, and the cancel guide here walks through what a written notice should contain.