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Guide 5 of 6 · After the week

Ill, incapacitated or moving: can I pause or end a gym membership?

A pause, an ending and a negotiation are three different things, and which one you have depends on the state you joined in. These are the rights the codes and the contracts set, stated as contract machinery and nothing else.

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

Queensland: the cooling-off period starts on the day the client enters into the agreement (or on opening day, if signed before the centre opened) and ends 48 hours later. Fitness Industry Code of Practice (Qld), s 14. The end of Queensland's 48-hour cooling-off period: two days of the week, and no more. Western Australia: 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 runs 7 days (7 days after the day the centre opens, if the agreement was entered into before it opened). Fitness Industry Code of Practice 2021 (WA), cl 3. The ACT: a member unable to use the fitness services for more than ten consecutive days, because of a temporary physical incapacity shown by a medical certificate, may seek to defer the membership. The week drawn here is the first seven of those days. Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7 16121824 24487296120144168 you sign
Queensland: the cooling-off period starts on the day the client enters into the agreement (or on opening day, if signed before the centre opened) and ends 48 hours later. Fitness Industry Code of Practice (Qld), s 14. The end of Queensland's 48-hour cooling-off period: two days of the week, and no more. Western Australia: 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 runs 7 days (7 days after the day the centre opens, if the agreement was entered into before it opened). Fitness Industry Code of Practice 2021 (WA), cl 3. The ACT: a member unable to use the fitness services for more than ten consecutive days, because of a temporary physical incapacity shown by a medical certificate, may seek to defer the membership. The week drawn here is the first seven of those days. Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7 24487296120144168 you sign
The ACT: the maximum period that may be deferred is three months total in any 12 month period, unless a further period is agreed with the supplier. The outer clock: any 12 month period. Not to scale
  1. 1The ACT: where a consumer is unable, because of temporary physical incapacity verifiable by a medical certificate, to use the fitness services for a period of more than ten consecutive days, the consumer may seek to defer the balance of the membership to a period agreed with the supplier.
  2. 2The ACT: the maximum period that may be deferred is three months total in any 12 month period, unless a further period is agreed with the supplier.
  3. 3The 12 month period the maximum is counted in. Months are not to scale here; the code counts this clock in months.
  4. Queensland: a permanent sickness or physical incapacity ends an agreement, not defers it; the guide says where the written notice and the medical certificate go.
  5. Western Australia: the agreement can only be changed later with the consent of both parties, so a suspension exists there if the agreement gives one.

The ACT: two doors, deferment and termination

The ACT’s code separates a temporary incapacity from a permanent one, and gives each its own machinery. For the temporary case: where a consumer is unable, by reason of temporary physical incapacity verifiable by a medical certificate, to avail himself or herself of the fitness services provided under the membership agreement, for a period of more than ten consecutive days, the consumer may seek to defer the balance of the period of the membership contract to a period agreed with the supplier. Where a consumer has sought deferment, the maximum period that may be deferred is three months total in any 12 month period unless a further period is agreed with the supplier.

For the permanent case, under the code’s heading Refunds or Membership Deferment due to Sickness or Physical Incapacity: where a consumer is unable, by reason of permanent physical incapacity verifiable by a medical certificate, to avail himself or herself of the fitness services provided under the membership agreement, the consumer is entitled to terminate the membership by written notice, with the medical certificate, to the supplier. The unused portion of a pre-paid membership is calculated from the date the supplier receives the written notice, and where a consumer is to receive a refund under that subclause, the supplier must pay the refund due within 21 days of receiving written notice of termination.

Both doors are contract machinery, not medical advice: the code asks for a medical certificate, a written notice, and nothing more from the member about the condition itself. The deferment right also does not depend on a new agreement being signed, because the code lets the consumer seek to defer the balance to a period agreed with the supplier.

Queensland: a permanent sickness or injury ends it

Queensland’s code has one door and it is the permanent one. A client may terminate a membership agreement with a supplier if the client cannot use a fitness service supplied under the agreement because of the client’s permanent sickness or physical incapacity. The client terminates the agreement by giving the supplier written notice of the termination, and a medical certificate stating that the client cannot use the fitness service because of the client’s permanent sickness or physical incapacity. The supplier then 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.

The agreement itself is required to carry the promise: a supplier entering into a membership agreement with a client must ensure the agreement states that the client is entitled to terminate the agreement because of the client’s permanent sickness or physical incapacity. If you are holding a Queensland contract, that sentence is the one to look for.

For anything short of permanent, Queensland has no statutory deferment right. Different fitness providers have different policies for ending membership agreements: for example, some may allow you to suspend your membership or sell your membership to another person. Where a suspension fee exists, it is one of the fees a supplier must disclose to a client before the client enters into the agreement.

Western Australia: a change needs both sides

Western Australia’s code has no standing deferment right. Its rule for changing an agreement is consent: the agreement can only be changed later with the consent of both parties. The same page that states that rule also tells members what to do about it at the counter: you may cross out clauses you consider unfair or add new clauses, for example a clause allowing you to temporarily suspend your membership for travel, injury or illness. In other words, in Western Australia a suspension is a term you negotiate before signing, not a right you reach for later.

What the code does provide is a terminal route for the permanent case: if a client terminates a membership agreement because the client has a medical certificate stating that the client cannot use the fitness services supplied under the agreement because of the client’s permanent illness or physical incapacity, the supplier may charge the client an unpaid fee in relation to the agreement. The same rule is put to consumers this way: notice in writing with the medical certificate attached, the cancellation takes effect immediately, and the only charge that survives is for fitness services already used but not paid for. Where a membership is cancelled for other reasons, the provider can continue to charge for the notice period in the agreement, and can charge a termination fee if the agreement provides for one.

Victoria: the membership on hold

Victoria has no fitness code, but its consumer regulator has published what it expects of the terms a centre offers. Health and fitness centres often offer consumers the opportunity to suspend their memberships, typically for a nominal fee, to accommodate holidays or periods of sickness, and Consumer Affairs Victoria considers this a valuable response to consumer needs; the longer the membership term, the more important it is for centres to provide suspension terms to accommodate life events. The document also names the practice it considers unfair: some agreements stated that during the suspension period membership fees would continue to be deducted as usual and the time on hold would be added to the end of the agreement, which the office considers unfair because the consumer is paying while not using the service; the consumer should be charged suspension fees, not membership fees, while the membership is on hold, and the direct debit amount should be adjusted accordingly.

The same office takes the opposite view of one related term: some agreements stated that a member whose fees were outstanding would be suspended from using the facilities until those fees were paid, and Consumer Affairs Victoria does not consider such clauses unfair. A pause you ask for and a pause the gym imposes are different terms, and Victoria’s published positions on both are there to read before you sign.

The paperwork, state by state

Three of the four routes start with the same two sheets of paper. In Queensland, written notice of the termination plus a medical certificate stating that the client cannot use the fitness service because of the client’s permanent sickness or physical incapacity. In the ACT, written notice with the medical certificate, for a permanent incapacity; for a deferment, a medical certificate verifying the temporary physical incapacity and the period of more than ten consecutive days. In Western Australia, a written notice with the medical certificate attached, which brings the cancellation into effect immediately. Where a gym has a complaints procedure, the codes expect it to be used first: in Queensland the Office of Fair Trading is where a formal complaint goes if the business will not help, and in the ACT, where a complaint cannot be resolved, the supplier must advise the complainant of the right to have it referred to the Commissioner for Fair Trading. The sources list below holds each state’s official page.

One more piece of the same machinery: in the ACT a supplier must not enter a membership agreement with a consumer unless the consumer completes a pre-exercise questionnaire, provided by the supplier, in relation to the consumer’s risk in participating in the fitness service. That is a contract step the code requires before a membership exists, and it is worth knowing it is there.