A Renter’s Guide to Breaking a Lease
Written on September 16, 2016 by Chris Deziel, updated on December 2, 2016
When you sign a lease, you’re committing to a binding contract – but life happens and you may need to break the lease and move out early.
There are only a few reasons for breaking a lease without being liable for the entire lease amount. They include:
- Military duty: Federal law permits you to terminate your lease with 30 days’ notice if you’re called to active duty.
- Constructive eviction: This legal term refers to the failure of the landlord to keep the residence in habitable condition. What constitutes constructive eviction varies from state to state.
- Bankruptcy: Early lease termination may be included in the judgment of a Chapter 7 or 11 bankruptcy proceeding.
- Natural disaster: An earthquake, tornado, or some other disaster renders the premises uninhabitable.
You also might be able to break your lease if your landlord violates your privacy by showing up repeatedly without giving the required notice.
The following usually aren’t good reasons to break a lease:
- Relocation by employer
- Getting married
- Noisy neighbors
- Rats, mold, and other hygiene issues
- Loss of income or other financial hardship
It’s important to maintain positive communication and a helpful attitude with your landlord.
This could save you from legal proceedings and possible financial burdens. A good attitude together with knowledge of your rights can help you make a graceful exit while retaining resources you need to relocate.
Give Adequate Notice
One of the worst things you can do is to leave your landlord in the lurch. You should give written notice even if you’ve been called to active military duty or you just suffered a fire in the unit.
Explain the Situation
Perhaps you’ve been relocated by your employer or a health crisis is forcing you to move into a supervised care situation. If the landlord understands and sympathizes, there is a better chance of working out an agreement.
If bed bugs or some other condition has made the unit uninhabitable, you must give the landlord an opportunity to correct the problem if the problem happened through no fault of yours. But if you caused the problem, you would be responsible for fixing it.
Related: How to Deal with Bed Bugs at Your Rental Property
Negotiate
If you’re leaving for reasons of inhabitability, be clear regarding what that means for you. It may take concessions, such as surrendering all or part of your security deposit, to come to an amicable agreement.
Help Make the Transition Smoother
The landlord needs to make a reasonable effort to find a new tenant if you leave before your lease is up. Reliable, considerate tenants can be difficult to find, though, and many landlords don’t have time to look for one. Your help will probably be appreciated, and it could save you money. Your lease may even require you to advertise the unit in the event of early termination.
Note that the landlord can refuse the tenant you select if they don’t meet the requirements the landlord sets.
Sublet the Unit/Assign the Lease
Not all landlords are open to third-party sublets. But if yours is, you may be able to find someone in your circle of friends that can sublet the unit from you. That sidesteps the need to terminate the lease. Assuming the landlord’s approval, the new tenant pays the rent in your place, and if everything works out, signs a new rental agreement when the lease terminates. In the ideal case, you get your security deposit back upon termination of the lease.
Note that it is usually reasonable for the landlord to deduct the processing costs, such as the costs for credit checks, from your security deposit.
Clean Up
Leaving your rental unit clean makes a statement of respect for the property that landlords appreciate. You’ll likely save the money the landlord would have spent cleaning and generate good karma for yourself as well as for the tenants who come after you.
Understand Your Rights
When circumstances force you to move, it’s important to read your lease. It may contain language that spells out what needs to happen. You should also look up the tenancy laws in your state.
Get Documentation
In a constructive eviction claim, terms like “reasonable effort” and “habitable conditions” are fuzzy ones, and documentation helps support your interpretation. Take pictures and get statements from neighbors. Document your efforts to find a new tenant so that, if the efforts are unsuccessful, you can prove you tried.
Request Mediation
When you claim inhabitability, it’s often difficult for a landlord to decide who is at fault and what to correct. Instead of simply acting on your frustrations and leaving, try holding a mediation session with a third-party facilitator. Call your local jurisdiction to find out how to obtain one.
About Chris Deziel
Chris has owned and managed 4 rental properties in Santa Cruz, CA, and Salida, CO. He is a DIY handyman expert for popular sites like Pro Referral.
8 Comments
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Glenda Miller
I co-signed a lease for my younger sister about 7 years ago because she didn’t have much credit history; she has lived in the apartment since, and I’ve been living with my other sister. Now that I’m about to move into my own apartment, I was thinking of removing myself from my younger sister’s lease. My hesitation is that I don’t want to open the door for the Landlord to make any changes to my sister’s lease. What can happen? Should I ask the Landlord to keep things as they are? Or, does he have to make my sister sign a new lease with possible changes? I don’t want to open a can of worms…
Julie
My tenant of the last five months just texted me telling me that he will need to vacate his apartment because he just broke up with his girlfriend that lives next door to him (She’s also my tenant). She was the one who begged me to lease to him. He said that he will need to leave in the next 15 days. It took me three months to get him as a tenant while screening so many applicants. I’m so angry. I need help I don’t know what to do. The mortgage is due on the first of the month.
BA HOL
Is there a release of lease agreement when the Landlord and Tenant both agree to separate from the Residential Lease Agreement?
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Chris Deziel
That question pretty much answers itself, Ba. The answer is yes.
deborah tempera
For 3 years , the rent period begins on the 1st of the month. The tenant gave me a 60 day notice , in the middle of the month,that she was moving, before her term and believes she does not have to pay for half of Nov.
I did find a new tenant. If he does not want to move in the time she is leaving put on the first do I have reimburse her if she does pay me full rent?Angelik Ragin
So I’m staying in apartment with 3 others. Everyone’s name is on the lease my mother has just received word that her cancer is back I would like to move back home and help her. Is there any way I can break my lease or pay something to be taken off?
Clint
Hi!
I toured a house this weekend in DC (a fair weather Saturday), and just signed a 12-month lease yesterday. Last night, and into this morning, the noise from street traffic awoke my brother and I, despite sleeping with ear plugs. There are no windows left open, all are in working order, etc.
My lease does not mention sub-letting, or any way out of the lease short of the full-term. I will try to see if the situation improves before raising it with the landlord, but I also want to know what my options are if things do not improve.
Deborah Bouyer
My cousin and his girlfriend share a apartment both of there names are on the lease. My cousin and his girlfriend got into a argument. When he went to work she tore up his television and laptop. He called the police and she was arrested. She stayed in jail a few days when she came home he called the police because he did not want her there. The police said her name is on the lease so you can’t put her out. What can he do?
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