An early lease termination letter is a document a tenant sends to a landlord to formally request an early termination of a lease agreement. While landlords are not legally required to terminate a lease early, a letter may convince them to do so.
Sending an early lease termination letter is a polite and intelligent way to begin discussing your situation with your landlord.
When to Use
Here are some scenarios to use an early lease termination letter:
- You want to purchase a property and need to give up your existing lease.
- You need to relocate due to changes in your work or personal circumstances.
- You are experiencing financial challenges and can’t afford your rent payments.
- You want to live in a bigger or smaller space due to a divorce or the birth of a new child.
- The property you’re living in has maintenance issues or unsuitable living conditions.
Please remember to issue proper notice as dictated by local laws and your original lease.
How to Break Your Lease Early
Unless you have unique circumstances for moving out early, like active military duty or the landlord’s failure to keep the premises livable, you may have to pay rent for the rest of the lease.
However, you may be able to break your lease agreement early by following these steps:
Step 1 – Read Your Lease
Review your original lease to see if it covers protocols for terminating your lease agreement early. For example, you may have to provide a certain amount of days’ advance notice to your landlord before breaking the rental term. Abide by all instructions and requirements to make your request easier to accept.
Step 2 – Write and Send a Letter to Your Landlord
Compose an early lease termination letter explaining why you must end the lease prematurely. For example, you may need to break the lease because you lost your job, got divorced, or need to care for a sick family member.
Landlords don’t have to comply with an early termination request originating from personal reasons, but they may sympathize with your need to break the lease if you explain it in your letter.
Send the letter to your landlord as soon as possible to give them ample written notice. You can hand-deliver it or send it via certified mail.
Step 3 – Keep All Documentation
Please make a copy of your early lease termination letter and note when your landlord received it. Keep it in your records to show that you provided adequate notice to vacate the rental property early.
Step 4 – Negotiate the Terms of Ending the Lease Early
Prepare to negotiate the terms of ending the lease early. Early termination may not come without penalties, but you can negotiate the following items:
- Lease Termination Date: Negotiate when the lease will terminate.
- Security Deposit: Determine whether the landlord will return your security deposit or keep it. You may also work out an alternate arrangement in which they give you a portion, but not all, of it back.
- Buyout: If the landlord is hesitant to end the lease early, determine whether you can pay a lump sum of money to cancel it. While this amount would usually be the security deposit, your landlord may ask for more money in addition to it.
Step 5 – Ask to Sublet the Property
If your landlord refuses to let you terminate the lease early, ask if you can sublet the property. By subletting, you can move out and continue collecting rent from a subtenant. You can use their rent payments to pay your landlord. Subletting relieves the landlord of finding a replacement tenant, making the request more agreeable.
If the current lease agreement forbids subletting, you can ask the landlord to use a lease amendment to modify the agreement.
As the current tenant, you would use a sublease agreement to rent the property to a subtenant.
Step 6 – Get Help from a Lawyer
Some provisions in state laws allow tenants to break lease agreements early, such as if they suffer domestic abuse (for example, review Cal. Civ. Code § 1946.7 if you rent property in California).
Review your state’s laws and contact a lawyer for assistance in locating these loopholes.
What to Include in an Early Termination of Lease Letter
Lease termination letters should include all of the following elements:
- Date: The date you write the letter.
- The Landlord’s Information: The landlord’s name and address.
- Salutation: A short salutation addressing the landlord.
- The Original Lease: A reference to the original lease, including the location of the property that it’s for and the date you
- Requested Termination Date: The date you’d like to vacate.
- Termination Reason: The reason you’re terminating the lease early.
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Security Deposit: Whether you will forfeit the security deposit or request it back.
- You can also specify the return of the security deposit under specific conditions (like a property inspection by the landlord).
- Forwarding Address: Your forwarding address so the landlord can return the security deposit.
- Signature: Your printed name and signature.
Penalties for Breaking a Lease Early
If your landlord doesn’t offer a reprieve and you’re not ending your lease for a valid reason under the original agreement, you may experience the following penalties:
- Loss of Security Deposit: You may lose all or part of your security deposit. The landlord may need it to offset unpaid rent and other associated expenses.
- Early Termination Fee: Your landlord may charge you an early termination fee separate from your security deposit.
- Ongoing Rent Obligations: You may be responsible for making your rent payments, regardless of whether you live on the property. You may have this obligation until the lease term ends or the landlord finds a new tenant.
- Poor Credit: Ending a lease prematurely can cause a tenant’s credit score to decrease.
- Negative Rental History: A landlord may report a tenant who ends a lease early to screening companies, making it more difficult for the tenant to qualify for rental housing in the future.
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Legal Fees: If the landlord pursues legal action against a tenant for terminating their lease early and has a successful outcome, the tenant may be responsible for reimbursing the landlord for legal expenses.
- A tenant may also have to pay legal fees during the defense process if the landlord continues to attempt to recover their financial losses.
Grounds for Penalty-Free Early Lease Termination
Explore some circumstances in which a tenant may be able to break a lease early without penalties:
- Military Active Duty or Deployment: Some laws or lease agreements may let tenants terminate the lease early without repercussions if they receive a call to active duty. Similarly, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) protects those who receive a deployment order from the consequences of early termination.
- Safety and Health Issues: If the property becomes unsafe because of safety or health violations, tenants may be able to terminate early. However, the tenant must be able to show that they communicated the issues to the landlord and that the landlord failed to address them.
- Constructive Eviction: Constructive eviction happens when the tenant is forced to move out due to the landlord’s negligence.
- Relocation for Education or Work: Some leases may have clauses that allow for early termination without penalty if the tenant has to relocate more than a certain distance for a job or to pursue educational opportunities.
- Illegal Lease Terms: A tenant may be able to end a lease early if it has clauses that breach tenants’ rights or are otherwise illegal.
- Landlord Breaches the Lease: A tenant has cause to terminate early without penalty if the landlord violates their privacy, harasses them, provides misleading information about the property, or otherwise breaches the lease.
How to Write an Early Lease Termination Letter
Step 1 – Complete Landlord Information Section
Provide the landlord’s full name and the party who owns the leased or rented property. Write the landlord’s current address. (Note: This is not the address of the property the tenant is renting.)
Step 2 – Fill in the Lease Agreement and Property Information
Insert the date the tenant entered into the original lease agreement (in most cases, it’s the date the landlord and tenant(s) signed the lease agreement).
Provide the street address of the property that is being leased. Include the unit or apartment number if applicable. Enter the date the tenant plans to move out of the property.
Step 3 – Explain the Reason for Terminating the Lease
Provide the reason the tenant wants to terminate the lease agreement, such as a job relocation or a significant family change like divorce or death. While providing the reason is optional, landlords may be more willing to end a lease early if they know the tenant’s circumstances or hardships.
Step 4 – Enter Security Deposit Details
In most cases, the tenant paid a security deposit at the beginning of the lease. The tenant can forfeit, request a return, or request another action regarding the security deposit. Remember that depending on your situation, the landlord may not return the security deposit.
Write the full name and address where the landlord should forward the security deposit.
Step 5 – Write and Sign Tenant Name(s)
Provide the full name of each tenant who signed the original lease agreement and any subsequent tenants added to the lease through lease amendments or lease addendums.
Early Lease Termination Letter Sample
Download an early lease termination letter template in PDF or Word format below:
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if your lease gets terminated?
Depending on your lease’s terms and your state’s laws, several outcomes are possible. You may choose to move out, negotiate a new lease agreement, or transition to a month-to-month arrangement where you pay rent on a monthly basis.
If your landlord terminates your lease early without cause, you may have legal recourse. You can seek compensation for expenses related to finding new housing, such as realtor fees and temporary accommodations, until you find a new living situation.
However, if you were late on rent payments or caused significant damage to the property, you may not be entitled to damages.
What is a normal lease termination fee?
A typical lease termination fee depends on the lease and the laws in your area, but it’s usually one or two months’ rent.
As a tenant, if the lease doesn’t specify a fee and your landlord can’t find a replacement tenant after a good-faith attempt, then you’ll likely be responsible for the rent owed for the rest of the lease term.
What happens if you break a lease early?
It depends on the reason for breaking the lease. If you end it for a personal reason that the original lease agreement doesn’t cover, you may have to pay for some or all of the remaining rent owed or forfeit your security deposit.
However, you may face minimal to no penalties if you had to end it early due to poor living conditions or a breach by the landlord.
What does breaking a lease early do to your credit?
Breaking a lease early may cause your credit to decrease, especially if it results in unpaid fees or rent that your landlord sends to collections. Do your best to settle outstanding balances with your landlord so you can minimize the impact of early lease termination on your credit.
How do I negotiate early lease termination?
Consider what you’re willing to settle for and listen to your landlord’s requests. Discuss options like adjusting the termination notice period, reducing the lease break fee, and finding other compromises that work for both parties.