What to Know if You Need to Break Your Lease

By Kailey Walters on July 9, 2020

Renting an apartment is a major decision; after all, you’re agreeing to live there for a while, usually at least either six months to a year. Still, there may come a time when you potentially need to break your lease depending upon your circumstances — maybe you have to relocate for a new job, you’re not getting along with your roommate, or some other reason.

While you may have a perfectly valid reason for breaking your lease, you should make yourself aware of the consequences that come with doing so. As an apartment lease is a legal contract between the tenant (you) and the landlord, you need to take the proper steps while breaking your lease to ensure that you’re doing everything correctly to protect yourself and your landlord from any negative legal consequences.

Here are a few things you should know or do if you need to break your lease.

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1. Read through your rental agreement.

When you’re considering breaking your lease, the very first thing you should do is read through the rental agreement that you signed when you first moved in. Doing so will be helpful in clarifying the rules of your lease and may provide information about how to break a lease and/or what the penalties may be.

There are a number of basic items you will find in your rental agreement that you should pay attention to. Important among them is the section on lease terms and details, which states how long the lease is for and what the renter can do when the lease is up. This section will also provide information on renewal and termination policies.

Another important section to pay attention to is the rent terms and details, which tells you the amount of rent due and the due date, as well as consequences for being late (e.g., late fees and what may happen if you are habitually late with your payments).

The fees and deposits section will tell you about any deposits due before move-in and any extra fees you may have to pay.

Other parts of the rental agreement may include sections on damages, utilities, what is or is not allowed in the apartment, renter’s insurance, and subletting, which are also important for you to note when reading through the rental agreement. It is essential that you are thorough so you don’t miss anything that could cost you legally.

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2. Familiarize yourself with legal reasons to break a lease.

One of the most important things in this situation is to make sure you are as familiar as possible with the legal ins and outs. For that reason, you should familiarize yourself with legal reasons for breaking a lease so you know how to protect yourself. Your specific legal rights may vary depending on the state in which you live, but here are a few basic ones for breaking a lease:

  • You find out the rental is illegal.

  • Your landlord has failed to maintain the premises properly — for example, if they neglect to provide running water at all times, if they do not perform repairs, if they do not adhere to health and safety codes, if they do not keep all common areas clean, or if they do not provide proper trash bins, among other violations. So if your landlord is not maintaining the property, you have the option to complain to either your local Department of Public Health or directly to the landlord. If you choose the latter, make sure you have some kind of documentation or proof.

  • Your landlord has breached the lease on their end, such as by entering your property illegally. Generally, landlords must provide tenants at least 24 hours’ notice before they enter their property, which they will usually do to make repairs, inspect the property, and/or show the property to prospective tenants. However, if the landlord enters illegally by failing to provide proper notice or harasses you, you may be legally able to break the lease. In order to do so, you must obtain a court order telling the landlord to stop, and if your landlord violates that, you have the right to give notice to terminate your lease.

  • You have been a victim of domestic violence sometime within the past three to six months. You will most likely be required to provide proof of domestic violence, such as an order of protection or a police report. You must also give your landlord written notice of your intent to break the lease due to domestic violence, and it must be at least 30 days before you plan to move out.

  • You are an active member of the military and receive a change of station notice. In this case, you are protected under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, so you can legally give notice to terminate the lease agreement and provide proof of your official orders to change stations.

Even if your situation fits one of the above-mentioned exceptions, you should still make sure to research the landlord-tenant laws in your specific state. For example, you should be sure to know how much notice you are required to give if you’re breaking the lease for a legally valid reason.

3. Speak to your landlord.

It almost goes without saying that you should speak to your landlord about your situation. The best thing to do is to openly communicate so that they know you’re being honest and are trying to handle the situation in the best way possible. You should set up a time to speak with your landlord, either over the phone or preferably in person, and tell them your reasons for needing to break your lease and offer potential solutions. While your landlord is a businessperson, they are also a human — so as long as you maintain a polite and respectful tone and show that you are doing your best to work with them to find a solution, you have a good chance of getting them to listen to what you have to say.

The conversation may also depend on your previous relationship with your landlord — so if you’ve always had positive interactions with them in the past and you’ve proven yourself thus far to be a reliable renter, the odds are in your favor.

And if your landlord happens to not like what you’ve told them, that’s okay. That may be something beyond your control, so you’ll have to make sure you do everything else properly in the process of breaking your lease to continue to protect yourself.

4. Find a new renter to replace you.

renter, apartment, tenant

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Both you and your landlord will need to find a new renter to replace you when you leave, which means your two options are either subletting or re-renting.

Subletting means that you’re able to find someone who can take over your current lease. However, even though they’ll most likely sign their own sublease agreement, the lease will still be under your name — which means you’re legally responsible for anything they do (e.g., if they incur damages or neglect to pay rent for several months). Another downside to this option is that you won’t get your security deposit back until the end of the original lease term. And of course, before deciding to go with this option, you should definitely check with your landlord or check the rental agreement to make sure that subletting is even allowed, as some landlords do not allow subletting.

Re-renting is the less risky option, as it allows you to find a new tenant who will sign a completely new lease agreement and pay their own security deposit. So if you’re allowed to re-rent and you can find a new tenant who’s willing to do so, you’ll be off the hook.

5. Consider the termination policy.

When going over your options, it’s also very important to go over the termination policy outlined in your rental agreement. A termination policy allows you to terminate your lease by moving out, or the landlord can terminate your lease if you end up not renewing and can rent out the space to a new tenant. When looking at the termination policy, you should check with your landlord to see if they will possibly reduce any fees or return your security deposit, even if the rental agreement doesn’t say they will; after all, you never know what your landlord will agree to until you ask.

6. Be ready to pay if necessary.

In most cases, you’ll be responsible for paying your rent until you or your landlord find a new tenant. And if you are unable to find a replacement, you’ll have to still pay your rent until your lease ends. This is certainly not the most ideal case, but if you run out of options, you must be prepared to pay — otherwise, you may find yourself in a financial and legal hole that just keeps getting deeper and deeper.

7. Make sure you have a record of everything.

Throughout the entire process, it’s extremely important to make sure you have everything in writing, especially if you and your landlord have conversations about money so that you are both protected legally.

If you have a conversation over the phone or in person, make sure you take notes. If your main mode of communication is over email, that’s great — you’ll already have a record of everything. It may also help to further clarify and confirm what you’ve talked about with your landlord so that you both know you are on the same page throughout the process.

talk, roommate, communicate

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8. Know how to talk to your roommate about it.

If you have a roommate and you’re the only one who plans on breaking the lease, you need to figure out what steps to take and how to properly break the news to them.

Generally, you should give at least 30 days’ notice that you plan on leaving. You can also ask your landlord and your roommate to help find a new tenant to replace you, or you may even be able to make things easier on them by finding a good replacement on your own. However, you’ll still be responsible for paying your remaining rent until a new tenant comes along or until your lease ends, whichever happens sooner.

How you tell them could depend on the kind of relationship you two have. If you’re leaving because of a disagreement with your roommate, they’ll probably already be well aware of the situation and may not be surprised if you decide to leave. When you do tell them, you should do your best not to inflame the relationship between you and your roommate any further — it’s unnecessary and will only make things worse. Instead, be as cordial as possible and lay out the facts (i.e., when you’re planning on leaving) so they know what to expect. You should also be responsible and hold up your end of the rental payments for as long as you’re obligated to pay.

You and your roommate may even want to come up with an agreement in the form of a legal contract, which can detail how you plan on paying for your portion of the rent and any other costs that you may be responsible for, such as damage, utilities, or a monthly pet fee. This sort of agreement will protect both of you and lay out the terms that you both have agreed upon.

Breaking your lease can involve a lot of steps and can certainly be a hassle, but if you make sure to follow the correct procedures and communicate openly with your landlord, you should be in a good position.

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