If you have a written rental agreement that hasn’t yet ended, you will need a legally valid reason to terminate that agreement before it ends. Your lease is a contract, and if you move out before the lease expires and don’t have a legally valid reason, you would be breaching the contract. If you have a written lease, follow whatever your lease says about giving notice of moving.
If you do not have a legally valid reason to terminate your lease, then you will be on the hook to pay rent for that unit each month until:
- The date the lease agreement ends, or
- The date a new tenant moves into the unit, whichever happens first.
For example, if you move out at the end of the third month in a 12-month lease, the landlord could ask a court to make you pay for the rest of the 9 months on the lease, because you breached the contract.
Important: The landlord must try to rent the place to someone else after you leave. But if the new tenant pays a lower amount for rent than you did, or if it costs the landlord more money to re-rent the place, you could be held responsible for those expenses. Those expenses include lost rent for the time that no one was living there, cost of re-renting, court costs (if any), and other actual costs the landlord can show they had to pay. You may lose your security deposit too if you move out before the end of your lease.
If you need to break your lease early, it’s best to try to work something out with your landlord. Your landlord may be willing to agree to let you end your lease agreement early. Get that agreement in writing, and have the landlord sign it. Keep your copy safe.
Important: You may have a legally valid reason to end your lease early if your landlord fails to maintain the premises. But, there are specific steps you must take in order to move out before your lease ends. Learn more about how to ask your landlord to make repairs.
