LawHelp HTML Document

MT Home Page > Housing >

Larger Text


	Search

	Need Help with Your Search?


	What is LiveHelp?

Find Legal Help On

Related Resources

more...

Moving Out or Breaking Your Lease
by: Montana Legal Services Association (MLSA)

What are my obligations before moving out?

If you have a typical month-to-month tenancy, you need to give proper notice before moving out. Proper notice is usually 30 days, unless you pay your rent week-to-week before moving out. You will have additional obligations to get your security deposit back, if there is one.
If you have a lease agreement, you will need a legally sufficient reason to terminate that agreement before the end of the lease. If the landlord has failed to properly maintain the premises, you may have a sufficient reason to end a lease early, provided you have given the correct notice.

If there is a problem affecting health and safety and the landlord's duties to maintain the premises, you must give the landlord notice, specifying the problem, and indicating that you intend to end the agreement in 30 days, if the problem is not fixed with the next 14 days.
If the landlord fails to correct the problem, the rental agreement terminates at the end of the 30 days.

If the landlord has not broken the lease in any way, you cannot legitimately terminate the lease agreement. If you do it anyway and you choose to move out before the lease ends, you may be responsible for all the rent remaining due under the lease.

So, for example, if you move out at the end of the 3^rd month in a 12 month lease, the landlord could ask a court to hold you responsible for the remaining 9 months of the lease.
The landlord is obligated to try to rerent the place, after you leave. That's called "mitigation of damages." But if there is a difference in the amount of rent, or if the landlord incurs additional expenses, you could still be held responsible for other expenses, such as lost rent, cost of rerenting, potential court costs, etc. You may lose your security deposit too.

Can I find a new tenant to take my place in the lease agreement?

You may not sublease to another tenant without the landlord's written consent.
If the landlord does not agree, the new person you find will have no right to live in the premises.
Even if the landlord agrees, you may still be responsible if the tenant you found becomes a subtenant. If the new tenant breaks the lease later, the landlord can still hold you responsible. It would be better if the landlord let you out of the lease and rented to the new person, not using a sublease, but the landlord is not obligated to do that.

Revised 4/02

Call the MLSA HelpLine for legal assistance:
(800) 666-6899

Montana Legal Services Association
616 Helena Avenue, Suite 100
Helena, Montana 59601
(406) 442-9830
(800) 666-6124

Last Reviewed On: 01/03/06

Information Not Legal Advice. This web site has been prepared for general information purposes only. The information on this web site is not legal advice. Legal advice is dependent upon the specific circumstances of each situation. Also, the law may vary from State to State, so that some information in this web site may not be correct for your jurisdiction. Finally, the information contained in this web site is not guaranteed to be up to date. Therefore, the information contained in this web site cannot replace the advice of competent legal counsel licensed in your state.

Lawyer Advertising. In some jurisdictions this web site may be considered lawyer advertising. The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements.

Any listing of an attorney does not constitute a recommendation of the attorney. Before hiring any attorney, you should investigate the attorney''s reputation and qualifications.

Links. This web site contains links to other resources on the Internet. Those links are provided as citations and aids to help you identify and locate other Internet resources that may be of interest, and are not intended to state or imply that we sponsor or are affiliated or associated with the persons or entities who created such site, nor are the links intended to state or imply that we are legally authorized to use any trade name, registered trademark, logo, legal or official seal, or copyrighted symbol that may be reflected in the links.

E-mail. Viewing this Web site , or transmitting an e-mail message through this Web site, does not create an attorney-client relationship. Sending e-mail to an attorney mentioned in this site does NOT create an attorney-client relationship between you and the attorney. Unless you are already a client of the attorney, your e-mail may NOT be protected by the attorney-client privilege. Moreover, unless it is encrypted, e-mail can be intercepted by persons other than the recipient. Deadlines are extremely important in most legal matters. You may lose important legal rights if you do not hire an attorney immediately to advise you. Many people do not check their e-mail daily, and some attorneys do not respond to unsolicited e-mail from non-clients.

New! Create Your Own Montana Dissolution and Parenting Plan Forms! Click here to find out how you can go online to make court forms.

Got a coaster?Click here for more information!

MontanaLawHelp.org is a project of the Montana Legal Services Association, the State Bar of Montana, the Montana Supreme Court Equal Justice Task Force, and Montana's Credit Unions. Funding has been provided by the Legal Services Corporation and the Montana Justice Foundation. For more information on MontanaLawHelp.org partners, visit the About Us page.