Lease Termination Letter

Last Updated: April 30, 2024 by Roberto Valenzuela

A lease termination letter provides notice (from either the landlord or the tenant) to end a rental agreement, most often a month-to-month lease. State laws specify different notice requirements for different rental situations, such as month-to-month, fixed-term, or no lease.

State-Specific Lease Termination Notice Templates

Lease Termination Letter Explained

A lease termination letter complies with state legal requirements to provide notice that a rental agreement will end on a particular date. This is most common in a month-to-month rental situation, since most month-to-month agreements are open-ended and don’t specify a final date of termination. Most states also apply the same requirements to a situation with no written agreement where the tenant pays rent monthly (often called a “tenancy at will”).

Lease termination letters can also be used at the end of a fixed-term lease by either the landlord or tenant. This is often done even when not a legal requirement, to prevent any ambiguity about lease status or move-out date. A few states also do require notice of termination even with a fixed-term lease.

Steps To Terminate A Lease

This is a basic outline for terminating a month-to-month rental agreement or providing notice of termination in states where it’s also legally required for fixed-term leases:

Step 1: Check State Notice Requirements

These are the month-to-month rental agreement and fixed-term lease termination notice requirements by state:

States with Special Requirements

A few states do not take a “one size fits all” approach for termination notices. The following states apply special, more detailed rules:

• Colorado: Advance notice requirements depend on lease duration:
  • One year or longer: Three months
  • Six months or more, but less than one year: One month
  • One month or more, but less than six months: 21 days
  • One week or more, but less than one month: Three days (also applies to a tenancy at will)
  • Under one week: One day
• Georgia: 60 days of advance notice required from the landlord, 30 days required from the tenant
• Hawaii: 45 days of advance notice required from the landlord, 28 days required from the tenant
• Oregon: 30 days of advance notice until the tenant has been on the property for more than one year, then 60 days (from both landlord and tenant)
• Rhode Island: 30 days of advance notice from the landlord when the tenant is 62 years of age and younger, then 60 days afterward
• Vermont: 60 days of advance notice from the landlord until the tenant has been on the property over two years, then 90 days

Calculating Notice Periods

Timing a lease termination letter can often be confusing for both tenants and landlords, because the notice typically takes effect on the next date that rent is due rather than the 30th day after the notice is given. A notice given in the middle of a rental period typically causes the lease to terminate at the end of the next rental period.

Step 2: Write Termination Letter

Month-to-month rental agreements normally end by sending a lease termination notice to the other party, using the appropriate amount of advance notice required by state law. Each lease termination letter should include the following:

Step 3: Proof of Service

The ideal method (in legal terms) for delivering a lease termination letter to the other party is hand delivery in person. This is the gold standard for delivery and will be accepted as a valid form of service in all states.

When hand delivery to the other party in person isn’t possible, most states will also accept hand delivery to a person of suitable age and discretion on the property, who can accept the notice on the other party’s behalf. For landlords delivering to tenants, this is preferably a member of the tenant’s family who lives on the rental property with the tenant.

If no form of hand delivery is possible, most states allow posting the notice at a conspicuous place on the property, such as the entry door, AND/OR delivering the notice by registered or certified mail with a return receipt to get signed confirmation of delivery to the other party.