Notices to Vacate and Ending a Lease

A notice to vacate is a letter to end a lease. It can be written by you or by your landlord. There has to be a written notice to vacate to end any periodic lease, including oral month-to-month leases. Some leases say you have to give notice even if you plan to move on the lease ending date. The type of notice required to end a lease depends on the type of lease and the length of the rent period.

With a periodic lease, the rent period begins the day the rent is due and lasts until the rent is due again. If your rent is due on the first of each month, your rent period runs from the first of the month to the end of the month. Most periodic leases have a monthly rent period.

To end a periodic lease, like a month-to-month lease, either you or your landlord must give proper written notice at least one full rent period before the move-out date. So, if you want to end your lease at the end of next month, the notice must be delivered and received by 11:59 p.m. of the day before the next month’s rent is due.

For example: let’s say you are renting month-to-month with rent due on the first of the month. You want to move out at the end of April. You have to give your landlord written notice that you want to move before the end of March. Your landlord has to get your written notice to vacate by 11:59 p.m., on March 31st.

In order to be proper written notice, your letter needs to say you are ending the month-to-month lease. It also needs to give the date at the end of the month you will move out.

So, for example, your letter would say, “I am ending our month-to-month lease at the end of April. I will vacate and move out of the rental property on or before April 30th.” You can fill out the letter attached or write your own.

If you want to move but you don’t give a proper notice to vacate, your landlord may hold you responsible for an extra month of rent, or longer. This can happen even if you move out before the next month begins.

If your landlord wants you to move but does not give you proper notice to vacate, you can stay in your apartment until they give you a new, proper notice. You have to pay rent. Even if the notice isn’t done right, your landlord might still file an eviction against you. You need to go to court and show the judge that the notice was not proper.

NOTE: Not all periodic leases are month-to-month. Not all periodic leases have a one-month notice rule. Some periodic leases require 2 months’ notice, 60 days’ notice, or even 45 days’ notice. If you have a written lease, make sure you look at how much notice you have to give to move.

A fixed-term lease is a lease for a period of time. This is usually one year but can be a different period of time. Most fixed-term leases have a “notice period” to end the lease. The notice period is the amount of time before the lease ends. You or the landlord have to give notice during this time if you don’t want to renew or that the lease is ending.

Generally, a lease for a fixed period of time can’t be changed or ended until the ending date that is written in the lease. But this can be changed if you and your landlord both agree to a change.  

Usually, no notice is needed to end a fixed term lease (like a one-year lease) if you want to end it on the date given in the lease. But some fixed term leases require 30 or 60 days’ notice before the ending date. Some leases might even specify move-out times, or days. Read your lease carefully to see if you have to give notice if you are planning to move when it ends. 

Some fixed term leases have an "automatic renewal clause." This means that if you don’t say anything to the landlord, your lease will be renewed automatically for an additional period of time of 2 months or more. Automatic renewal is only legal if the landlord sends a reminder letter about renewal to the tenant. The letter must be sent or personally delivered to you at least 15 days, but no more than 30 days, before the date you would have to give notice of your plans to move. The letter must state that the lease will be renewed unless you send a letter saying that you don’t want to renew and will move. 

If your landlord accepts rent after the end of your lease, you are automatically in a verbal month-to-month lease.

Remember, a lease is a binding contract! Don’t break a lease without thinking about your choices in advance. If you must break a lease, the best ways to get out of it are:

• Reach an agreement with your landlord. Some areas have local mediation services that can help.

• Ask if your landlord is willing to find a new tenant or let you find a new tenant.
   

There are a number of ways to change or end a lease agreement. It depends if you have a lease for a fixed term or a periodic lease. If both you and your landlord agree in writing to change or end the lease, that should be enough to make the change or end the tenancy. This is true for a verbal or written lease, a fixed term lease or a periodic lease. It could be different, though, if you are on Section 8. Call your local legal aid office if you have questions about this.

If you need to move to be safe from domestic violence you may be able to end your lease early without an agreement from the landlord. See our fact sheet Victims of Domestic Violence, Stalking, or Criminal Sexual Conduct: Your Rights in Breaking Your Lease.

There are a few reasons, but mostly you can’t break a lease. It’s up to the landlord. But landlords don’t have to let you out of the lease if you lose your job. They don’t have to let you out of the lease if you are buying a house or if your job transfers you out of state. If you might buy a house or be transferred for work, then put that language in your lease from the start that lets you break the lease for these reasons.

One example of when you can end a lease early is if you have a medical condition and need to move into a medical care facility. You must give the landlord at least 2 months’ notice about your need to end the lease. The notice to your landlord must include:  

1. A copy of your doctor’s written record of your illness or disability and 
2. Papers showing that you have been accepted as a resident to a medical care facility. Or that you have a pending application at a medical care facility that your doctor said you need to move to. 

Also, families of tenants who die may be able to end a lease early without an agreement from the landlord. 

You have the right to ask for repairs, call an inspector or bring a rent escrow case to court if your landlord doesn’t get things done. You also have the right to demand that your landlord respect your privacy. These things are part of your legal rights as a tenant in Minnesota.

Your landlord can’t retaliate against you (get back at you or get revenge) for standing up for your rights as a tenant. Your landlord can’t raise your rent, ask you to move out, or decrease your services because of it. You do still need to pay your rent on time.

You are safe if you stand up for your rights as a tenant and ask for repairs or call an inspector. If you get a notice to vacate or a notice about raising your rent within 90 days, the law assumes that the landlord is retaliating unless they can show a good reason for giving the notice to vacate. 

If your landlord goes ahead and files an eviction case anyway because you stayed past the move-out date in a notice to vacate, or didn’t pay the new rent amount, tell the judge what happened. Tell the judge what you did or asked for (repairs etc.) within the 90 days before you got the notice.

Ask the court to start counting the 90-day period from the time your landlord got the things you asked for done, like doing all repairs.

Note: if your landlord raised your rent and you are going to court you have to pay your old rent amount into the court.

The judge will deny the eviction if the landlord can’t show a good, non-retaliation reason for the notice. If it has been longer than 90 days, you will have to prove that the landlord is trying to get back at you if you go to court.

A landlord or a tenant can give notice to end a lease during cold weather months. Even if you don’t give "proper notice,” when you move out of an apartment during periods of cold weather, always tell the landlord that you are moving. Tenants have to give landlords at least 3 days’ notice before moving any time between November 15th and April 15th. Tenants who do not give this 3-day notice may be found guilty of a criminal misdemeanor. The reason for this law is that plumbing may be damaged by freezing if the apartment is empty and unheated. 

If the landlord takes rent money from you after the date you were supposed to move, the move-out notice may be canceled by law. The taking of rent would renew your lease.

Talk to a lawyer before you assume that your notice to move has been canceled because your landlord took your rent payment.