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Email templates · Apartment leasing office

Lease termination letter: 30-day notice to your landlord

You're moving out and need to tell your landlord in writing: your lease is ending and you won't renew, you rent month to month and are ready to go, or you're using an early termination option in your lease. (Still weighing what leaving early would cost? Ask the leasing office first; there's a template for that.) A lease termination letter, sometimes called a notice of intent to vacate, is that notice. It fixes your move-out date and lines up the inspection, the keys and your deposit.

Timing is where people get caught. Many leases require written notice 30 or 60 days before you leave, even at the end of the term, and some renew automatically or switch to month to month unless you give notice by a set date. For month-to-month rentals, state law sets the minimum, often 30 days, and in some states the notice has to run to the end of a rental period. Rent is usually owed through the notice period even if you leave sooner.

Before you send

  • Your lease's notice clause, often under termination, renewal or move-out. Note how many days' notice it requires and how notice must be delivered. Many leases call for written notice by mail or by hand; if yours does and doesn't mention email, send the same letter that way too.
  • Your state's rule, if you rent month to month, from a government or court website. Check whether the notice has to end on the last day of a rental period.
  • Your move-out date, counted from the day the landlord will receive the letter, with a few days of margin if you're mailing it.
  • A forwarding address, even a temporary one. In some states the landlord's deadline for returning the deposit only starts once you've given it in writing.
  • For an early termination option, the fee and notice it requires, from the lease or the leasing office's written answer.
Subject Notice of lease termination, [unit number or address], move-out [move-out date] 
Hi [landlord, property manager, or leasing office name],

This letter is my written notice that I'm ending my tenancy at [unit number and full address] and will move out on [move-out date]. [Say which applies: my lease ends on that date and I won't be renewing it / I rent month to month / I'm using the early termination option in section (number) of my lease.] That gives you [number] days' notice, which meets the requirement in my [lease / rental agreement / state law].

[If you're using an early termination option: I'll pay the termination fee of (amount) that the lease requires by (date). Otherwise delete this sentence.]

Before I leave, I'd like to schedule a move-out inspection so I can take care of anything you'd want fixed or cleaned. [Two or three dates and times in your last two weeks] would work for me. Please also let me know how you'd like the keys returned.

After I move out, please send my security deposit of $[deposit amount], with an itemized statement of any deductions, to my forwarding address within the time [state name] law allows:

[Your name]
[Street address]
[City, state, zip code]

Please reply to confirm you've received this notice and the move-out date.

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Your phone number]

[If your lease requires another delivery method, add: A copy of this notice was also sent by (mail / hand delivery) on (date).]

Everything in brackets is yours to fill in. Keep the rest as it is or change the tone to match how you write.

After you send

  • A good reply confirms the move-out date, an inspection time, and how to return the keys. Save it with your copy of the notice and any mailing receipt.
  • If they say your notice is short or the lease has already renewed, ask them to name the clause in writing and check it against your dates before agreeing to pay anything extra.
  • Use the inspection: walk through with the manager, take your own dated photos, and ask for a written list of anything they want done. Some states give tenants a right to this inspection, and working through the list is the best protection for your deposit.
  • On move-out day, return every key and photograph each room. If the deposit doesn't arrive within your state's deadline, there are templates for asking for it and for a formal demand.

Or don't send it yourself

Forward the job to myagent@standinfor.me and let StandIn run the whole thread.

StandIn is an email assistant that handles conversations with businesses for you. You write it one email saying what you need. It writes to the business, waits for the answer, follows up when they go quiet, pushes back on the number when it should, and brings the results back to your inbox for you to decide. You don't need to install an app or sign up. The first email you send is already the start of the task.

Hand this to StandIn opens an email to myagent@standinfor.me with the job already written out

To myagent@standinfor.me Subject Give my landlord notice that I'm moving out 
Hi StandIn,

Please give my landlord written notice that I'm ending my lease, and set up my move-out.

The rental: [unit number and full address].
Landlord or leasing office: [name and email address].
Why it's ending: [lease ending and not renewing / month to month / using the early termination option].
Notice my lease requires: [number of days and how it must be delivered, or "not sure"].
Move-out date: [date].
Security deposit: [amount].
Forwarding address: [full mailing address].

Send the notice, get written confirmation of the move-out date, and schedule a move-out inspection. If my lease requires notice by mail or in person, send me the final letter so I can deliver a copy that way too, and tell me right away if they say I owe more than rent through the notice period.

Thanks,
[Your name]

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