Breaking Your Lease after Domestic Abuse
Any person who has rented a house or an apartment is probably familiar with the term “breaking your lease.” While some landlords will allow a tenant to terminate their lease early, others require you to pay until you have completed the full term of the lease. However, if you are a victim of domestic abuse and you are afraid of your abuser, you may be able to break your lease.
Minnesota Statute §504B.206 provides as follows:
“A tenant to a residential lease who is a victim of domestic abuse and fears imminent domestic abuse against the tenant or the tenant’s minor child if the tenant or the tenant’s minor children remain in the leased premises may terminate a lease agreement without penalty or liability as provided in this section. The tenant must provide advance written notice to the landlord stating that:
- the tenant fears imminent domestic abuse from a person named in an order for protection or no contact order;
- the tenant needs to terminate the tenancy; and
- the specific date the tenancy will terminate.
The written notice must be delivered before the termination of the tenancy by mail, fax, or in person, and be accompanied by the order for protection or no contact order.
You would have to supply your landlord with a written notice asserting that you fear your abuser is going to harm you at that residence and you must supply your landlord with a copy of an Order for Protection or a No Contact Order against your abuser.
However, you cannot simply hand over these documents to your landlord and walk away. A tenant terminating their lease under this statute is responsible for the rent payment for the full month in which the tenancy terminates and an additional amount equal to one month’s rent. Also, breaking your lease under this statute does not absolve you from any overdue rent that you owed or any other payments you owed your landlord.
If you share your rented space with another person who was not a victim of domestic abuse, then that person will stay on the lease.