Early Termination Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Colorado law says, what's specific to Denver - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- C.R.S. 38-12-402 lets a qualifying survivor vacate with no advance notice, while New York and Georgia both make you wait 30 days.
- Your total liability is capped at one month's rent, payable within 90 days, and only where the landlord documents that much loss.
- Written notice has to arrive with a protection order, a police report written within 60 days, or a professional's statement.
- A separate route, C.R.S. 38-12-507, ends the lease over an unremedied habitability breach on 10 to 60 days' written notice.
- Denver adds nothing of its own here, so every exit right a Denver renter uses comes from state statute.
Understanding the Early Termination Clause
An early termination clause is the price tag your lease puts on leaving before the term ends, usually a flat buyout fee, your deposit, or rent until someone else signs. In most Denver leases it reads like the only door out of the building.
It isn't. Colorado law runs a separate exit around that clause: under C.R.S. 38-12-402, a survivor of domestic violence, abuse, stalking, or unlawful sexual behavior can vacate with no advance notice, owe at most one month's rent, and pay that within 90 days.
What renters assume
Renters read the buyout fee printed in the lease as the full price of leaving early. Pay it, or ride out the term.
What is actually true
Colorado's survivor exit sits outside your lease entirely. It requires no advance notice, no landlord sign-off, and caps what you owe at one month's rent.
Colorado and Washington are the only two on this chart with no waiting period at all. Everywhere else a clock still runs first, 30 days in New York, Texas, and Georgia, 14 days of rent in California, 3 days under Illinois' Safe Homes Act, and Florida gives survivors no termination statute at all.
Plain English Version
Your lease is a door with a fee taped to it, and Colorado's survivor statute is the fire exit beside it. The fire exit opens the second you push it, and the most it can cost you is one month's rent.
Early Termination Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Denver, CO
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
LESSEE(S) MUST NOTIFY LESSOR SIXTY (60) DAYS PRIOR TO EARLY TERMINATION OF THIS AGREEMENT. IF LESSOR SO CHOOSES TO AGREE TO AN EARLY TERMINATION OF THIS AGREEMENT, LESSEE(S) AGREES TO PAY A FEE OF ONE MONTH’S RENT IN ADDITION TO THE REGULAR RENT UNTIL A TENANT SUITABLE TO LESSOR EXECUTES A NEW LEASE TERM.
Quoted from the published opinion in Oldendick v. Crocker, 2016-Ohio-5621 (Ohio Ct. App. 8th Dist. Sept. 1, 2016). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“MUST NOTIFY LESSOR”
Under C.R.S. § 38-12-402 there is no advance waiting period - a tenant may vacate based on fear of imminent danger to themselves or their children. Written notice plus a protection order, a police report written within 60 days, or a professional's statement is what the statute asks for.
“EARLY TERMINATION OF THIS AGREEMENT. IF LESSOR SO CHOOSES”
The statutory route does not wait for the landlord to choose anything. That is the difference between a contractual buy-out, which needs agreement, and a statutory termination, which does not - and it is worth knowing which one you are exercising before you negotiate.
“ONE MONTH’S RENT”
Colorado's cap happens to land on the same figure - but with two conditions this clause does not have. The one month is a ceiling, it is due within 90 days, and it applies only where the landlord documents that much loss. An undocumented month is not owed.
“EXECUTES A NEW LEASE TERM”
This is what a cap is designed to prevent. Tying your liability to a future event you do not control turns a known cost into an open one - and Colorado's answer to that is a fixed ceiling plus a deadline.
Struck down as a penalty, on two independent grounds. First, the landlord had taken the fee out of the security deposit, and the deposit statute limits deductions to actual damages - so a stipulated fee could not be taken from it at all. Second, the court held that damages from breaking a residential lease are generally not hard to work out, and this landlord had had little difficulty identifying them.
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Colorado Law on Early Termination Clause
- C.R.S. § 38-12-402 requires written notice plus a protection order, a police report written within 60 days, or a professional's statement.
- No advance waiting period applies; the tenant may vacate based on fear of imminent danger to self or children.
- Liability is capped at one month's rent, due within 90 days, and only where the landlord documents that much loss.
- Separately, C.R.S. § 38-12-507 allows termination for an unremedied habitability breach on 10 to 60 days' written notice.
C.R.S. § 38-12-402 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Colorado's exit is immediate. C.R.S. 38-12-402 sets no waiting period, so a qualifying tenant can vacate on fear of imminent danger to themselves or their children, while a survivor in Atlanta still waits 30 days after notice under O.C.G.A. 44-7-23 and a survivor in Miami gets no termination statute at all.
What Colorado asks for instead is proof and a capped payment. Written notice has to come with a protection order, a police report written within 60 days, or a professional's statement, and your liability stops at one month's rent, due within 90 days and only where the property manager documents that much loss.
Colorado Tenant Protections
C.R.S. 38-12-402 lets a qualifying survivor vacate with no advance notice, based on fear of imminent danger to themselves or their children. The documentation is a protection order, a police report written within 60 days, or a professional's statement, so no finished court case is required. Liability is capped at one month's rent, due within 90 days, and only where the landlord documents that much loss.
What's Specific to Denver
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Denver adds nothing to early termination. Its residential rental licensing scheme governs property standards, not exits, so the no-notice route and the one month's rent cap read the same in Five Points as they do in Grand Junction.
What Denver adds is scale and paperwork. Large professionally managed buildings here hand you a lease with a fixed buyout figure and a tenant portal that won't process anything else, so a statutory exit has to go to a human, in writing. The licensing rule at least means the company behind that portal is a licensed operator with a local address on file, which is where your notice should land.
It should. Vague 'liable for all remaining rent' language hides the real cost, so get the exact dollar figure written in before you sign.
Good leases point to C.R.S. 38-12-402. Silence changes nothing, because the no-notice exit and the one month's rent cap apply either way.
Red flag. C.R.S. 38-12-402 imposes no advance notice period, so a survivor waiting clause asks for more than Colorado law allows.
Watch that one. A qualifying survivor's liability stops at one month's rent, and even that only where the landlord documents the loss.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- C.R.S. § 38-12-402. Colorado publishes its official statutes through LexisNexis; there is no free government edition.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Waiting period forced on survivors
A clause making a qualifying survivor give 30 or 60 days' notice first. C.R.S. 38-12-402 requires no advance notice, so the lease is inventing a step.
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Conviction demanded as proof
Language requiring a criminal conviction before you can go. The statute accepts a protection order, a police report written within 60 days, or a professional's statement.
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Full remaining term billed
The lease charges every month left on the term after a statutory exit. Colorado caps a qualifying survivor at one month's rent, with documented landlord loss.
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Statutory rights signed away
Fine print trading away C.R.S. 38-12-402 for a rent concession. A waiver can cost you the no-notice exit and the one month's rent cap at once.
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Buyout fee stacked on deposit
The lease takes an early-termination fee and the entire deposit for the same move-out. Ask which one actually applies and get that answer in writing.
Your Rights as a Denver Tenant
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An exit with no waiting
C.R.S. 38-12-402 lets a qualifying survivor vacate with no advance notice, based on fear of imminent danger to you or your children.
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Paperwork, not a courtroom
A protection order, a police report written within 60 days, or a professional's statement is what the statute asks for. No landlord permission needed.
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A hard cap on what you owe
Liability stops at one month's rent, payable within 90 days, and only where the landlord documents that much loss.
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A statewide habitability exit
C.R.S. 38-12-507 ends a lease over an unremedied habitability breach on 10 to 60 days' written notice. Illinois has no statewide equivalent.
What To Do - Step by Step
Read the termination clause
Find the paragraph naming the buyout fee, the notice it wants, and what happens to your deposit. Write that number down as your baseline.
Check the statutory route
C.R.S. 38-12-402 covers domestic violence, abuse, stalking, and unlawful sexual behavior. If it fits, the fee in your lease stops being your only way out.
Gather documentation first
You need a protection order, a police report written within 60 days, or a professional's statement. Start that before you send anything to the office.
Put the notice in writing
Written notice is what the statute requires, so a call to the leasing desk doesn't count. Keep a dated copy and send it in a provable way.
Budget for the cap
Your exposure is at most one month's rent, due within 90 days. Don't agree to a larger buyout before you check that against the statute.
Get free help early
Call Colorado Legal Services or a Denver tenant-rights line before you sign a buyout, a repayment plan, or a move-out agreement. Early is when it helps.