Early Termination Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Missouri law says, what's specific to Kansas City - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- § 50-109(e) is the Kansas City survivor route. It writes into every lease entered into after August 17, 2018 an implied provision letting the tenant end it on written notice with an ex parte or full order of protection, or documentation signed by a medical provider.
- No day count appears in the subsection. Under § 50-109(e)(2) rent is discharged for any period following the last day of the month of the quitting date, and the tenant is entitled to the full deposit back, subject to RSMo § 535.300.
- The fee texts differ. § 50-109(e)(1) says the tenant "shall not incur early termination penalties or fees", while Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.920.6, effective August 28, 2019, says a landlord "may impose a reasonable termination fee". This guide prints both and does not predict how a court would reconcile them.
- § 441.920 works as a defense rather than a notice period. In a landlord's action, a tenant the court finds was a victim, or in imminent danger, and who notified the landlord is not liable for rent for the period after vacating.
- Outside those sections, the lease's own clause is the document to read, and a Missouri appeals court upheld a fee of two months' rent in Paragon Group, Inc. v. Ampleman. The Missouri sections were read from archived copies of the Revisor's pages, so read their current text on revisor.mo.gov.
Understanding the Early Termination Clause
An early termination clause sets the price and the steps for leaving before the end date. In Kansas City that paragraph sits under a city ordinance and a Missouri statute that each reach tenants facing domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, and the steps the ordinance lists do not include the landlord's approval.
The city route in Kansas City Code § 50-109(e) lets a qualifying tenant "terminate the lease and quit the premises upon providing the landlord written notice" with an order of protection or a medical provider's documentation. The state section, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.920, gives a qualifying victim a defense to rent for the period after vacating. The two texts differ on fees, documents and where rent stops.
Matching your situation to one of those routes comes before reading the fee in your lease. Where neither fits, the paragraph you signed is the document to read, line by line, starting with any fee and the notice period it names.
What renters assume
Kansas City's bar reads no wait, so any Kansas City tenant can hand back the keys tomorrow and owe nothing more.
What is actually true
The no-wait reading belongs to the survivor route in § 50-109(e), for a lease entered into after August 17, 2018, with an order of protection or a medical provider's documentation. Even there, rent is discharged for the period after the last day of the month of the quitting date, not from the day you leave.
Where the route does not fit, the paragraph you signed is the document to read.
Ten of the 23 rows in the comparison on this page carry no advance wait, and Kansas City is one of them, beside Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Denver, Boston, Detroit, Baltimore, Minneapolis and Milwaukee. Ten rows read 30 days, two read 14 days, in Portland and Washington, and Miami's reads 7 days.
A zero does not mean the same thing in each of those ten. Los Angeles carries a 14-day rent tail, Chicago asks for notice within 3 days, and Baltimore's label names a 30-day rent tail.
Minneapolis reads "rent to month end", and Milwaukee reads "rent to end of next month".
Kansas City's label reads "No wait - leave on notice (survivors)", which describes the city ordinance's route. The bar does not show where rent stops under § 50-109(e)(2), after the last day of the month of the quitting date, or the different state text in § 441.920.
Plain English Version
Kansas City's ordinance covers a lease entered into after August 17, 2018, where you or your dependent is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. A written notice with an order of protection or a medical provider's signed documentation can end it, and the ordinance names no waiting period.
Rent stops after the last day of the month you move out, and the ordinance says the full deposit comes back, subject to the state deposit statute. A Missouri statute words the fee question differently, so read both texts.
Early Termination Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Kansas City, MO
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.
If the effective date of such termination shall be prior to the twenty-fifth (25th) consecutive month during which Resident shall have been a party to a lease within the Apartment Community in which the Leased Premises are located, then Resident shall pay to Apartment Company, with the notice hereinabove required, and in addition to the payment of rent and all other amounts, if any, due hereunder as hereinabove set forth, an amount equal to two (2) month’s rent due hereunder.…
Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to limit the right of Apartment Company to recover actual damages in excess of the security deposit.
Quoted from the published opinion in Paragon Group, Inc. v. Ampleman, 878 S.W.2d 878 (Mo. Ct. App. E.D. 1994). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“twenty-fifth (25th) consecutive month during which Resident”
This fee turns on tenure: leave before a set month in the community and it applies. This is a Missouri clause, and in Paragon the court upheld the fee it produced, two months' rent charged to a tenant who left with nine months remaining, as valid liquidated damages rather than a penalty. Kansas City's survivor route keys on a date instead: § 50-109(e) reaches every lease entered into after August 17, 2018.
“party to a lease within the Apartment Community in which”
Paragon's clause counts the months you have been a party to a lease. Kansas City's ordinance adds a term to that lease by law. § 50-109(e) says every lease entered into after August 17, 2018 “contains an implied provision” that the lease may be terminated by a party subject to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, so the right is written into the lease by law.
“the Leased Premises are located, then Resident shall pay”
This is where the fee falls due. On a survivor exit, Kansas City and Missouri give different texts. § 50-109(e)(1) says the tenant “shall not incur early termination penalties or fees”, while Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.920.6, effective August 28, 2019, says a landlord “may impose a reasonable termination fee” on a tenant who ends a lease under that section.
“amounts, if any, due hereunder as hereinabove set”
The fee stacks on top of rent and the other amounts the lease makes due. Kansas City cuts the rent at a fixed point: under § 50-109(e)(2) a survivor is discharged from rent for any period following the last day of the month of the quitting date. Missouri's § 441.920.3 frames it as a defense instead, to rent for the period after the tenant vacates, in a landlord's action.
Enforced as valid liquidated damages. The tenant left with nine months to run on a $5,520 lease and refused to pay the two-month fee. The court held $920 was “not an unreasonable estimate” of the landlord's loss, and that although the rent owed was easy to measure, the wider harm was not. Note what the clause reserves at the end - the fee did not cap the landlord's claim.
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.
Missouri Law on Early Termination Clause
- The Kansas City right is written into the lease by law. Section 50-109(e) says "Every lease entered into after August 17, 2018 contains an implied provision that the lease may be terminated by a party subject to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking", and the tenant, or a tenant whose dependent is the victim, "may terminate the lease and quit the premises upon providing the landlord written notice and a copy of an ex-parte or full order of protection" or "documentation signed by a medical provider". No number of days of notice appears in the subsection.
- Rent stops at the end of the moving-out month, and the deposit comes back. Under § 50-109(e)(1) the tenant's rights and obligations under the lease "are terminated" once the documents and written notice are made available, and under § 50-109(e)(2) the tenant "is discharged from the payment of rent for any period following the last day of the month of the quitting date" and, notwithstanding lease terms forfeiting a deposit for early termination, "is entitled to the return of the full deposit, subject to RSMo § 535.300." Section 50-109(f) makes it a violation for a person who terminates under subsection (e) to knowingly misrepresent material information to the owner with the purpose to deceive, and says "The nonpayment of rent shall not constitute damage under this section."
- The state section works differently. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.920.4 qualifies a tenant who "provides a statement of such domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking" to the landlord, with documentation on request from a victim service provider, a health care or mental health professional, or a law enforcement agency, court or administrative agency. Section 441.920.3 gives the tenant, in a landlord's action under Chapter 441, 534 or 535, "an affirmative defense and not be liable for rent for the period after which the tenant vacates" if the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the tenant was a victim or in imminent danger and notified the landlord. Section 441.920.6 allows "a reasonable termination fee", and § 441.920.7 limits the section to residential properties.
- Outside those sections, the lease's own early-termination clause is the document to read. In Paragon Group, Inc. v. Ampleman, 878 S.W.2d 878 (Mo. App. E.D. 1994), the court upheld an apartment lease fee of two months' rent, charged to a tenant who left with nine months remaining, as valid liquidated damages rather than a penalty. Separately, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.645 says that if a residence is destroyed by an act of God or other natural or man-made disaster the tenant did not cause, "the tenant shall not be liable to the landlord for rent during the remainder of the term of the lease agreement." Check the current text of these sections before relying on them.
Sources include Kansas City Code of Ordinances § 50-109(e); Kansas City Code of Ordinances § 50-109(f); Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.920; Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.043; Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.645 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
The state survivor section is Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.920, effective August 28, 2019, and it works as a defense rather than a notice-and-leave exit. Under § 441.920.3, in a landlord's action under Chapter 441, 534 or 535, a tenant has "an affirmative defense and not be liable for rent for the period after which the tenant vacates".
The defense turns on findings: by a preponderance of the evidence, that the tenant was a victim or in imminent danger of becoming one, and that the tenant notified the landlord. The paper asked for is different from the city's. Under § 441.920.4 a tenant qualifies by giving the landlord a statement of the domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. If the landlord asks, documentation follows from one of these sources:
- An employee of a victim service provider.
- A health care or mental health professional.
- A law enforcement agency, a court or an administrative agency.
The fee text is where the state and city sections part. § 441.920.6 says a landlord "may impose a reasonable termination fee" on a tenant who ends a lease under that section, while Kansas City's § 50-109(e)(1) says a tenant ending a lease under it "shall not incur early termination penalties or fees". This guide prints both and does not predict how a court would reconcile them. § 441.920.7 limits the state section to residential properties.
One more section ends rent in a named event: a residence destroyed by an act of God or another natural or man-made disaster the tenant did not cause. There, § 441.645 says "the tenant shall not be liable to the landlord for rent during the remainder of the term of the lease agreement."
Outside those sections, the lease's own early-termination clause is the document to read. In Paragon Group, Inc. v. Ampleman, 878 S.W.2d 878 (Mo. App. E.D.
1994), the court upheld an apartment lease fee of two months' rent, charged to a tenant who left with nine months remaining, as valid liquidated damages rather than a penalty.
§ 441.043, as amended effective August 28, 2025, lists ordinances a Missouri county or city may not enact, maintain or enforce. They are ordinances regulating the amount of rent, barring refusals based on a housing-assistance source of income, restricting a landlord's own screening criteria, limiting the amount of a security deposit, or requiring a tenant right of first refusal.
This guide takes no position on how it applies to any Kansas City section.
If you are in the military. Our Missouri record finds no state exit with a day count for servicemembers, and federal law is outside it.
A separate federal exit may apply to an active-duty servicemember, set out in our military lease guide. The Missouri sections were read from archived copies of the Revisor's pages, so read their current text on revisor.mo.gov.
Missouri Tenant Protections
The Kansas City route in § 50-109(e) rests on the tenant's own paper: a written notice and a copy of an ex parte or full order of protection, or documentation signed by a medical provider. Once those are made available to the landlord, § 50-109(e)(1) says the tenant's rights and obligations under the lease "are terminated" and the tenant "shall not incur early termination penalties or fees".
Under § 50-109(e)(2) rent is discharged for any period following the last day of the month of the quitting date. Lease terms forfeiting a deposit for early termination do not displace the tenant's right to the full deposit, subject to RSMo § 535.300.
A landlord who acts in violation of the subsection is guilty of a violation of the section. § 50-109(f), which reaches a tenant who knowingly misrepresents material information to deceive the owner, adds that "The nonpayment of rent shall not constitute damage under this section." The state layer runs on different terms. § 441.920.3 gives a victim, or a tenant in imminent danger, who notified the landlord an affirmative defense to rent for the period after vacating, in a landlord's action under Chapter 441, 534 or 535. § 441.920.6 lets a landlord impose a reasonable termination fee, a text that differs from the city's, and this guide does not reconcile them. § 441.645 ends rent for the remainder of the term when a disaster the tenant did not cause destroys the residence.
Read the current text of each section before relying on it.
What's Specific to Kansas City
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.
For a Kansas City renter the survivor exit with no wait is a city rule. It sits in § 50-109 of the Code of Ordinances, in Chapter 50, Offenses and Miscellaneous Provisions, which our record read on Municode in the code codified through Ordinance No. 260342, enacted April 16, 2026 (Supp. No. 139).
The right is written into the lease by law. § 50-109(e) says "Every lease entered into after August 17, 2018 contains an implied provision that the lease may be terminated by a party subject to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking". The tenant, or a tenant whose dependent is the victim, gives written notice with a copy of an ex parte or full order of protection, or documentation signed by a medical provider.
The ordinance's history line names Ord. No. 910908 (1991) and Ord. No. 180516 (August 2, 2018). The city's Legistar file describes the second as amending § 50-109 to allow a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking to terminate a lease agreement.
Municode's list of adopted ordinances not yet codified, read on October 4, 2026, holds none that amends § 50-109.
The enforcement words are short. A landlord who acts in violation of subsection (e) is guilty of a violation of the section, and our record did not read Chapter 50's penalty section.
Under § 50-109(f), a person terminating under subsection (e) who knowingly misrepresents material information to the owner, with the purpose to deceive, also commits a violation. The same subsection adds that "The nonpayment of rent shall not constitute damage under this section."
Our Kansas City record covers § 50-109, Chapter 35 (Housing) and Chapter 34, Article XIX (Healthy Rental Homes). A Municode text search of the whole code for "early termination", "terminate the lease", "servicemember" and "military orders" returned no other residential lease exit.
That is a statement about the chapters read and the search run, not a survey of every ordinance the city has adopted.
That leaves a sequence for a Kansas City renter. Check the date your lease was entered into against August 17, 2018, gather the order of protection or the medical provider's signed documentation, and send the written notice in a form you can later prove.
Then plan the move-out date around § 50-109(e)(2), which discharges rent for the period after the last day of the month of the quitting date.
This guide describes § 50-109 as enacted and does not predict how Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.043 or § 441.920 would apply to it. Where the city route does not fit, the paragraph you signed is the document to read, and a Kansas City tenant lawyer or legal aid office can read it with you before you agree to any fee.
§ 50-109(e) writes its implied termination provision into every lease entered into after August 17, 2018, so the date your lease was entered into decides whether the city route reaches it.
§ 50-109(e)(1) says a tenant ending the lease under it "shall not incur early termination penalties or fees", while § 441.920.6 says a landlord "may impose a reasonable termination fee". Read both texts against the clause.
The city route runs on written notice made available to the landlord with the documents, and the state defense asks that the tenant notified the landlord. An address for notice tells you where to send it.
§ 50-109(e)(2) says that, notwithstanding lease terms forfeiting a deposit for early termination, a tenant ending the lease under it is entitled to the full deposit, subject to RSMo § 535.300.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- Kansas City Code of Ordinances § 50-109(e); Kansas City Code of Ordinances § 50-109(f); Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.920; Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.043; Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.645, read on library.municode.com. Municode marks the Kansas City Code of Ordinances as codified through Ordinance No. 260342, enacted April 16, 2026 (Supp. No. 139); Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.920 was read in the Internet Archive's copy of the Missouri Revisor of Statutes page captured May 13, 2026, which shows the section effective August 28, 2019, because the Revisor's own site did not answer our build machine.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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One fee for every early move-out
A clause charging the same fee for any early exit says nothing of § 50-109(e)(1), under which a tenant ending the lease as a survivor "shall not incur early termination penalties or fees".
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Rent billed past the month you leave
Under § 50-109(e)(2) rent is discharged for any period following the last day of the month of the quitting date. A bill running to the end of the term reads a different clock.
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The deposit forfeited for leaving early
§ 50-109(e)(2) entitles a tenant ending the lease under it to the full deposit, notwithstanding lease terms that forfeit a deposit for early termination, subject to RSMo § 535.300.
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A survivor exit made to wait for consent
The steps § 50-109(e) lists are written notice and a copy of an order of protection or a medical provider's documentation. A clause adding the landlord's approval adds a step the subsection does not list.
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Rent still billed after a disaster
§ 441.645 says a tenant who did not cause the disaster that destroyed the residence "shall not be liable to the landlord for rent during the remainder of the term". A clause billing rent after that event deserves a second read.
Your Rights as a Kansas City Tenant
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Leave on notice as a survivor
A tenant whose lease was entered into after August 17, 2018 can end it under § 50-109(e) with written notice and an order of protection or a medical provider's signed documentation.
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Rent that stops at month end
Under § 50-109(e)(2) you are discharged from rent for any period following the last day of the month of the quitting date.
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Your full deposit back
§ 50-109(e)(2) entitles you to the full deposit, notwithstanding lease terms forfeiting it for early termination, subject to RSMo § 535.300.
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A state defense to later rent
§ 441.920.3 gives a victim who notified the landlord an affirmative defense to rent for the period after vacating, in a landlord's action under Chapter 441, 534 or 535.
What To Do - Step by Step
Match your situation to a route
The city survivor route is § 50-109(e), for a lease entered into after August 17, 2018. The state section is § 441.920, and a disaster you did not cause is § 441.645. If none fits, the paragraph you signed is the document to read.
Gather the papers the ordinance names
For § 50-109(e) that is a copy of an ex parte or full order of protection issued for you or your dependent, or documentation signed by a medical provider. Under § 441.920.4 a landlord may ask for documentation of the kinds that section lists.
Put the notice in writing and keep proof
The ordinance runs on written notice made available to the landlord with the documents. Keep a copy, and proof of the day it was delivered.
Plan the move-out with the money
Rent is discharged for any period after the last day of the month of the quitting date. The ordinance says the full deposit comes back, subject to RSMo § 535.300, and the state fee text in § 441.920.6 differs from the city's.
Check the code and the statute text today
Our record of the Kansas City code runs through Ordinance No. 260342. The Missouri sections were read from archived copies of the Revisor's pages, so read their current text on revisor.mo.gov.
Get local advice before paying a fee
Take the lease, your notice and the documents to a Kansas City tenant lawyer or legal aid office, and bring any fee the landlord names in writing.