Early Termination Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Minnesota law says, what's specific to Minneapolis - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- § 504B.206 is the survivor exit: a signed and dated advance written notice, delivered with a qualifying document, ends the tenancy on the date the notice names. The section sets no minimum number of days for that notice.
- The price is fixed by § 504B.206, subd. 3. A sole tenant pays rent for the full month in which the tenancy terminates, "relinquishes all claims for the return of the security deposit", and is relieved of rent and other charges for the rest of the term.
- Under subd. 5 the right cannot be waived. A landlord may not bring an eviction against a tenant who used it except as § 504B.285 allows, and disclosing the tenant's information carries $2,000 in statutory damages plus attorney fees.
- Two slower state routes run on at least two months' written notice effective on the last day of a calendar month: a move into a medical care facility under § 504B.266, and a tenant's death under § 504B.265.
- Minneapolis adds an exit of its own. Under Minneapolis Code of Ordinances § 244.2000(8), a tenant who was not given the pre-lease disclosures it requires "may terminate the lease after notice to the property owner".
Understanding the Early Termination Clause
An early termination clause tells you what leaving before the end date costs, and on what terms. In Minneapolis that paragraph shares the question with Minnesota statutes that open exits in named situations, and with one city ordinance that opens an exit of its own.
The survivor exit in Minn. Stat. § 504B.206 is the route the comparison scores. A tenant who fears imminent violence after domestic abuse, criminal sexual conduct, sexual extortion or harassment ends the tenancy on the date named in an advance written notice, and pays rent for the full month in which it ends.
A move into a medical care facility under § 504B.266, and a tenant's death under § 504B.265, open slower routes on at least two months' notice.
The city route turns on paperwork the landlord owed you before you signed. Working out which door fits, if any, comes before reading the fee in your lease. Where none fits, the paragraph you signed is the document that answers the question.
What renters assume
Minneapolis's bar reads no wait, so any Minnesota tenant can hand back the keys tomorrow and owe nothing further.
What is actually true
The no-wait reading belongs to the survivor exit in § 504B.206, and it has a price. The tenant still pays rent for the full month in which the tenancy ends and gives up any claim to the security deposit.
Moving out before the date in the notice does not end the tenancy any sooner.
Eight of the 21 rows in the comparison on this page carry no advance wait, and Minneapolis is one of them, beside Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Denver, Boston, Detroit and Baltimore. 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 eight. Seattle, Denver and Boston read "No wait - leave on notice", while Los Angeles carries a 14-day rent tail and Baltimore a 30-day one.
Minneapolis's label reads "No wait; rent to month end (survivors)": its tail runs to the end of the month in which the tenancy ends, not to a count of days.
The bar also leaves out Minnesota's slower routes. The two months' notice in § 504B.266 and § 504B.265, and the Minneapolis disclosure exit, sit outside the survivor figure drawn here.
Plain English Version
Nothing in the Minnesota sections our record read lets a tenant end a lease just by giving notice. What those sections do is name situations.
If you or another authorized occupant fear imminent violence after domestic abuse, criminal sexual conduct, sexual extortion or harassment, a signed notice and one qualifying document end your tenancy on the date you name. You pay that whole month's rent and give up the deposit.
A move into a medical care facility takes at least two months' notice, ending on the last day of a month. In Minneapolis, a landlord who skipped the required pre-lease disclosures opens a city exit.
Early Termination Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Minneapolis, MN
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.
“effective date of such termination shall be prior to the twenty-fifth”
Paragon's fee turns on the date the termination takes effect, measured against the tenant's months in the community. Minnesota's survivor exit puts that date in the tenant's own notice. Under § 504B.206, a tenant who fears imminent violence after domestic abuse, criminal sexual conduct, sexual extortion or harassment ends the tenancy on the date named in a signed, dated advance written notice, delivered with a qualifying document. The section sets no minimum number of days for that notice.
“Resident shall have been a party to a lease within the Apartment”
The fee counts the months a resident has been a party to a lease. When one party leaves under the survivor exit, Minnesota also decides what happens to the others. Under § 504B.206, subd. 3, the lease for the remaining tenants ends at the later of the end of the month or the end of the rent interval in which one tenant terminates, and they may reapply for a new lease.
“the payment of rent and all other amounts, if”
Paragon's fee is payable on top of rent and the lease's other charges. A survivor exit in Minnesota replaces that open list with fixed terms. A sole tenant pays rent for the full month in which the tenancy terminates, “relinquishes all claims for the return of the security deposit”, and is relieved of rent and other charges for the remaining term. Rent owed before the termination is still owed.
“in this paragraph shall be construed to limit the right of”
This sentence keeps Paragon's landlord free to sue for more than the fee. Minnesota sets limits a lease cannot draft around on its exits. § 504B.206, subd. 5 says the survivor right cannot be waived. For a move into a medical care facility under § 504B.266, or a tenant's death under § 504B.265, the notice is “at least two months' written notice to be effective on the last day of a calendar month”. A lease term requiring longer notice is void.
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.
Minnesota Law on Early Termination Clause
- The survivor notice has four required parts under § 504B.206, subd. 1(b): that the tenant fears imminent violence from a person named in a qualifying document if the tenant or an authorized occupant stays, that the tenant needs to terminate the tenancy, the date the lease will terminate, and written instructions for any personal property left behind. It must be delivered before the termination date by mail, in person, or by another form of written communication regularly used with the landlord. Qualifying documents under subd. 6 are an order for protection, a no contact order, a signed writing from a court official or a law enforcement official, or a signed statement from a licensed health care professional, domestic abuse advocate or sexual assault counselor in the form the statute prints. Moving out before the date in the notice does not end the tenancy.
- Rent and the deposit follow fixed rules under § 504B.206, subd. 3. A sole tenant pays rent for the full month in which the tenancy terminates and "relinquishes all claims for the return of the security deposit". Where other tenants share the lease, the lease for the remaining tenants ends at the later of the end of the month or the end of the rent interval, and they may reapply for a new lease. Rent owed before the termination is still owed, a landlord may not bring an eviction against a tenant who terminated under the section except as § 504B.285 allows, the right cannot be waived under subd. 5, and a landlord who discloses the tenant's information is liable for $2,000 in statutory damages plus attorney fees under subd. 2(d).
- The medical and death exits wait longer. Under § 504B.266 a tenant whom a medical professional finds needs to move into a medical care facility, and who meets one of the section's care-need tests, may terminate on "at least two months' written notice to be effective on the last day of a calendar month", with the medical documentation and proof of acceptance or a pending application attached, but not where the landlord can provide an accessible unit in the same complex within two months. Under § 504B.265 the landlord or the personal representative of the tenant's estate may end the lease after the death of the tenant, or of all tenants, on the same two-months-to-month-end notice. In both, rent owed during the notice period is still owed, and a lease term requiring longer notice is void.
- Minn. Stat. § 325G.55, in the consumer protection chapter, lets a service member who receives orders into active duty, for deployment, or for a permanent change of duty station cancel "any rental contracts" made before the orders, at no penalty and with a full refund of money on deposit, where the orders make it impractical to keep the contract. Notice goes by certified mail with a copy of the orders, and termination is "effective the day following receipt of proper notice". Chapter 325G as we read it does not define "rental contracts", so check whether the section reaches a residential lease before relying on it; the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act was not read for this record.
Sources include Minn. Stat. § 504B.206; Minn. Stat. § 504B.266; Minn. Stat. § 504B.265; Minn. Stat. § 325G.55; Minneapolis Code of Ordinances § 244.2000(8) - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Of the Minnesota routes in our record, the survivor exit is the one the comparison scores. Minn. Stat. § 504B.206 lets a tenant end the lease if the tenant or another authorized occupant fears imminent violence after domestic abuse, criminal sexual conduct, sexual extortion or harassment.
The notice has four required parts under subd. 1(b). It says the tenant fears imminent violence from a person named in a qualifying document if the tenant or an authorized occupant stays, and that the tenant needs to terminate the tenancy.
It gives the date the lease will terminate, and written instructions for any personal property left behind.
It must be signed, dated and delivered before the termination date, by mail, in person, or by another form of written communication regularly used with the landlord. Under subd. 6 the qualifying document is an order for protection, a no contact order, or a signed writing from a court official or a law enforcement official.
A signed statement in the statute's printed form from a licensed health care professional, domestic abuse advocate or sexual assault counselor also qualifies.
The section sets no minimum number of days between the notice and the end date, and moving out before that date does not end the tenancy. Under subd. 3 a sole tenant pays rent for the full month in which the tenancy terminates and "relinquishes all claims for the return of the security deposit".
After that the tenant is relieved of rent and other charges for the rest of the term.
A shared lease follows its own rule. The lease for the remaining tenants ends at the later of the end of the month or the end of the rent interval, and they may reapply for a new lease. Rent owed before the termination is still owed.
The section guards the exit once it is used. A landlord may not bring an eviction against a tenant who terminated under it except as § 504B.285 allows, and subd. 5 says the right cannot be waived.
Under subd. 2(d) a landlord who discloses the tenant's information is liable for $2,000 in statutory damages plus attorney fees.
The other two routes wait longer. § 504B.266 covers a tenant whom a medical professional finds needs to move into a medical care facility, and who meets one of the section's care-need tests. That tenant may terminate on "at least two months' written notice to be effective on the last day of a calendar month".
The notice carries the medical documentation and proof of acceptance or a pending application. The route is closed where the landlord can provide an accessible unit in the same complex within two months.
Under § 504B.265, after the death of the tenant, or of all tenants, the landlord or the personal representative of the tenant's estate may end the lease on the same notice. In both sections rent owed during the notice period is still owed, and a lease term requiring longer notice is void.
If you are in the military. Minn. Stat. § 325G.55, in the consumer protection chapter, lets a service member with qualifying orders cancel "any rental contracts" made before the orders.
Chapter 325G as our record reads it does not define "rental contracts", so check whether the section reaches a residential lease before relying on it. A separate federal exit may apply to an active-duty servicemember, and it is set out in our military lease guide.
Minnesota Tenant Protections
The survivor exit in our Minnesota record lists no landlord approval among its steps. It rests on a signed and dated advance written notice under § 504B.206, subd. 1(b) and one qualifying document, and the tenancy ends on the date the notice names. The section sets no minimum number of days for that notice.
The cost is fixed rather than open-ended: a sole tenant pays rent for the full month in which the tenancy ends, gives up any claim to the security deposit, and owes no rent or other charges for the rest of the term. Rent owed before the termination is still owed.
Subd. 5 bars a waiver of the right, and a landlord may not bring an eviction against a tenant who used it except as § 504B.285 allows.
Under subd. 2(d) a landlord who discloses the tenant's information is liable for $2,000 in statutory damages plus attorney fees. Co-tenants are not left on an open lease: theirs ends at the later of the end of the month or the end of the rent interval, and they may reapply.
Two slower routes sit beside it. § 504B.266 and § 504B.265 run on at least two months' written notice effective on the last day of a calendar month, rent during the notice period is still owed, and a lease term requiring longer notice is void. In Minneapolis, § 244.2000(8) adds an exit for a tenant who was not given the pre-lease disclosures it requires.
What's Specific to Minneapolis
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 Minneapolis renter the Minnesota statutes come first, and the city code sits on top of them. On early termination that second layer adds something: one exit of the city's own, tied to what the landlord had to tell you before you signed.
The exit is in Minneapolis Code of Ordinances § 244.2000(8). The owner of a dwelling that must be licensed has to give prospective tenants information about the rental property before entering into a lease. The list includes:
- The name and contact information of the person authorized to manage the premises, and the name and physical address of the landlord or an agent.
- The property's rental license tier status, and information on the housing code violations that contributed to it.
- A copy of all unabated orders and violation tags affecting the unit or the common areas.
- An overview of how garbage, recycling and organics recycling are managed.
A tenant to whom those disclosures were not made "may terminate the lease after notice to the property owner". The notice "must be as long as the interval between the time rent is due or three (3) months, whichever is less." On a lease with monthly rent, the rent interval is the shorter of the two.
Two things are worth settling before relying on it. Find the papers you were given at signing and set them beside that list. Then give the property owner the notice in a form you can prove, and keep a dated copy.
A second city provision pays rather than releases. § 244.2130(b) covers the new owner of an affordable housing building who raises an affordable unit tenant's rent, or rescreens the tenant, during the tenant protection period. If the tenant then gives written notice to terminate, the new owner must pay relocation assistance within thirty days, and § 244.2110 sets that at three months of the current monthly contract rent.
Our record of Minneapolis Title 12 (Housing) was read on Municode's copy, codified through Ordinance No. 2026-020, adopted June 25, 2026. It finds no city exit for survivors, servicemembers or medical moves beyond the state sections.
Municode lists three ordinances not yet codified, Nos. 2025-047, 2026-024 and 2026-025, and their searchable pages touch none of these sections.
The first page of No. 2025-047 is a scanned image, and an ordinance adopted later would not appear in the copy read, so check the current code before relying on the absence of a city rule. For a Minneapolis renter the order runs: the state survivor, medical and death routes, then the disclosure exit, then the fee in your lease.
Where none fits, the paragraph you signed is the document that answers the question, and a Minneapolis tenant lawyer or legal aid office can read it with you.
Under § 244.2000(8) a tenant who was not given them, including the rental license tier status and copies of unabated orders and violation tags, "may terminate the lease after notice to the property owner".
The survivor exit in § 504B.206 runs on your signed notice and one qualifying document, and subd. 5 says the right cannot be waived.
§ 504B.266 runs on at least two months' written notice effective on the last day of a calendar month, and a lease term requiring longer notice is void.
The survivor notice must arrive before the end date, by mail, in person, or by another form of written communication regularly used with the landlord, so knowing the address and channel matters.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- Minn. Stat. § 504B.206; Minn. Stat. § 504B.266; Minn. Stat. § 504B.265; Minn. Stat. § 325G.55; Minneapolis Code of Ordinances § 244.2000(8), read on revisor.mn.gov. The Minnesota Revisor of Statutes prints these sections as part of the 2025 Minnesota Statutes, with § 504B.206 last amended by Laws 2025, chapter 32, and the 2026 session laws the Revisor lists against Chapter 504B do not amend § 504B.206, § 504B.265 or § 504B.266.
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 does not mention the survivor exit in § 504B.206, which relieves the tenant of rent and other charges for the rest of the term once the tenancy ends.
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A blanket waiver of statutory exits
§ 504B.206, subd. 5 says the survivor right cannot be waived. For § 504B.266 and § 504B.265, a lease term requiring longer notice is void.
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Rent billed past the month the tenancy ends
Under § 504B.206, subd. 3 a sole tenant pays rent for the full month in which the tenancy terminates and is relieved of rent for the remaining term. A bill running to the end of the lease reads a different clock.
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Your details passed on
A landlord who discloses the tenant's information is liable for $2,000 in statutory damages plus attorney fees under § 504B.206, subd. 2(d). Wording that lets the landlord share it freely cuts against that.
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No disclosure papers at signing
§ 244.2000(8) requires the owner of a licensed Minneapolis dwelling to give prospective tenants set information before a lease. A tenant who did not get it may terminate after notice to the property owner.
Your Rights as a Minneapolis Tenant
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Leave on the date you name
A tenant who fears imminent violence after domestic abuse, criminal sexual conduct, sexual extortion or harassment can end the tenancy under § 504B.206 on the date in a signed, dated advance written notice, with a qualifying document.
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A fixed cost, then nothing more
A sole tenant pays rent for the full month in which the tenancy ends, gives up the deposit claim, and is relieved of rent and other charges for the rest of the term.
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Two months' notice for a medical move
§ 504B.266 lets a tenant who needs to move into a medical care facility terminate on at least two months' written notice effective on the last day of a calendar month.
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A city exit when disclosures were skipped
§ 244.2000(8) lets a Minneapolis tenant who was not given the required pre-lease disclosures terminate after notice as long as the rent interval or three (3) months, whichever is less.
What To Do - Step by Step
Match your situation to a route
The survivor exit is § 504B.206. A move into a medical care facility is § 504B.266, and a tenant's death is § 504B.265. Missing pre-lease disclosures are § 244.2000(8). If none fits, the paragraph you signed is where the answer sits.
Gather one qualifying document
For the survivor exit that is an order for protection, a no contact order, a signed writing from a court or law enforcement official, or a signed statement in the statute's form from a licensed health care professional, domestic abuse advocate or sexual assault counselor.
Write all four parts into the notice
State that you fear imminent violence from the person named in the document, that you need to terminate, the end date, and what should happen to belongings left behind. Sign and date it.
Pick the end date with the rent in mind
You owe rent for the full month in which the tenancy ends, and leaving earlier does not end it sooner. Deliver the notice before that date and keep proof of delivery.
Plan for the deposit and any co-tenants
A sole tenant gives up any claim to the security deposit. If others share the lease, theirs ends at the later of the end of the month or the end of the rent interval, and they may reapply.
Check the code and get local advice
Our record of Minneapolis Title 12 runs through Ordinance No. 2026-020, so later ordinances are not covered. Take the lease and your notice to a Minneapolis tenant lawyer or legal aid office before paying any fee.