Lease Acceleration 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.154, subd. 1(a): if a residential tenant abandons a dwelling unit during the lease term, the landlord "shall make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental value".
- The agreement ends on the date a new tenancy begins. If the landlord fails to use reasonable efforts, or accepts the abandonment as a surrender, it ends on the date the landlord has notice of the abandonment, and the tenant is not liable for rent after that.
- For a month-to-month or other periodic tenancy, or a tenancy at will, subd. 1(b) caps the tenant's rent liability at the notice period required to end the lease, counted from the date the landlord has notice of the abandonment.
- Subd. 2 makes "Any waiver of the rights provided by this section" void and unenforceable. The section was added by Laws 2024, chapter 118, effective January 1, 2025 except as otherwise specified.
- § 504B.154 does not use the word acceleration, and our record of Chapter 504B, read in full, finds no section that names an acceleration clause. Our record of Minneapolis Title 12 finds no city rule on acceleration or re-renting.
Understanding the Lease Acceleration Clause
An acceleration clause is the lease paragraph that turns the rest of your term into one bill. Fall behind or move out early, and every month still to run is written up as payable now.
Minnesota answers the move-out half of that in a statute effective January 1, 2025. Minn. Stat. § 504B.154 says that if a residential tenant abandons a dwelling unit during the lease term, the landlord "shall make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental value".
The tenant is not liable for rent after the tenancy terminates, and any waiver of those rights is void.
The section does not use the word acceleration, and our record of Chapter 504B finds no section that names an acceleration clause. This page reads what § 504B.154 does to the total a clause names, where its trigger lies, and what our record of Minneapolis's code adds.
What renters assume
An acceleration paragraph you signed makes every remaining month a debt the day you leave, and whether the unit is re-rented is the landlord's own business.
What is actually true
Once a residential tenant abandons the unit, § 504B.154 makes re-renting the landlord's duty: reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental value. The agreement ends when a new tenancy begins, or on the date the landlord has notice of the abandonment if it does not try, and the tenant is not liable for rent after that.
Subd. 2 voids any waiver.
None of the 21 rows in the comparison on this page carries a figure; each is a short label. Minneapolis's reads Mandatory on abandonment.
Thirteen of the 21 labels open with Mandatory: Austin, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Seattle, Phoenix, Nashville, Portland, Las Vegas, Washington, Newark, Baltimore and Minneapolis. Of the other eight, Miami and Philadelphia read No duty to re-rent, Atlanta reads Likely no duty, and Denver and Columbus read No statute; case law.
Boston reads No statute; 93A limits, Detroit Non-waivable by lease and Charlotte Case law; tenant proves.
Minneapolis shares its exact label with Seattle, Portland and Las Vegas, and Phoenix's reads Mandatory after abandonment. In each of those the trigger is the word to read.
Minnesota's duty under § 504B.154 begins when a residential tenant abandons the unit, which § 504B.001, subd. 16(a) defines as an intentional and voluntary absolute relinquishment of the premises.
Plain English Version
If you move out of a Minnesota rental for good before the lease ends, your landlord has to make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental value. Your rent stops when the new tenant's tenancy begins.
If the landlord does not try, or treats your leaving as a surrender, your rent stops from the date the landlord had notice that you left. No lease wording can waive those rights.
On a month-to-month lease, the most you owe is the notice period from that date. The section speaks of a tenant who has abandoned the unit, and our record carries no Minnesota rule for an accelerated bill sent to a tenant still living there.
Rent Acceleration 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.
The Montana court printed the whole lease paragraph, and the extract below ends one sentence before it does. That last sentence sets late charges and interest running on any amount once it has been accelerated:
If any monthly installment under this agreement is not paid when due and remains unpaid after a date specified by a notice to Tenant, the entire principal rent amount owed for the full lease term shall at once become due and payable at the option of the Landlord and judgment may be had for all said amounts due. The foregoing provision shall not relieve the Landlord of its obligation to mitigate damages. In the event the rental premises is re-rented to another for full value prior to expiration of the lease term, Landlord shall file Notice of Partial Satisfaction of any judgment entered to the extent of the third party rental agreement.
[…]
Quoted from the published opinion in Summers v. Crestview Apartments, 2010 MT 164, 357 Mont. 123, 236 P.3d 586 (No. DA 09-0489). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“agreement is not paid when”
The clause fires on a missed payment. Minnesota's statute fires on a departure. § 504B.154 begins “If a residential tenant abandons a dwelling unit during the lease term”, and § 504B.001, subd. 16(a) defines abandonment of tenancy as “the intentional and voluntary absolute relinquishment of premises by the residential tenant.”
“become due and payable at the”
Here every remaining month falls due at once. Minnesota's statute sets an end to what is owed after a move-out instead. If the landlord rents the unit for a term beginning before the old one expires, the agreement “is terminated on the date the new tenancy begins”, and the paragraph ends: “The tenant shall not be liable for rent after the termination of the tenancy.”
“its obligation to mitigate damages. In the”
Crestview's lease names the duty without saying what it asks for. Minnesota's statute says it: the landlord “shall make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental value.” If the landlord fails to use reasonable efforts, or accepts the abandonment as a surrender, the agreement is terminated on the date the landlord has notice of the abandonment.
“expiration of the lease term, Landlord shall file Notice of Partial”
Under this sentence re-renting earns the tenant a court filing against a judgment already entered. Minnesota's statute gives a new tenancy more weight: it ends the old agreement on the day it begins, and no rent is owed after that. For a month-to-month or other periodic tenancy, or a tenancy at will, subd. 1(b) caps rent liability at “the notice period required to end the lease from the date the landlord has notice of the abandonment.”
The Montana Supreme Court struck this paragraph down, and its conclusion is one sentence: “Thus, we conclude that the accelerated rent provision is unconscionable and therefore unenforceable.” The tenants had moved out of their apartment on October 13, 2006, and Crestview answered with a Statement of Deductions from the Security Deposit charging rent through the end of the lease in June - $6,505.75 billed against a $2,170 deposit. Two reasons carried the court. Acceleration undermines the landlord's duty to mitigate and reduces the incentive to re-rent promptly, because a landlord already holding a judgment for the whole term has little reason to fill the unit. And Crestview drafted the lease while these tenants had no meaningful choice and no opportunity to negotiate any of it. The case was reversed and remanded, and two justices wrote separately - their objection being that the majority had gone as far as treating acceleration clauses as unenforceable in themselves. So read the holding narrowly, as the majority wrote it: this provision, in this residential lease, unconscionable and unenforceable. It is a Montana decision and it binds no other state's courts. What travels is the reasoning, and the reasoning is about mitigation - which is exactly the question the statute in your own city's decode answers.
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 Lease Acceleration Clause
- The duty and its effect are in one paragraph, § 504B.154, subd. 1(a): "If a residential tenant abandons a dwelling unit during the lease term, the landlord shall make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental value. If the landlord rents the dwelling unit for a term beginning before the expiration of the rental agreement, the agreement is terminated on the date the new tenancy begins." The paragraph ends: "The tenant shall not be liable for rent after the termination of the tenancy."
- A landlord who does not try to re-rent loses the rent claim from the date of notice. Under subd. 1(a) the rental agreement "is terminated by the landlord on the date the landlord has notice of the abandonment if the landlord fails to use reasonable efforts to rent the dwelling unit at a fair rental value or if the landlord accepts the abandonment as a surrender." The text of the section does not state which party must prove whether the efforts were reasonable.
- For a month-to-month or other periodic tenancy, or a tenancy at will, subd. 1(b) caps the tenant's rent liability at "the notice period required to end the lease from the date the landlord has notice of the abandonment." Section 504B.135 sets the notice to end a tenancy at will at "at least as long as the interval between the time rent is due or three months, whichever is less." Subdivision 2 of § 504B.154 makes "Any waiver of the rights provided by this section" void and unenforceable.
- Abandonment has a statutory meaning. Section 504B.001, subd. 16(a) defines "Abandonment of tenancy" as "the intentional and voluntary absolute relinquishment of premises by the residential tenant." Section 504B.154 does not use the word acceleration, and our record of Chapter 504B, read in full, finds no section that names an acceleration clause; the section was enacted by Laws 2024, chapter 118, which is effective January 1, 2025 except as otherwise specified.
Sources include Minn. Stat. § 504B.154; Minn. Stat. § 504B.001, subd. 16; Minn. Stat. § 504B.135 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Our Minnesota record answers this question with one statute. Minn. Stat. § 504B.154, subd. 1(a) begins: "If a residential tenant abandons a dwelling unit during the lease term, the landlord shall make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental value."
The same paragraph sets when the agreement ends. If the landlord rents the unit for a term beginning before the old agreement expires, the agreement "is terminated on the date the new tenancy begins." If the landlord fails to use reasonable efforts, or accepts the abandonment as a surrender, the agreement is terminated by the landlord on the date the landlord has notice of the abandonment.
Either way, the paragraph closes: "The tenant shall not be liable for rent after the termination of the tenancy." Set beside an acceleration clause, that sentence is the one to read closely: once the tenancy terminates on either date, the section says no rent is owed for the months after it.
Periodic tenancies get a cap. For a month-to-month or other periodic tenancy, or a tenancy at will, subd. 1(b) limits the tenant's rent liability to "the notice period required to end the lease from the date the landlord has notice of the abandonment." § 504B.135 sets the notice for a tenancy at will at "at least as long as the interval between the time rent is due or three months, whichever is less."
The trigger has a definition. § 504B.001, subd. 16(a) defines "Abandonment of tenancy" as "the intentional and voluntary absolute relinquishment of premises by the residential tenant." The text of § 504B.154 does not say which party must prove whether the landlord's efforts were reasonable.
Subd. 2 makes "Any waiver of the rights provided by this section" void and unenforceable. A lease line saying the landlord need not re-rent, or that a vacancy will not reduce what you owe, is the wording to read against that sentence.
The section is recent. It was added by Laws 2024, chapter 118, section 10, which carries no effective date of its own, and the act states: "Except as otherwise specified, this act is effective January 1, 2025." Our record of Chapter 504B, read in full, finds no section that names an acceleration clause.
That leaves one case the section does not speak to in its words: an accelerated bill sent while you are still living in the unit. Our Minnesota record carries no rule for it, which leaves the paragraph you signed as the document that states it.
Minnesota Tenant Protections
§ 504B.154, subd. 1(a) puts a duty on the landlord once a residential tenant abandons a dwelling unit during the lease term: the landlord "shall make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental value." The same paragraph ends the agreement on the date a new tenancy begins. If the landlord fails to use reasonable efforts, or accepts the abandonment as a surrender, the agreement ends on the date the landlord has notice of the abandonment.
In either case the tenant is not liable for rent after the termination of the tenancy.
For a month-to-month or other periodic tenancy, or a tenancy at will, subd. 1(b) caps rent liability at the notice period required to end the lease from the date the landlord has notice of the abandonment. § 504B.135 sets that notice for a tenancy at will at the interval between the time rent is due or three months, whichever is less. Subd. 2 makes any waiver of these rights void and unenforceable.
Abandonment is defined in § 504B.001, subd. 16(a) as the intentional and voluntary absolute relinquishment of the premises by the residential tenant. The text of the section does not say which party must prove whether the efforts were reasonable, and our record of Chapter 504B finds no section that names an acceleration clause.
The section came in with Laws 2024, chapter 118, effective January 1, 2025 except as otherwise specified.
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 this question Minneapolis's own code is not where the answer sits, as far as our record reaches. Our record of Minneapolis Title 12 (Housing), read on Municode's copy codified through Ordinance No. 2026-020, adopted June 25, 2026, finds no city ordinance on rent acceleration or on a landlord's duty to re-rent after a tenant leaves early.
The search reached the words such a rule would use. Mitigation turns up in Title 12 in passages on lead paint and heating audits, temporary housing permits, and a rent refund when a unit is unlicensed.
None of those passages concerns a tenant's early departure. Municode lists three ordinances not yet codified, Nos. 2025-047, 2026-024 and 2026-025, and their searchable pages contain nothing on re-renting or acceleration; the first page of No. 2025-047 is a scanned image.
That leaves a Minneapolis renter with two documents to read side by side: the lease, and Minn. Stat. § 504B.154. The rule our record finds for Minneapolis is the state's, and it turns on dates.
Two of those dates run from when the landlord has notice of the abandonment. A dated letter or email saying you have left, sent with the keys, fixes that date in a form you can prove. Keep the reply, or a record that none came.
The third date is the start of the next tenancy. If your Minneapolis unit is re-rented, the agreement ends on the day the new tenancy begins, and the section says you are not liable for rent after that.
Ask the landlord in writing whether the unit has been let, and from when.
If your Minneapolis lease runs month to month, subd. 1(b) gives the figure to work from: the notice period required to end the lease, counted from the date the landlord has notice of the abandonment. An accelerated total longer than that period is the one to question first.
The effort itself can be visible from outside. Listings, signs and showings for your unit, with dates, are evidence of whether reasonable efforts were made to rent it at a fair rental value.
Screenshot them as you find them, because the text of the section does not say which side must prove the point.
Ordinances change, and the copy our record read stops at the date above. Check the Minneapolis code as it reads on the day you need it, and read the current text of § 504B.154 as well.
A Minneapolis tenant lawyer or legal aid office can weigh your lease wording against the section before you agree to any figure.
That matches § 504B.154, subd. 1(a): after a residential tenant abandons the unit, the landlord shall make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental value.
Subd. 2 makes any waiver of the rights in § 504B.154 void and unenforceable.
Under § 504B.154 the tenant is not liable for rent after the tenancy terminates: the day a new tenancy begins, or the date the landlord had notice of the abandonment if it made no reasonable efforts.
Two of the section's dates run from when the landlord has notice of the abandonment, so a known address lets you fix that date in writing.
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.154; Minn. Stat. § 504B.001, subd. 16; Minn. Stat. § 504B.135, read on revisor.mn.gov. The Minnesota Revisor of Statutes prints § 504B.154 as part of the 2025 Minnesota Statutes with the History line "2024 c 118 s 10", and the 2026 session laws the Revisor lists against Chapter 504B do not amend it.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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A no-duty-to-re-rent line
§ 504B.154, subd. 2 makes "Any waiver of the rights provided by this section" void and unenforceable.
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A bill for months after a new tenant moved in
If the landlord rents the unit for a term beginning before your lease expires, the agreement is terminated on the date the new tenancy begins, and the tenant is not liable for rent after that.
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An empty unit and a full-term demand
If the landlord fails to use reasonable efforts to rent at a fair rental value, the agreement is terminated on the date it had notice of the abandonment. Ask in writing what was done to re-rent, and when.
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A month-to-month lease billed past one notice period
For a periodic tenancy or a tenancy at will, subd. 1(b) caps rent liability at the notice period required to end the lease, from the date the landlord has notice of the abandonment.
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Returned keys treated as nothing
If the landlord accepts the abandonment as a surrender, § 504B.154 terminates the agreement on the date the landlord had notice of the abandonment. Keep a dated record of how and when the keys went back.
Your Rights as a Minneapolis Tenant
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Reasonable efforts to re-rent
§ 504B.154, subd. 1(a) says the landlord shall make reasonable efforts to rent an abandoned unit at a fair rental value.
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No rent after the tenancy ends
The tenant shall not be liable for rent after the termination of the tenancy, which comes when a new tenancy begins or, without reasonable efforts or on a surrender, on the landlord's notice of the abandonment.
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A capped tail on periodic tenancies
For a periodic tenancy or a tenancy at will, liability is capped at the notice period required to end the lease, counted from the landlord's notice of the abandonment.
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Rights a lease cannot waive
Subd. 2 makes any waiver of the rights in § 504B.154 void and unenforceable.
What To Do - Step by Step
Write down every date
The day you moved out, the day the keys went back, the day the landlord learned you had left, and the last day of the term. The section's dates are measured from them.
Tell the landlord in writing that you have left
Two of the section's dates run from when the landlord has notice of the abandonment. A dated letter or email sent with the keys fixes that date in a form you can prove.
Save what you see of the re-renting
Screenshot listings and note signs or showings, with dates. The duty in § 504B.154 is reasonable efforts to rent the unit at a fair rental value.
Ask when the next tenancy began
If the unit was re-rented, the agreement ended on the date the new tenancy began, and the section says you are not liable for rent after that.
Check the Minneapolis code as it reads today
Our record of Title 12, codified through Ordinance No. 2026-020, finds no city rule on re-renting or acceleration. Later ordinances are not covered.
Get local advice before you agree to a figure
Take the lease, your dates and your evidence to a Minneapolis tenant lawyer or legal aid office before paying any accelerated total.