Lease Acceleration Clause
in Your Lease
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Statutes verified against primary state sources
Every statute cited here was read in its published text before this page went live: on the state's own site where that site can be reached, otherwise on a republished copy of the code. Court decisions are quoted from the published opinion and linked to it, so you can read the original yourself.
Primary sourcesNot legal advice
Content verified against primary state statutes before publicationLast updated: October 2026
What it actually means, what Tennessee law says, what's specific to Nashville - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- § 66-28-507 requires reasonable efforts to re-rent an abandoned unit at a fair rental.
- Tennessee's URLTA covers counties over 75,000 people by the 2010 census, and Davidson County is one.
- The statute sets no day count for when a unit counts as abandoned.
- Outside covered counties, common-law rules apply and a renter's mitigation defense is far weaker.
- The accelerated total is a ceiling. Rent from a new tenant comes off what you owe.
Step by step
How it plays out
- You leave earlyRemaining rent may fall dueAn acceleration clause can make every remaining month of rent due at once. That total is the most you could owe, not the final bill.
- Unit sits emptyLandlord must try to re-rentUnder § 66-28-507 your landlord must use reasonable efforts to re-rent the unit at a fair rental.
- New tenant foundTheir rent reduces your billRent a new tenant pays comes off what you owe. Ask for the re-rental date and the new rent in writing.
Copy and send: When your landlord bills you for rent after you moved out early
Ask what was done to re-rent the unit
Fill in the brackets and keep a copy of what you send.
How Tennessee compares
Landlord duty to mitigate after an early lease break, state by state
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See all 26 cities as a chart
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.
Understanding the Lease Acceleration Clause
This page is for Nashville renters whose lease has an acceleration clause: the paragraph that makes every remaining month of rent due at once if you miss rent or move out early. On a $1,650-a-month lease with seven months left, that is an $11,550 demand.
In Tennessee, how much of it you can really owe depends on two things: which county the unit is in, and what your landlord did to re-rent it after you left.
What renters assume
If my lease says all remaining rent is due, my landlord can bill me for every month without trying to re-rent.
What is actually true
Not in Nashville. § 66-28-507 requires reasonable efforts to re-rent at a fair rental, so the accelerated total is a ceiling, not the final bill. Rent a new tenant pays comes off what you owe.
Tennessee lands in the protective half of that chart, with an asterisk only one other state on it, Kentucky, carries. Texas and New York void any lease term waiving the mitigation duty, statewide and for everyone; Tennessee's protection is county by county, and your address decides whether you have it.
Rent Acceleration Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Nashville, TN
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.
Printed as the opinion prints it, and not to the end: the lease paragraph carries one further sentence, about late fees and interest on accelerated amounts, which is omitted here:
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.
What the 4 highlighted phrases mean
“after a date specified by a notice to Tenant”
The lease fixes its own date and Tennessee does not supply a competing one: § 66-28-507 does not define abandonment by any specific number of days. That is unusual among the states compared here - Arizona counts to seven days or to five, and Chicago's ordinance counts to 21 or 32 - and it means the question of when your unit became an abandoned unit is settled on facts rather than on a calendar. Keep the notice: the date on it is the only date anyone has written down.
“for all said amounts due”
How much of the total survives depends on which Tennessee county the unit sits in, a distinction most leases never make. Inside a covered county the landlord's reasonable efforts to re-rent at a fair rental are a duty, and what those efforts could have earned comes off the figure. Outside one, our Tennessee record says common-law rules apply and the tenant's mitigation defence is far weaker. Nashville sits inside, because Davidson County is over the Act's 75,000 threshold.
See the example
“In the event the rental premises”
The statute speaks about the same object this sentence does, the dwelling unit itself, and puts a requirement on what happens to it. After abandonment, § 66-28-507 requires the landlord to use reasonable efforts to re-rent it at a fair rental. Note the two halves: the effort has to be reasonable and the price has to be fair, so a unit advertised well above its market rent and then left standing is not obviously satisfying either half.
See the example
“is re-rented to another”
A replacement tenancy is the event the Tennessee duty is aimed at, and the statute's standard is a fair rental - a market measure rather than a promise to match your old rent. States word this differently and the wording decides real money. New York's Real Prop. Law § 227-e requires re-renting at fair market value or the lease rate, whichever is lower, which expressly pushes the landlord below your rent when the market has fallen. Tennessee's phrase leaves more of that to the facts.
See the example
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.
How this state's law treats this clause
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.
Tennessee Law on Lease Acceleration Clause
- Section 66-28-507 requires the landlord to use reasonable efforts to re-rent the dwelling unit at a fair rental after abandonment.
- The URLTA applies only in counties with populations over 75,000 according to the 2010 federal census (§ 66-28-102).
- The statute does not define abandonment by any specific number of days.
- Outside covered counties, common-law rules apply and the tenant's mitigation defense is far weaker.
Sources include Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-507 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
In Tennessee the answer comes from the state's URLTA. No section we read bans acceleration clauses. What limits one is the duty to re-rent.
- Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-507. After you abandon the unit, your landlord must use reasonable efforts to re-rent it at a fair rental. That means trying to fill it, not leaving it empty while your bill grows.
- § 66-28-102. The URLTA applies only in counties with more than 75,000 people by the 2010 federal census. Outside those counties, common-law rules apply and a renter's mitigation defense is far weaker.
- No day count. The statute does not define abandonment by any number of days. A day count printed in your lease is the landlord's number, not the statute's.
Statutes are amended, so check the current text of § 66-28-507 before you rely on it.
What's Specific to Nashville
Nashville matters here because of coverage. Davidson County is over the 75,000-person line in § 66-28-102, so the URLTA's re-rent duty applies in Nashville even though it does not apply in Tennessee's smaller counties.
A renter who signs the same lease in one of Tennessee's smaller counties may have no statute to point at. If you move out early, screenshot your unit's new listing the week you leave. It shows when the landlord started trying to re-rent.
Fair leases say your balance drops by rent collected after re-renting. § 66-28-507 already requires reasonable efforts to re-rent.
Turning one missed month into every remaining month is the harshest version of this clause. Ask for it capped or struck before you sign.
A set buyout figure tells you your exact exposure before anything goes wrong.
The statute sets no day count for abandonment. A lease that calls two weeks away abandonment is using the landlord's number.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-507, read on codes.findlaw.com. Tennessee publishes its official code through LexisNexis; there is no free government edition. FindLaw marks its copy of this section current as of January 2, 2024; confirm the current text with the Tennessee General Assembly before relying on it.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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A lump sum with no word on re-renting
A bill for the whole term that says nothing about re-renting skips the § 66-28-507 question. Ask in writing what was done to fill the unit.
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Rent billed after a new tenant moved in
Months another tenant is paying should not stay on your bill. Ask for the date the new lease started and the new rent.
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Re-rented far below market
The statute says fair rental. A landlord who re-rents cheap and bills you the gap is not doing what § 66-28-507 asks.
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Termination fee plus acceleration rights
Some leases charge an early-termination fee and keep the right to accelerate. Ask in writing which one applies before you sign.
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Landlord's attorney fees on you
A term making you pay the landlord's legal costs turns a disputed balance into an expensive fight. Read it before you sign.
Your Rights as a Nashville Tenant
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Landlord must try to re-rent
§ 66-28-507 requires reasonable efforts to re-rent your unit at a fair rental after abandonment.
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Davidson County is covered
The URLTA reaches counties over 75,000 people under § 66-28-102. Nashville clears that line, so the re-rent duty applies to your lease.
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The duty applies without lease wording
The re-rent duty applies to your Nashville lease whether or not the lease mentions it.
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The clause names a ceiling
Acceleration sets the most you could owe, not the judgment. What is recoverable shrinks by what re-renting could reasonably produce, so ask for the itemized math.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find the acceleration language
Search your lease for "accelerate," "entire balance" or "all remaining rent," and copy the exact wording.
Confirm your county is covered
Davidson County is covered. If your unit is in a Tennessee county of 75,000 people or fewer, the URLTA does not apply.
Ask for an itemized statement
Ask in writing for the months claimed, the efforts made to re-rent, and any rent collected from a new tenant.
Document the re-listing
Screenshot the unit's listings the week after you move out. Proof it was listed and re-rented supports your mitigation defense.
Send a mitigation letter
Cite Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-507, note that reasonable efforts to re-rent are required, and ask what steps were taken. Keep it short and dated.
Get legal help
A demand for months of rent is worth one hour with a tenant lawyer. Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee is one place to ask.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Lease Acceleration rules near Tennessee
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
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