Lease Acceleration Clause
in Your Lease
How this page is sourced
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 Oklahoma law says, what's specific to Oklahoma City - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 105(A) gives any aggrieved party under Oklahoma's landlord-tenant Act a duty to mitigate damages.
- Under § 129(B), a landlord whose tenant wrongfully quits must make reasonable efforts to rent the unit again.
- A new tenancy ends your lease on its start date. With no reasonable effort, it ends on the notice date.
- § 113(A)(1) bars a lease term waiving rights under the Act, and § 113(B) makes one unenforceable.
- Our record of the Oklahoma City Municipal Code finds no city rule on rent acceleration or re-renting.
Step by step
How it plays out
- You move outThe landlord learns you leftTell the landlord in writing. Under § 129(B) that notice date matters if no reasonable effort to re-rent follows.
- Unit sits emptyLandlord must try to re-rentThe landlord shall make reasonable efforts to make the unit available for rental.
- New tenant startsYour lease ends that dayIf the new tenancy begins before your term expires, your agreement terminates on its commencement date.
- Efforts failRemaining rent may be owedOnly if reasonable efforts fail to rerent for a fair rental do you owe the rest of the term, or the difference in rent.
Copy and send: As soon as you move out early, or when you are billed for the rest of the term
Tell the landlord you left and ask about re-renting
Fill in the brackets and keep a copy of what you send.
How Oklahoma compares
Landlord duty to mitigate after an early lease break, state by state
No figureGuide coming soonYou are here
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 Oklahoma City renters whose lease has an acceleration clause: the paragraph that makes all the remaining rent due at once if you miss a payment or move out early. On paper the bill is months left times the rent.
In Oklahoma it depends on what happened to the empty unit. The state's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, which § 103(A) applies to a rental agreement "for a dwelling unit located within this state", ties the rest of the term to the landlord's effort to re-rent.
What renters assume
If my lease says all remaining rent is due when I leave early, my landlord can collect every month without trying to re-rent.
What is actually true
Not under Oklahoma law. Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 129(B) says the landlord "shall make reasonable efforts" to rent the unit again. You owe the rest of the term only if those efforts fail to rerent it for a fair rental.
None of the 26 rows in the comparison on this page carries a figure; each is a short label. Oklahoma City's reads Mandatory statewide, the same label as Chicago's.
Sixteen of the 26 labels open with Mandatory, Oklahoma City's among them. Five read Mandatory on abandonment, in Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Louisville, and Phoenix reads Mandatory after abandonment.
Austin, New York City and Baltimore read Mandatory, non-waivable, and Milwaukee reads Mandatory; acceleration voids lease.
Oklahoma City's label carries neither of those additions. Its duty under Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 129(B) turns on a tenant who wrongfully quits and abandons, and the label does not answer whether a lease can waive it; § 113(A)(1) is the section to read on that. Miami and Philadelphia read No duty to re-rent.
Rent Acceleration Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Oklahoma City, OK
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 quoted this lease paragraph whole, and the extract below ends one sentence early. That last sentence deals with late charges and interest running on an amount after 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.
What the 4 highlighted phrases mean
“rent amount owed for the full lease”
This is the acceleration: every month still to run becomes owed at once. Oklahoma ties those months to what the landlord does next. Under Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 129(B), when a tenant wrongfully quits and abandons, the landlord “shall make reasonable efforts to make the dwelling unit available for rental.” The tenant owes the entire rent, or the difference in rental, for the rest of the term if those efforts still fail to rerent the unit for a fair rental during the term.
See the example
“judgment may be had for all said amounts”
The paragraph promises the landlord a judgment for the whole sum. Oklahoma's Act has its own rule on who pays for that lawsuit. Tit. 41, § 113(A)(3) bars a clause by which a party “Agrees to pay the other party's attorney's fees”, while § 105(B) awards reasonable attorneys' fees to the prevailing party in an action for breach of a rental agreement.
See the example
“relieve the Landlord of its obligation to”
This lease keeps the mitigation duty alive, and Oklahoma's Act states that duty on its own. Tit. 41, § 105(A): “An aggrieved party under the provisions of this act has a duty to mitigate damages.” Under § 113(A)(1) a rental agreement may not provide that either party agrees to waive or forego rights or remedies under the Act, and § 113(B) makes such a provision unenforceable.
See the example
“full value prior to expiration of the lease”
Here a new tenant earns you a credit against a judgment. Oklahoma treats a new tenancy as the end of the old one. Under tit. 41, § 129(B), if the landlord rents the unit for a term beginning before the old agreement expires, that agreement “terminates as of the commencement date of the new tenancy.” The statute measures any shortfall against a “fair rental”, where this lease says full value.
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.
Oklahoma Law on Lease Acceleration Clause
- Re-renting ends the old lease.
Read the law's words
Section 129(B) says "If the landlord rents the dwelling unit for a term beginning before the expiration of the rental agreement, said rental agreement terminates as of the commencement date of the new tenancy." From that date the departed tenant's rent obligation under the old agreement stops, whatever the old agreement said about the remaining months. - A landlord who does not try loses the claim to future rent.
Read the law's words
Section 129(B) continues: "If the landlord fails to use reasonable efforts to make the dwelling unit available for rental or if the landlord accepts the abandonment as a surrender, the rental agreement is deemed to be terminated by the landlord as of the date the landlord has notice of the abandonment." Only "If, after making reasonable efforts to make the dwelling unit available for rental after the abandonment, the landlord fails to rerent the premises for a fair rental during the term" is the tenant "liable for the entire rent or the difference in rental, whichever may be appropriate, for the remainder of the term." - A month-to-month tenant's exposure is one period.
Read the law's words
Section 129(B) ends: "If the tenancy is from month-to-month or week-to-week, the term of the rental agreement for this purpose is deemed to be a month or a week, as the case may be." Section 112 adds that when either party rightfully elects to terminate, the duties of each party under the rental agreement "shall cease and be determined upon the effective date of said termination". - A lease cannot contract around the Act.
Read the law's words
Section 113(A)(1) says a rental agreement may not provide that either party "Agrees to waive or forego rights or remedies under the Oklahoma Residential Landlord and Tenant Act", § 113(B) makes such a provision unenforceable, and § 103(B) makes any agreement unenforceable "insofar as said agreement, or any provision thereof, conflicts with any provision of this act." Section 113(A)(3) also bars a clause by which a party "Agrees to pay the other party's attorney's fees", while § 105(B) awards reasonable attorneys' fees to the prevailing party in an action for breach of a rental agreement.
Sources include Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 105(A); Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 129(B); Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 103; Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 113(A)(1), (A)(3), (B); Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 105(B); Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 112; Okla. Stat. tit. 11, § 14-101.1 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Oklahoma writes the duty into statute. Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 105(A) says "An aggrieved party under the provisions of this act has a duty to mitigate damages." § 129(B) applies it to a tenant who wrongfully quits and abandons the unit: the landlord "shall make reasonable efforts to make the dwelling unit available for rental." Three outcomes follow:
- A new tenant. If the new term begins before yours expires, your agreement "terminates as of the commencement date of the new tenancy."
- No real effort. If the landlord fails to use reasonable efforts, or accepts the abandonment as a surrender, your lease is deemed ended on the date the landlord has notice of the abandonment.
- Effort that fails. If reasonable efforts fail to rerent for a fair rental, you owe "the entire rent or the difference in rental, whichever may be appropriate, for the remainder of the term."
On a month-to-month or week-to-week tenancy, the term for this purpose is one month or one week. § 113(A)(3) bars a clause making you pay the landlord's attorney's fees, though § 105(B) awards reasonable fees to the prevailing party in a suit for breach. No section we read names an acceleration clause, and our record of the Act includes no Oklahoma court decision applying § 105 or § 129 to one.
What's Specific to Oklahoma City
Our record of the Oklahoma City Municipal Code finds no city rule on rent acceleration or re-renting. We read Chapter 24, the Housing and Property Maintenance Code, and Chapter 25, Human Rights, and none of those sections deals with rent owed after a tenant leaves early.
State law also limits the city: Okla. Stat. tit. 11, § 14-101.1 bars a city ordinance that regulates the amount of rent charged, with exceptions that include municipal and subsidized rental property. That leaves your lease and tit. 41, § 129(B).
§ 129(B) says the landlord "shall make reasonable efforts", and § 113(A)(1) bars a term waiving rights or remedies under the Act.
A landlord who makes no reasonable effort is deemed to have ended the lease on the date of notice of the abandonment.
That matches § 129(B), which ends your agreement on the commencement date of a new tenancy.
§ 113(A)(3) bars that clause. Fees can still follow a lawsuit: § 105(B) awards them to the prevailing party.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 105(A); Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 129(B); Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 103; Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 113(A)(1), (A)(3), (B); Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 105(B); Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 112; Okla. Stat. tit. 11, § 14-101.1, read on oklegislature.gov. The Oklahoma Legislature's website states that the Oklahoma Statutes were last updated on November 18, 2025, and its Title 41 file, generated December 30, 2025, prints each section cited here with its history note; confirm the current text at oklegislature.gov before relying on it.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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The whole term billed the day you leave
The rest of the term is owed only after reasonable efforts fail to rerent the unit for a fair rental. A bill that skips that step deserves questions.
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A no-mitigation line
§ 105(A) gives an aggrieved party a duty to mitigate damages, and § 113(B) makes a term waiving rights under the Act unenforceable.
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Rent charged after a new tenant moves in
Your agreement ends on the new tenancy's commencement date. Charges for later months are worth a close read.
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A clause shifting the landlord's legal fees
§ 113(A)(3) says a rental agreement may not make one party pay the other party's attorney's fees, and § 113(B) makes it unenforceable.
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A full term charged on a month-to-month
For a month-to-month or week-to-week tenancy, § 129(B) treats the term as one month or one week for this purpose.
Your Rights as a Oklahoma City Tenant
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A landlord who has to try
After you leave, the landlord must make reasonable efforts to make the unit available for rental (§ 129(B)).
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A lease that ends when a new one starts
If a new tenancy begins before your term expires, your agreement ends on its commencement date.
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A lease ended if the landlord does not try
No reasonable effort, or accepting the abandonment as a surrender, means your lease is deemed ended on the date the landlord had notice you left.
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No lease term waiving the Act
A lease may not waive rights or remedies under the Act (§ 113(A)(1)). § 103(B) makes any lease term that conflicts with the Act unenforceable.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find the acceleration paragraph
Note what it demands and what triggers it. Then look for any line about re-renting or attorney's fees.
Tell the landlord in writing that you have left
The date the landlord has notice of the abandonment matters if no reasonable effort follows. Keep a dated copy.
Watch what happens to the unit
Save listings for the unit and note the date a new tenant's lease began. That start date ends your lease.
Ask for an account in writing
Ask what was done to rent the unit and at what rent. The test is whether reasonable efforts failed to rerent it for a fair rental.
Check the bill against the dates
Rent should not run past a new tenancy's start date, or past one month on a month-to-month lease.
Get local advice before you agree to a figure
Bring the lease, the demand and your dates to an Oklahoma City tenant lawyer or legal aid office. Read the current Title 41 text on oklegislature.gov first.
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Lease Acceleration rules near Oklahoma
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
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