Interactive Form - Letter to Landlord Ending the Lease Early

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Interactive Form - Letter to Landlord Ending the Lease Early

As a member of the Armed Forces, Reserves, National Guard or other uniformed services, you have legal protections for you and your family when you are called into active duty military service. A law that provides many of these protections is called the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). This law was made to help protect members of the military and their family who may have trouble with…
A computer generated image of a series of papers layered on top of each other. The top paper is a check list with red check-marks on it.

As a member of the Armed Forces, Reserves, National Guard or other uniformed services, you have legal protections for you and your family when you are called into active duty military service.

A law that provides many of these protections is called the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). This law was made to help protect members of the military and their family who may have trouble with financial and legal issues because of military service.

This law allows a service member that has to move due to military orders to terminate a lease early without penalty. This includes activated reservist, new service members, current active duty deploying or PCS orders.

Can the landlord demand money or another penalty?

  • The landlord cannot demand any type of penalty for ending your lease early;
  • The landlord must refund the security deposit (minus any damages) within 30 days of the date the lease was terminated; and 
  • The landlord must refund any unused portion of any rent that was prepaid to the service member.

What do I have to do?

  • Give written notice to the landlord (oral notice is not good enough) and
  • Give a copy of the military orders to the landlord.

What does this form do?
This is an easy-to-use interactive form. The program will create a letter and instructions. You can use this to notify your landlord about ending your lease early. All you need to do is:

  1. Answer a few simple questions. 
  2. Print out your form (letter and instructions). 
  3. Proofread and sign it.
  4. Attach a copy of your orders. 
  5. Make copies for your own records. 
  6. Send the original, with attachments, to your landlord.
     
  • Interactive Form Packet currently unavailable.
  • Sample Form is attached.

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

The correct citation is 50 U.S.C.A. § 3955 (formerly cited as 50 App. USCA § 535).

You must have Microsoft Word or Word Viewer installed on your computer to use the interactive form packet.

You must have Adobe Reader to view the sample form packet. You can download Adobe Reader for free here.

 

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Resource updated: January 2018