Ending your tenancy early

One of the questions most frequently asked by tenants is “How can I terminate my lease early?” Should you find yourself in this situation, it’s important to understand your obligations.

The rules are slightly different depending on whether you:

A) have a lease and wish to end your tenancy before it expires; or
B) do not have a lease and simply wish to give your landlord notice that you want to end your tenancy.

Terminating early

If you need to break your lease, you may want to start by writing your landlord a letter and explaining your circumstances before you initiate any additional paperwork (such as the required form N9). Your landlord may agree to allow you to end your tenancy early, but they are not obligated to do so.

You cannot break your lease early unless your landlord agrees, and/or allows you to “assign” your tenancy (basically transfer the tenancy to someone else). Essentially, either you or the landlord will have to find someone to take over the lease. You are legally responsible for the rent for the duration of the lease until either you or the landlord can find a suitable replacement tenant.

Giving appropriate notice

If you don’t have a lease, or, if your original lease expired and you have continued to live in your apartment without signing one then you have a month-to-month lease. In this situation, according to the Residential Tenancies Act, you are required to give your landlord a minimum of 60 days written notice of your intention to leave. The termination date must be the last day of the rental period or your lease, even if it is more than 60 days. For example, if your tenancy begins on the first day of June and you give your landlord notice on March 15, then the termination date would be May 31. If you pay your rent weekly or daily, then you must give the landlord a minimum of 28 days before the last day of the final week of your tenancy.

There are two exceptions to the 60-day rule for monthly tenancies, and these are for terminations which are to be effective on either the last day of February or March to account for the fact February is a short month. If you wish to terminate your tenancy on the last day of February, notice must be given no later than the preceding January 1. For terminations effective March 31, you are required to give notice by February 1. If you rent by the week, you must give 28 days notice.

If you wish to notify your landlord of your intention to end your tenancy, you will need to submit a form N9, A Tenant’s Notice to Terminate the Tenancy. This form is available on the Landlord and Tenant Board site. To count the correct number of days for the notice, you do not count the day the notice is given, but you do count the termination date. If the notice is mailed, add five days. For example, if you wish to move out of your apartment by April 30, make sure you mail the notice by February 23.

Assigning a tenancy

If you want to end your tenancy agreement early you can try to find someone on your own to take over your lease. This is called an assignment. There is no legal form to submit to request an assignment, but you must make your request in writing and keep a copy for your file. The landlord has the right to refuse to let this person become a new tenant, but must have a good reason for doing so. If the landlord does not let the tenant assign the rental unit or does not reply to the tenant’s request to assign the tenancy within seven days, the tenant can end the tenancy by submitting an N9 form. You must submit this notice to your landlord no later than 30 days after making the request to assign the tenancy.

Assigning should not be confused with subletting. Subletting means that the tenant (the one on the lease) moves out of the unit for a specific period of time but plans to move back into the unit before the end of the tenancy. The person who moves into the unit is known as a subtenant, and is responsible for paying rent to the original tenant who continues to pay rent directly to the landlord.

If you wish to terminate your lease early, you should review the rules and legalities of doing so with the Landlord Tenant Board. Their site offers detailed information about the rights and responsibilities of both landlords and tenants in this situation, as well as all the required forms and links that will help with any questions you may have.