Breaking Lease for the Military

Q: If I have been called to active military duty, am I entitled to terminate my lease agreement?

A: Yes. As part of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940 (SSCRA), Chapter 4, Section 304, you may deliver notice to your landlord after the "date of the beginning of" your "period of military service" for any lease agreement that was executed prior to your entry into military service. This notice will serve to terminate your lease effective "thirty days after the first date on which the next rental payment is due." For example, if you deliver notice to your landlord on May 13, your lease agreement will terminate as of July 1. As for your security deposit, you are entitled, according to the Act, to receive it "upon termination of the lease."

Keep in mind that this Act supplements only this particular aspect of State law under the circumstances described.

Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940, Chapter 4