Yearly leases protect your right to live in a rental unit at a pre-determined monthly rent that can’t go up until at least the end of the lease. It’s security and peace of mind regarding your rental unit — until it isn’t.
There are several good reasons you might want to end the relationship ahead of time. Is breaking a lease in Georgia an option? Do you have to give 30 days of written notice? Under what circumstances can you make the break? What are the penalties, if any?
In other words, what are your tenant rights on this subject under landlord-tenant law in this state?
It’s as essential to understand the details — and escape hatches — of your lease as it is to obtain affordable renters insurance. Besides offering affordable renters insurance to Georgia residents, Southern Harvest has some tips about when it is OK to break your lease.
What Happens If You Break an Apartment or Rental Home Lease in Georgia?
The penalties can be pretty substantial, financially, if you break a lease for what’s considered to be an unreasonable reason. Here’s what you might be up against.
Common Penalties Under Georgia Law
At the very least, you’ll probably lose your deposit if you break your lease without adequate cause. Usually that equals one month’s rent, but Georgia law allows up to two months’ rent to be required as a deposit.
Your property manager holds this money, so it may be challenging to retrieve it without taking legal action. The worst news, though, is that withholding your rental deposit is not as bad as your financial situation could get.
Potential Legal and Financial Consequences
Even beyond losing a deposit that could be as high as a couple of thousand dollars or more, you may face other financial penalties as a result of a broken lease.
You may be charged an additional couple of months’ rent or be required to continue paying your monthly amount until a new tenant occupies the rental unit. Your landlord may even demand the cost of running ads to get that replacement tenant.
It can depend on the attitude of the property manager. If there’s a long waiting list for your unit, they might not charge you much, but if it’s a more difficult unit to rent, management might feel that you should help defray the cost.
Of course, you can refuse to pay any new charges. But if you’re sued, you might have to hire a lawyer and pay court costs and damages if you lose. The bottom line is that it may be in your best interest to be patient and not leave until the end of your lease, unless you have a compelling reason or it becomes difficult or impossible to stay longer.
When Can You Break a Lease Without Penalty in Georgia?
Fortunately, as a tenant, you’re not always looking at financial penalties for breaking your lease here. There are notable circumstances in which you can leave penalty-free.
Legal Exceptions Under Georgia Law
Georgia has a list of reasons when it becomes acceptable to walk away from a lease before the lease term expires. The following items are included on that list.
Active Military Duty
As a result of a federal law known as the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, or SCRA, active duty members of the U.S. military who are permanently deployed elsewhere can break a lease without financial penalty.
If such an event occurs, submit a written notice and a copy of your military orders, typically with 30 days’ notice. You may receive those same rights if you are entering the military. Please remember to provide the necessary documentation and try to give your property manager as much notice as possible.
Uninhabitable Rental Property
No one must live in squalor. Suppose your rental space has broken locks, leaking plumbing, crumbling walls, shut-off utilities, a rodent or pest infestation, or similar health concerns and safety code violations that the landlord fails to resolve. In that case, you can legally break your lease.
You have the law on your side. Georgia’s landlord-tenant law, updated in 2024, establishes the responsibility of landlords to provide safe and sanitary living conditions. Just remember to document the problems. Take photos of the damage and keep copies of any texts or emails you send requesting repairs.
Domestic Violence and Stalking
It can be a dangerous situation if you’ve been stalked or have suffered domestic violence by someone who knows where you live. If you feel that you must change locations to get away from the other party, you can often terminate your lease without penalty.
You must have reached out to authorities and gotten a protective order or filed a police report that’s no more than 90 days old. Provide a copy of the official document to your landlord, along with a written request to terminate the lease.
Landlord Harassment or Privacy Violation
Tenants have privacy rights. When the landlord is causing the trouble, the tenant’s lease can often be terminated without penalty.
Property managers can violate your rights through activities such as unauthorized entry or excessive interference. When that happens, provide the landlord with written notice that you intend to take legal action if the violations continue. If the situation isn’t resolved, move out.
Suppose your landlord refuses to return your deposit in such a circumstance. In that case, you can contact the Georgia Legal Services Program or the Georgia Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division for non-profit legal assistance.
Casualty Loss/Uninhabitable Destruction
Suppose your housing unit is rendered uninhabitable by fire, flooding, a weather event, or any other cause for which you’re not at fault. In that case, you might be able to break your lease without penalty if repairs aren’t made in a reasonable time period.
You must first inform your landlord of the damages and request repairs promptly. It’s only if there’s no reasonable follow-through that you can withhold rent and move out in the expectation of it being a lawful lease termination.
Keep in mind, your property owner is only responsible for structural repairs. If the fire or other catastrophic event also damaged or destroyed your personal possessions, the expectation is that your own renters insurance will cover the claim. Therefore, make sure you have coverage for such an event.
Your policy also provides financial protection with renters liability insurance benefits.
Try to Negotiate Your Early Lease Release
Do you suspect that a reason might come up that will make you want to break your lease? For instance, are you job-hunting, with the possibility of finding employment in another city or state?
When apartment shopping, consider whether you can have your lease revised to accommodate potential situations that may arise. Can you add an early termination clause? What if you agreed to find a qualified replacement tenant?
At the very least, you might be able to restrict the penalty to only the loss of your one-month deposit if you must break your lease. Please keep in mind that alerting your landlord to the possibility of an early exit could result in the property owner rejecting your application.
Unjustifiable Reasons to Break a Lease in Georgia
While you’ve now learned about all kinds of reasons Georgia law might enable you to break a lease without penalty, you should also know the reasons that likely won’t fly. Here are some of the top causes that won’t usually work.
Leaving for a New Job or School
That’s a tough call. You don’t have the law on your side, but you must leave for the job or school. In this case, write your property manager a note in which you explain your reasons for leaving – and hope for the best.
Getting Married or Divorced
In both cases, it’s clear why you need to make a change. In the case of the breakup of a marriage, you might have to just add your early termination penalty to your other divorce expenses. As for getting married, perhaps both of you should approach your respective landlords and see if at least one will allow you to leave with no penalty, or, at worst, after forfeiting only a one-month security deposit.
Wanting a Bigger or Smaller Apartment
Your best option here is to see if you can switch to a more suitable residence within the same building. Your landlord might be motivated to let you make this change, especially if it’s to larger (and more expensive) spaces. If that won’t work, your next best course of action is to wait out your lease patiently and then make the change.
Roommate Disagreements
According to Georgia law, roommate irritation isn’t a valid reason to break your lease. However, you might be in the clear to do so if the roommate is violent or poses a safety hazard. File a police report and turn in a copy to your property manager, along with a letter explaining your reasons for terminating your lease.
In the more common citation of finding it difficult to live with someone who’s very much unlike you, see if the roommate would be willing to live in the space with someone else. Then ask your landlord if you can make such a switch by recruiting a qualified replacement. Just remember, the replacement tenant must be able to undergo security and credit checks and otherwise meet your landlord’s approval, just as you did. It’s worth a try.
Can Renters Insurance Help With Breaking a Lease?
Not directly, but your coverage can cushion the blow after events that make early termination of your lease imperative.
For instance, if your unit is heavily damaged or destroyed by fire, internal flooding from a burst water pipe, or if burglars have broken in, such calamities are likely to result in lost, damaged, or destroyed personal possessions. That’s where your renters insurance comes to the financial rescue.
Renters insurance won’t just replace your material goods. Suppose you suddenly find yourself in a situation where your rental unit is severely damaged and you can no longer live there. In that case, you can also use your policy to rent temporary living quarters until your unit can be restored or you find another apartment.
If you’re in a situation in which you must break your lease, you’ll be glad you have the financial security of renters insurance to fall back on in challenging times.