Breaking a Lease Early in Kansas: What Are My Options?

If you leave without a legal reason

1. 1

   If you break your lease, your landlord may get money from you for it. If you abandon your home, your landlord must make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rent. If they rent it for a term that starts before your lease ends, your lease ends the day the new rental starts. If they make no such efforts, it ends the day they learn you abandoned it.

   Sources:

   1. K.S.A. § 58-2564(c), Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Law.
   2. K.S.A. § 58-2565(c), Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Law.
   Tip.

   Read your lease before you decide. Check whether it lets you end it early and what penalty you must pay.

2. 2

   Your landlord may assume you abandoned your home after you are 10 days behind on rent and have removed a substantial part of your belongings. That does not apply if you told your landlord otherwise.

   Source:

   1. K.S.A. § 58-2565(b), Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Law.

When you can leave early

3. 3

   If your landlord seriously breaks the lease or a health and safety law, send written notice naming the problem. Your lease can end on a rent-paying date 30 or more days after they get it. The law gives your landlord 14 days after they get it to start a good faith effort to fix it. If they do, the lease does not end. If a court disagrees, you can still owe rent.

   Sources:

   1. Our editorial rules.
   2. K.S.A. § 58-2559(a), Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Law.
   Think before you call an inspector.

   You or a neighbor can ask the city to send a code inspector. Be careful: if the home is in very bad shape, the inspector can condemn it (say no one may live there). Then everyone must move out, you too, sometimes on short notice. Think about where you would go before you call.

   Tip.

   Write down each problem, every time you contacted your landlord, and the day you moved out.

   Tip.

   Keep a copy of every letter you give your landlord, and keep your mail receipt. Save the texts and emails you send your landlord, and any replies.

4. 4

   If the same or a similar problem happens after your landlord's 14 days to start a fix, send a new written notice that describes it. Your lease can end on a rent-paying date at least 30 days after your landlord gets it. If a court later disagrees, you can still owe the rent. Get legal help first.

   Sources:

   1. Our editorial rules.
   2. K.S.A. § 58-2559(a), Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Law.
5. 5

   You cannot end your lease over a problem caused by you. You also cannot end it over a problem caused by a person, animal or pet at the home with your express or implied permission.

   Source:

   1. K.S.A. § 58-2559(a), Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Law.

How to leave

6. 6

   To end a month-to-month rental, send your landlord a written notice. Your landlord must get it at least 30 days before the rent-paying date you choose for the rental to end. Your landlord can end it the same way. A lease for a set term of more than 30 days is not month-to-month. If a court later disagrees, you can still owe the rent. Get legal help first.

   Sources:

   1. Our editorial rules.
   2. K.S.A. § 58-2570(b), Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Law.
7. 7

   A landlord may give you a form to sign as your notice that you are moving out. If it adds terms not in your lease, it must carry a bold warning. If your lease requires written notice, you can decline to sign and give notice in another form. Without the warning, signing does not bind you to the added terms.

   Source:

   1. K.S.A. § 58-2570(e), Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Law.

After you move out

8. 8

   Your landlord may use your deposit for unpaid rent and for damage, with a written list. The law gives your landlord 14 days after they decide the amount to return the rest. That is never more than 30 days after your rental ends, you give up the home and you ask. If you do not ask within 30 days, your landlord must mail what you are owed to your last known address.

   Source:

   1. K.S.A. § 58-2550(b), Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Law.
   Tip.

   Before you leave, clean the home and take photos of how you left it.

9. 9

   If your landlord says you owe more, a debt collector may call or write to you. The collector must tell you how much, who it is for and how to say it is wrong. You have 30 days after you get that notice to write back. Then the collector must stop trying to get that money until it answers you.

   Sources:

   1. Our editorial rules.
   2. What information does a debt collector have to give me, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A government guide.
   3. What should I do when a debt collector contacts me, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A government guide.
10. 10

    Your landlord can take money from your pay or benefits only after winning in court. The court must issue a judgment (the court's final decision) that you owe the debt. If you are sued, do not ignore it. You can lose the case if you do not go to court.

    Sources:

    1. Our editorial rules.
    2. Can a debt collector take or garnish my wages, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A government guide.
    Tip.

    If you get court papers, do not ignore them. Go to court, or you can lose the case.

    From Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Special protections

11. 11

    The law protects you if, in the last 12 months, you were a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking or stalking. It also protects you if you are one now, or may soon become one. If your landlord asks, give papers that show what happened. A court order that protects you works. So does a paper signed by you and a licensed professional who helped you.

    Source:

    1. K.S.A. § 58-25,137(c), Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Law.
12. 12

    If the abuse law protects you and you give your landlord a statement about what happened, you owe no rent after you move out. You still owe late or unpaid rent from before you move out. Your landlord can charge a fee of up to one month's rent, but only if your lease says so. If a court disagrees, you can still owe rent.

    Sources:

    1. Our editorial rules.
    2. K.S.A. § 58-25,137(b), Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Law.
13. 13

    Say you rent month to month and are in the military service of the United States. If military orders make you leave, you need to give your landlord no more than 15 days' written notice. If a court later disagrees, you can still owe the rent. Get legal help first.

    Sources:

    1. Our editorial rules.
    2. K.S.A. § 58-2570(b), Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Law.