The Ultimate Guide To Breaking a Lease in South Dakota Without Any Expenses

You might have decided to get a lease if you weren't ready to permanently settle in an area, or you didn't want to be responsible for any issues that popped up in your rental space. Renting can be a great way to get to know an area without fully committing to it, but if you need to leave earlier than expected, you might need to break your lease. This guide will give you information on breaking a lease in South Dakota.

Generally speaking, if you can avoid breaking your lease, you should. It can end up costing you a lot of money to buy out your lease, or you can end up with an eviction on your record if you leave illegally. If you need to break your lease, you must send a letter to your landlord explaining your situation.

DoNotPay is happy to step in and help you create the letter for your landlord.

Tenant Rights and Responsibilities When Signing a Lease in South Dakota

As a tenant in South Dakota, you have certain rights and responsibilities, according to SD Codified L § 43-32-10. You must do these five things as a tenant in South Dakota:

1. Pay your rent on time.
2. Keep your rental unit safe and able to be lived in.
3. Make sure your unit stays relatively clean.
4. Make minor repairs and complete basic maintenance.
5. Don't disturb your neighbors or other tenants.

When Breaking a Lease Is Justified in South Dakota

There are certain situations that may justify you breaking your lease in South Dakota. However, in South Dakota, landlords aren't required to re-rent the space, and you might be liable to pay the remainder of your lease. Here are four legal reasons for breaking a lease in South Dakota.

1. Your lease has an early termination clause.
2. Your unit is deemed uninhabitable.
3. You have to serve active military duty.
4. Your landlord is harassing you.

Lease Termination Notice Requirements in South Dakota

If you need to terminate your lease in South Dakota, the amount of time you are required to give notice to your landlord varies by the type of lease. Check out the information below to see what notice your lease type requires in South Dakota:

Consequences of Illegally Breaking a Lease in South Dakota

If you choose to illegally break your lease, this is what can happen if you break a lease early:

• Your landlord can sue you to get the rent you owe them or sue you for breach of contract
• You could end up with an eviction on your record, which can lower your credit score.
• It can be difficult to rent again with a low credit score and eviction on your record.

How to Break a Lease in South Dakota by Yourself

If you need to break a lease in South Dakota, follow these steps to try to break a lease without penalty:

1. Send your landlord a letter explaining your need to break the lease.
2. If you can, provide your landlord with proper notice that you are leaving. (See above for notice required).
3. If you are breaking your lease before the time is up, you will need to work with your landlord to come to an agreement.
4. Chances are, you will end up having to pay a fee or potentially the rest of your lease to leave.
5. If you leave without paying your rent or an agreement in place with your landlord, you are abandoning your rental and will face legal consequences.

Break Your South Dakota Lease With the Help of DoNotPay

If you don't want to write a letter to your landlord, DoNotPay is happy to step in and write it for you.

Here's how you can get started in 3 easy steps:

1. Search Break My Lease on DoNotPay.

2. Prepare a signed copy of your lease that you can use as a reference, and enter the state the lease was signed in.

3. Let us guide you through the 4 potential options.

This is how DoNotPay solves your South Dakota lease issue, depending on your situation:

• If you're a uniformed service member breaking a lease to fulfill your service obligations, we'll send your landlord an SCRA Protection Letter.
• If you're breaking your lease for a reason protected by your state's tenant laws, we'll write your landlord a letter detailing your protections for breaking the lease under the relevant law.
• If your reasons for breaking your lease aren't protected by federal or state law, but you'd like to try to convince your landlord to let you break the lease through mutual agreement, we'll draft a hardship letter making your case to your landlord.
• If there are no remaining options for breaking the lease with protection, but your state requires landlords to mitigate damages to tenants who break their leases, we'll notify your landlord of that obligation and minimize the remaining rent you have to pay.

Why Use DoNotPay to Break Your South Dakota Lease

Trying to come up with a convincing letter to get your landlord to let you out of your lease can be tricky. You should let DoNotPay do it for you for several reasons.

• It's easy: All we need from you is a little bit of information.
• It's quick: You spend a little time entering information, and then you can go back to your day.
• It's successful: You can trust that DoNotPay will write a great letter to send to your landlord.

DoNotPay Can Help You With Many Things

Along with writing a letter to your landlord, DoNotPay can help with many other things. Here are some examples of other ways we can assist you.

• Cancel a service or subscription
• Help you change your mailing address
• Help you fight text spam

Conclusion

Renting can be great, but if you need to break your lease early, it can be a difficult process. You will have to write your landlord a letter explaining your situation and work out an agreement with them. If you need help writing the letter, DoNotPay can help. Sign up today to see how we can help you with your lease-breaking letter, among other things.