All About Breaking A Lease In Vermont

A lease agreement is a legally binding document between the landlord and tenant. It is put in place to serve the best interests of both parties. However, breaking a lease in Vermont can lead to legal consequences and cost you money. DoNotPay can help you break your lease easily.

When Breaking a Lease Is Justified in Vermont

There are a few legal reasons to break your lease in Vermont:

1. Early Termination Clause

In some cases, Vermont lease agreements may provide specific terms that help the tenant break a lease at a stipulated notice period and at a stipulated penalty fee.

If a lease agreement contains this early termination clause, read further and see if there are provisions or requirements set to help you evade the penalty fee, like 30 days' notice, 90 days' notice, and more.

2. Active Military Duty

There is a military act in place that helps protect active service members who are relocated due to deployment or transfer. The protection starts on the date of beginning duty and ends between 30-90 days after the last day of the assignment.

However, servicemen terminating contracts based on this clause must prove that the lease was signed before starting duty, prove that they will remain on duty for 90 days, and provide written notice accompanied by a copy of deployment orders.

3. Uninhabitable Unit

Vermont has strict health and safety codes that provide minimum standards to be met for rental units. All units must be safe, clean, have water and heating services, and be fit for human habitation.

Failure of a landlord to meet the requirements, a tenant can give notice to the landlord to fix the unit problems. If the landlord fails to oblige, the tenant is considered evicted and not required to obey the lease since the landlord failed to meet his obligations.

4. Landlord Harassment or Privacy Violation

A landlord has no right to harass the tenant. A violation of this law in Vermont can relieve the tenant of the lease obligations. Changing locks and denying tenants their rights to a habitable house can lead to the breaking of a lease in Vermont.

Vermont state laws state that a landlord must give 48 hours' notice to enter the rental property. According to 9 V.S.A. § 4460, the hours allowed for landlord access are 9.00 am to 9 pm.

Vermont’s Lease Termination Notice Requirements

Depending on your lease payment structure, here is how long you have to give notice in Vermont:

Consequences of Illegally Breaking a Lease in Vermont

There are costs associated with breaking your lease if it’s done illegally. Here’s what can happen if you break your lease illegally:

1. The landlord may sue the tenant for rent owed.
2. A landlord could sue a tenant for breaking contact and seek compensation.
3. Bad tenancy record due to an eviction.
4. The tenant can get a poor credit score, which can make it hard for the tenant to get an apartment in the future.
5. The tenant can lose their security deposit.

Reasons That Can't Be Used to Break a Lease

If you use these reasons alone, you cannot legally break your lease, unless you and your landlord come to an agreement:

• If you are buying a house
• If you are relocating for a new job or school
• If you want to upgrade or downgrade
• If you want to move in with a partner
• If you want to move closer to family or friends

How to Break a Lease in Vermont by Yourself

To try to break your lease without penalty:

1. Look at your lease to see if there is an early termination clause, or see if one of the legal reasons fits your circumstances.
2. If you have a legal reason or an early termination clause, give your landlord notice in writing, following the lease termination notice requirement laws for Vermont.
3. If not, you may need to first talk to your landlord to see if you can come to an agreement about breaking your lease early without excessive penalty.
4. Try writing a hardship letter to your landlord that provides reasons and evidence for why you need to break your lease early.

Breaking a lease in Vermont by yourself can be very difficult and requires you to follow a long process and fill out numerous forms. Further to this, you must write a notice to terminate your lease to the landlord. This can take so much time and, in many cases, it can be futile. DoNotPay provides you with an efficient online solution to help you break your lease.

Breaking a Lease in Vermont With the Help of DoNotPay

Breaking your lease in Vermont can be an uphill task and can lead to financial issues. However, DoNotPay provides you with a fast online solution that helps you break your lease easily.

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.

Then, to break your lease in Vermont, DoNotPay will do one of the following things for you:

• 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 a Lease in Vermont

Breaking a lease can be difficult because a lease agreement is a legal document. There are legal and financial repercussions when one breaks a lease, not to mention the long process that may end in futility. DoNotPay provides you with an easy online solution to help you break your lease in Vermont quickly.

Here are three reasons why DoNotPay is a great solution for your lease-breaking problems:

1. It’s fast—You don't have to spend a lot of time trying to fill out numerous forms and writing a notice. DoNotPay gets it done quickly.
2. It’s easy—You just have to answer a few questions. DoNotPay does the rest.
3. It’s successful—DoNotPay has a history of successfully breaking leases.

More Easy Solutions From DoNotPay

DoNotPay can do much more than help you break your lease in Vermont. Take a look at just a few more of our problem-solving products:

• Help you in case of a breach of contract
• Help reduce property taxes
• Help change your mailing address
• Learn the power of attorney

Sign up today and enjoy this and many other online services from the comfort of your home.