Breaking Your Lease & Moving Out Early

Lucy Telkamp • September 11, 2020

So you have to vacate sooner than 60 days from now and/ or move out before your lease term ends - How Does That Work?

The vast majority of people do not sign a lease with the intention to break it by moving out early.

However, life has a way of getting in the way of even the best laid plans and residents sometimes find themselves needing to vacate their unit before their lease expires or sooner than the required notice period of 60 days (term lease) or 28 days (month-to-month lease) from now.

If you need to vacate but your roommate does not, please review our post about Roommate Changes .

I.) If everyone will be vacating, then, in all circumstances, the first course of action is to submit a signed, written notice to vacate stating the exact date you will be moving out . We cannot sign a new lease starting during your lease term/ obligation without a signed, written notice to vacate. There is no specific form you need use to submit notice to vacate; you may use any old piece of paper to write

We/I, [all adult resident names], will vacate [your unit's address] on/ before [your move-out date].

Signed, [all adult resident signatures]

then either take a photo of or scan the signed notice and send it as an attachment to us via email ( Lucy@WEUhomes.com ). In the state of Wisconsin, an oral statement or an emailed statement without an ink signature do not suffice as notice to vacate. Any notice to vacate must be signed by all adult residents; if only one of multiple adult residents signs the notice to vacate, the notice to vacate will not be valid or binding.

If you do not know when specifically you will be vacating, you do have the option to indicate that you will vacate with, for example, two weeks' notice of an application having been received on your unit. Please Understand: Just because a person submitted an application does not mean that they will be approved; sometimes, an applicant takes a long time to get us their proof of income or to let us know they cannot find a cosigner. This means that you run the risk of finding yourself almost completely moved out when we find out the person who applied for your unit has cancelled their application or is denied.

II.) Upon receipt of that notice to vacate, we will start advertising and attempting to rerent your apartment for the date after you have said you will vacate .

You are welcome to advertise & show your unit as well; Facebook Marketplace seems to have been a very helpful resource for people looking to find replacement residents. Once we have your notice to vacate, your unit will be posted to our website & any interested parties may apply for your specific unit there. Please check with your resident manager or the Milwaukee office to find out what the market rent would be, as well as to get any additional information about accepted animals, parking options, etc.

There is no "lease buy-out" option

If we are successful in rerenting your apartment, we have the legal right to assess a rerental fee of up to $300. The fee would only be charged if we saved you at least one full month's rent; the fee usually ends up around $150. If you found the replacement residents, conducted your own showing, they were approved, & they sign a fresh lease on your unit, you would not be charged a rerental fee.

III.) Regardless of whether or not you are still physically living in your unit, you would remain liable for utilities and monthly rent owed to us until the earliest of the following as applicable :

1) your lease with us expires,

2) the last date of the month in which the submitted notice's 60 days or 28 days lands, OR

3) the replacement residents' new lease start date.

To help clarify, if you give us notice to vacate on

1) Jul 10th for Sept 30th and your lease doesn't expire until Oct 31st, you'd remain liable for rent until Oct 31st,

2) Jul 10th for Jul 31st and you're on a month-to-month extension, you'd remain liable for rent until Aug 31st, OR

3) any date for any date prior to the end of your liability, your liability would end on the date the replacement residents' lease starts.

Your physical occupancy does not determine whether or not you are responsible for monthly rent. Just as you must continue to make car payments or car insurance payments if your car is in the shop for two months, so too must you continue to make rent payments if you are not living in your unit.

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Giving Notice to Vacate

By Lucy Telkamp • April 1, 2025

Maybe you're purchasing your first home, or you've found the apartment of your dreams. Maybe it's just time to part ways with your roommate. In any case, you know that you'll be moving out of your home with us. In all circumstances, if you are on a term lease agreement with us, you are required to give signed , written Notice to Vacate a minimum of 60 days prior to the last date of your last month of tenancy. If you're on a full-term lease agreement with us, your term expires July 31st (for example), and you plan to move out, you must submit signed, written notice to vacate on/ before June 2nd. If you move out sooner than July 31st, you will still owe full rent until July 31st unless your unit is rerented with a move-in date earlier than July 31st. If you are looking to vacate sooner than 60 days from now, during the No Winter Vacate period, or before your lease expires, please see our post on B reaking Your Lease & Moving Out Early . If you will be vacating but at least one of your current roommates with us will be staying, please see our post about Roommate Changes . If (and only if) you are on a month-to-month extension of your lease agreement, you required to give signed , written Notice to Vacate a minimum of 28 days prior to the last date of your last month of tenancy. Basically, if you are on a month-to-month agreement with us and decide in the middle of March that you will be moving out, you have until April 2nd to submit signed, written notice that you will be vacating on April 30th. If you will be moving out sooner than April 30th, that's just fine- you will still owe full rent until April 30th unless your unit is rerented with a move-in date earlier than April 30th. There is no specific form you need use to submit notice to vacate; you may use any old piece of paper to write We/I, [all adult resident names], will vacate [your unit's address] on/ before [your move-out date]. Signed, [all adult resident signatures] then either take a photo or scan the signed notice and send it as an attachment to us via email ( Lucy@WEUhomes.co m ). In the state of Wisconsin, an oral statement or an emailed statement without an ink signature do not suffice as notice to vacate. Any notice to vacate must be signed by all adult residents; if only one of multiple adult residents signs the notice to vacate, the notice to vacate will not be valid or binding. If you are on a month-to-month extension of your lease agreement with us, the No Winter Vacate clause does apply. You agreed to and signed off on the No Winter Vacate clause in your original lease agreement (sections 1.2 & 1.7) with us; that clause still (and specifically) applies when you are on a month-to-month extension with us. The No Winter Vacate clause is a pretty standard lease clause in the state of Wisconsin; it simply states that you may not vacate between November 1st and February 27th. If you do vacate between November 1st and February 27th, you will be held liable for rent until the end of February. If you submit notice to vacate less than 60 full days in advance (even if it's 59 days in advance), your liability for the unit and for monthly rent will extend beyond your move-out date unless the unit is rerented with a move-in date earlier than the end of your liability. For example: - If your lease term ends April 30th and you submit your notice to vacate on March 10th, the 60 day requirement continues into May and, as tenancies may not end mid-month (see lease section 1.2 & 1.7), you would be liable for rent until May 31st unless your unit is rerented with a move-in date earlier than May 31st. - If you're on a month-to-month extension with us and you submit signed, written notice on March 10th to vacate on April 30th, the 60 day requirement continues into May and, as tenancies may not end mid-month (see lease section 1.2 & 1.7), you would be liable for rent until May 31st unless your unit is rerented with a move-in date earlier than May 31st. An improper notice to vacate, one given less than a full 60 days in advance, can be particularly problematic starting September 3rd. If your lease agreement expires September 30th or October 31st OR if you are on a month-to-month extension AND you submit your signed, written notice to vacate within 60 days after September 3rd, the 60-day requirement falls after November 1st, during the No Winter Vacate period. You would remain liable for monthly rent for your unit until the end of February unless your unit is rerented with a move-in date earlier than the end of February.