Breaking a lease in Alabama

The Act gives a tenant no general right to leave a fixed-term lease early. If the tenant abandons the unit, you must make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental, though you may rent your other vacant units first; if you re-rent for a term beginning before the lease ends, the lease terminates on the date the new tenancy starts.

Ala. Code § 35-9A-423(c) Ala. Code § 35-9A-105(a)

• A tenant may end the lease early for your uncured material breach or failure to maintain, for a willful or negligent failure to provide essential services, for serious fire or casualty damage, or for an unlawful ouster. Ala. Code § 35-9A-401(a) Ala. Code § 35-9A-404(b) Ala. Code § 35-9A-406(a) Ala. Code § 35-9A-407 See Tenant repair remedies on the Alabama page
• If you fail to deliver possession at the start, rent stops until you do, and the tenant may end the lease on written notice; you must then return all prepaid rent and security within five days. Ala. Code § 35-9A-402(a)
• The Act has no early termination right for victims of domestic violence. A court protection order may remove and exclude the abuser from the victim's residence, regardless of who owns it. Ala. Code §§ 35-9A-101 to 35-9A-603 Ala. Code § 30-5-7(b)(7)
• Federal military protection is separate from the Alabama Act. Under the SCRA, a covered servicemember with qualifying orders, such as a permanent change of station or a deployment of at least 90 days, may end an eligible residential lease without an early termination penalty. Give the landlord written termination notice and the required military documentation, such as orders or a commanding officer's letter. For monthly rent, termination generally takes effect 30 days after the next rent payment becomes due following proper delivery. Check eligibility, permitted delivery and the effective date rather than treating every military-related move as an immediate release. U.S. DOJ: SCRA housing rights and lease termination U.S. DOJ: Know Your Rights under the SCRA

Either you or the tenant may end a month-to-month tenancy by written notice given at least 30 days before the periodic rental date named in the notice, and a week-to-week tenancy by written notice given at least seven days before the termination date. Unless the lease fixes a definite term, a tenancy is week to week when the tenant pays weekly rent and month to month otherwise.

Ala. Code § 35-9A-441(a), (b) Ala. Code § 35-9A-161(d)

• Because a month-to-month notice must end on a periodic rental date, for rent due on the 1st a notice delivered on September 10 can end the tenancy no earlier than November 1. Ala. Code § 35-9A-441(b)
• If a tenant stays after the tenancy ends without your consent, you may bring an action for possession, and for a willful holdover not in good faith you may also recover up to three months' periodic rent or your actual damages, whichever is greater, and reasonable attorney's fees. Ala. Code § 35-9A-441(c)
• If you consent to the tenant staying on, the tenancy becomes week to week or month to month. Ala. Code § 35-9A-441(c) Ala. Code § 35-9A-161(d)