Breaking a lease in Massachusetts

Chapter 186 has no general early-termination rule for tenants. A tenant or co-tenant may end a lease by written notice that a household member is a victim of domestic violence, rape, sexual assault or stalking, given within three months of the most recent act or while a household member is reasonably in fear of imminent serious physical harm. The tenant must move out within three months of the notice, or the notice is void.

Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 24

• The tenant owes rent for 30 days or one full rental period after the quitting date, whichever is later, gets back any prepaid rent after that, and gets the deposit statement and refund within 30 days after all occupants deliver possession. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 24(c)
• You may ask for proof: a protective order, a court or police record, or a written verification from a qualified third party. Keep it confidential. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 24(e), (f)
• Other tenants on the lease stay bound. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 24(d)
• You may not refuse to rent to someone because they ended a lease this way or asked for a lock change. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 25
• On foreclosure, a tenant under an unexpired lease becomes a tenant at will, but a subsidized tenant's lease continues. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 13A
• An agreed early termination is separate from the statutory protections above. If you negotiate a release, record the agreed end date, key return, rent and other amounts remaining, treatment of prepaid rent and the deposit, and whether every tenant or only a named tenant is released. Keep a signed copy and the final accounting. A conversation about moving, permission to look for a replacement or a proposed fee does not clearly establish all of those terms. Check the lease and applicable protections before treating a payment as the price of release. Massachusetts Attorney General: landlord and tenant rights

Either side may end a tenancy at will by written notice. Where rent is paid at intervals shorter than three months, the notice must be at least as long as the interval between rent days or thirty days, whichever is longer; otherwise it is three months. The notice may offer a new tenancy on different terms.

Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 12

• When a landlord ends a tenancy at will without fault of the tenant, no eviction may be brought until that same period has run from the tenant's receipt of the written notice, and the tenant pays rent at the old rate while staying. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 13
• A sale, transfer or foreclosure does not by itself end a tenancy at will of a home. Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 13