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Contract trap · Lease

Full-term rent on early exit

A tenant who leaves early pays rent to the end of the term, a flat 'lease-break' fee (often 2 months), full re-letting costs plus agent fees or forfeits the deposit regardless of re-letting; on any breach or 7-14 days' arrears the entire remaining rent becomes due at once; every co-signer is liable for 100% of rent, damage and fees regardless of internal splits.

Severity
Severe
How often it turns up
Common
Holds up?
Depends where you are
Clause phrases
24

What it looks like in a contract

Redline matches these phrases against your document verbatim. Drafters rarely invent new wording — they copy it, which is why the same sentences turn up across unrelated contracts.

In English-language contracts

  • liable for rent for the remainder of the term
  • early termination fee
  • lease break fee
  • two months' rent as liquidated damages
  • reletting fee
  • insufficient notice fee
  • full cost of re-letting the property (including all agents fees)
  • entire balance of rent for the remainder of the term shall become immediately due
  • accelerate
  • no duty to mitigate
  • jointly and severally
  • each tenant is responsible for the full amount

In Russian-language contracts

  • штраф в размере месячной платы
  • обеспечительный платёж удерживается в случае досрочного расторжения по инициативе Нанимателя
  • обязан оплатить оставшийся срок
  • при нарушении срока уведомления
  • уведомить не менее чем за 3 месяца
  • в размере 100% ежемесячной платы
  • возместить расходы на поиск нового нанимателя
  • вся сумма за оставшийся период подлежит немедленной оплате
  • право требовать оплату до конца срока действия договора
  • солидарную ответственность
  • сонаниматели
  • каждый из Нанимателей отвечает в полном объёме

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Why it bites

A 12-month lease broken in month 3 produces a 9-month rent claim pursued via collections and credit reporting; a single late payment converts into a lump-sum claim plus eviction (double recovery); a departing roommate leaves the others paying their share; 'insufficient notice' fees trigger on paperwork slips.

Is it enforceable where you are

The same clause can be routine in one country and void in another. What follows is what the law says where you are — not advice on your particular contract.

In the US, deposit deadlines and entry notice are set state by state; in England and Wales the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the deposit protection schemes apply, and in the EU national tenancy law sits on top of Directive 93/13.

United States

Most states impose a duty to mitigate, so 'rent to end of term' is recoverable only net of re-letting; flat fees unrelated to loss risk being void penalties; rent acceleration is void in residential leases in several states (Wisconsin ATCP 134.08 voids acceleration and waiver of mitigation; URLTA-based statutes) and elsewhere enforced only net of mitigation; joint and several liability is standard and enforceable; Chicago RLTO 5-12-140 voids waiver of statutory rights.

  • Cited
  • ATCP 134.08

European Union

93/13 Annex 1(e) — CJEU C-488/11 Asbeek Brusse (2013): an unfair penalty clause in a residential lease must be set aside, not reduced; Germany: contractual penalties void (BGB 555), tenant terminates on 3 months' notice (573c), Gesamtschuld for co-tenants (BGB 421); France: tenant may leave on 3 months' notice (1 in zones tendues) without penalty, clause résolutoire only via court (loi 89-462 arts 15, 24), colocataire solidarity limited to 6 months after replacement (loi ALUR).

  • Cited
  • 93/13 Annex 1(e)
  • BGB 421
  • BGB 555
  • C-488/11
  • loi 89-462 arts 15, 24

United Kingdom

Tenant Fees Act 2019: early-termination charges cannot exceed the landlord's actual loss; OFT/CMA: 'full rent for the whole period', 'full cost of re-letting' and 'if the rent shall be 14 days in arrears the full amount to the end of the tenancy shall become due' are unfair penalties; possession only via court; joint tenancies enforceable but a joint tenant cannot be made liable for others' behaviour beyond the tenancy.

  • Cited
  • CMA
  • Tenant Fees Act 2019

Russia

ГК ст. 687 п. 1 — наниматель вправе расторгнуть договор в любое время, предупредив за 3 месяца (договор может установить иной срок); договорная неустойка и удержание депозита обычно признаются законными (ст. 330, 381.1), но снижаются при несоразмерности (ст. 333); требование платы за будущие периоды без предоставления помещения не имеет основания (ст. 671, 682) и суды его не взыскивают; сонаниматели отвечают солидарно только при договоре о сонанимателях (ст. 677 п. 4).

  • Cited
  • ГК ст. 687 п. 1
  • ст. 330
  • ст. 333
  • ст. 671
  • ст. 677 п. 4

Where this has actually happened

Regulator actions, court rulings and the contracts they were fought over.

  • Florida Stat. 83.595: early termination fee 'not to exceed 2 months' rent' only via a separately signed addendum
  • OFT356 (2005) unfair examples: 'to pay to the landlord the full cost of re-letting the property (including all agents fees and disbursements)'; 'If the rent shall be 14 days in arrears then the full amount to the end of the tenancy shall become due'
  • Wisconsin ATCP 134.08: a rental agreement provision that accelerates rent payments on tenant default is void
  • Яндекс Аренда типовой договор (2026): неустойка за досрочный отказ арендатора по убывающей шкале от 100% до 0% месячной платы
  • CJEU C-488/11 Asbeek Brusse v Jahani (2013)

What to do

In order, from the thing that takes a minute to the thing that takes a letter.

  1. Negotiate a mutual break clause (1-2 months' notice) or cap liability at rent until re-let plus documented re-advertising costs
  2. Strike acceleration or limit it to accrued rent net of mitigation
  3. Ask for individual or by-the-room liability and a replacement/assignment mechanism. US: invoke the duty to mitigate and state caps (FL 83.595: ≤2 months' rent only via signed addendum)
  4. UK: charges limited to actual loss (TFA 2019)
  5. RU: убрать штраф, срок уведомления 30 дней вместо 3 месяцев по ст. 687, и что депозит возвращается при своевременном уведомлении.

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Traps that travel with it

Drafters who use one of these usually use several.

79 traps · 1789 verbatim clause phrases