How much notice do I have to give that I am not renewing?

Whatever your lease says, which is usually 30 or 60 days counted back from the last day of the term rather than from the day you want to move. The notice clause sits near the term or renewal section. State law rarely sets this for a fixed-term lease; it is a contract question, so the sentence in your own document is the answer. If the lease is silent, 30 days in writing is the conventional minimum, but read it before assuming silence.

Do I need to give a reason for not renewing?

No, and it is better not to. A tenant ending a fixed-term lease at its natural end owes no explanation, and anything you write about why you are leaving can be quoted back at you if the move-out turns into a dispute about condition or charges. Keep the letter to the facts: the unit, the end date, that you are not renewing, and where to send the deposit. Save the feedback for a review site if you want to leave one.

What happens if I miss the notice deadline?

That depends on what your lease does next, not on any statute. Some leases convert to month-to-month, which usually costs you nothing beyond a little flexibility for the landlord. Others renew into a whole new fixed term, and at that point leaving stops being a notice question and becomes a question of what breaking the lease costs. If you have missed the date, read the renewal clause first and then talk to the landlord early, because an agreed exit is almost always cheaper than an argued one.

Where should I put my forwarding address?

In this letter, which is the single most useful thing you can do with it. In most states the deposit clock starts when you hand back the keys, but in Texas, Connecticut, Wyoming and South Dakota it runs from your written forwarding address instead. Texas is the strictest: the landlord owes you nothing until you have given one. Putting the address in your non-renewal letter means it is given, dated and provable in the same document that proves your notice. Alaska is worth knowing too — proper notice there halves the time the landlord has.

How should I send the letter so it counts?

Check the lease first, because some specify a method and one that requires certified mail means email alone will not satisfy it. Where the lease is silent, certified mail with return receipt is the safe choice: it produces a dated record that the letter arrived. Send it by email too if that is how you have been corresponding, but not instead. Keep your copy and the delivery receipt together, because the pair is what evidences notice rather than the letter on its own.

Not Renewing Your Lease: The Letter and When to Send It

A non-renewal letter is the notice you give your landlord that you will not be staying past the end of your lease. It is short, it is usually required in writing, and the deadline for sending it is in your own lease rather than in any statute.

Most templates you will find for this are written for landlords ending a tenancy. This one is the other direction, and it carries one thing the landlord-side versions have no reason to mention: the same letter is where you start the clock on your deposit.

Find your deadline before you write anything

Open the lease and look for the notice clause — usually near the term or renewal section. Thirty and sixty days are the common figures, counted back from the last day of the term, not from the day you want to leave.

Missing it matters because of what your lease does next. Some convert you to month-to-month, which is often fine. Others renew you into another full term, and at that point leaving early stops being a notice question and becomes a question of what breaking the lease costs. Nothing in state law saves you from a renewal clause you agreed to; read the sentence before you rely on anyone's general advice, including this page's.

The letter

One short page. Replace what is in brackets.

[Date]

[Landlord or property manager name]
[Their address]

Re: Notice of non-renewal — [unit address]

This is written notice that I will not be renewing my lease at [unit address]. My tenancy ends on [lease end date] and I will vacate and return the keys on or before that date.

My lease requires [number] days’ notice, which this letter gives.

Please send my security deposit, or an itemized statement of any deductions, to my forwarding address: [your new address]. I would like to arrange a move-out inspection before I leave; please let me know a time that suits you.

[Your name]
[Your phone or email]

Leave out the reason. You do not owe one, and anything you write about why you are leaving can be quoted back at you later if the move-out turns into a dispute.

Why the forwarding address is the important line

This is the part the templates miss. In most states the countdown for returning your deposit starts when you hand back the keys. In four it starts from your written forwarding address instead: Texas, Connecticut, Wyoming and South Dakota.

Texas is the strictest of them. The landlord owes you nothing at all until you have given one — no address, no deadline, no claim — so a tenant who moves out and waits is waiting on a clock that never started. Connecticut and Wyoming count fifteen days from your address or the ordinary period, whichever ends later, and South Dakota needs your mailing address before its twenty-one days run at all.

The notice itself matters in one more place. Alaska gives the landlord fourteen days to return the deposit if you gave proper notice to end the tenancy and thirty if you did not — so this letter, sent on time, halves the wait. The deadline for all 50 states and DC says which rule yours uses.

How to send it

Check the lease first — some specify a method, and one that specifies certified mail means email alone will not count. Where it is silent, certified mail with return receipt is the safe choice because it dates the delivery. Send it by email as well if that is how you have been corresponding, and keep the copy together with the receipt.

If the landlord gave notice first

Then you do not need to send this, but you still need the forwarding address on record — reply in writing, confirm the end date, and give the address there. A non-renewal from the landlord is also worth reading closely in a rent-controlled city or a just-cause jurisdiction, where ending a tenancy can require a stated reason. That is a local question and worth a call to your tenant union or legal aid before you start packing.

After you send it

Photograph the unit on your last day, after it is empty, in daylight.
Ask for the move-out inspection in writing if you have not already; several states give you the right to one, and it is where disputed charges get settled cheaply.
Keep the keys handover dated — a receipt, an email, anything.
Diarise your state’s deposit deadline from the right trigger, then send a demand letter if it passes.

This page explains general rules and is not legal advice. Notice periods come from your lease, and local rules on ending a tenancy vary.

Not sure how much notice your lease wants?

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