Notice to Vacate: How Much Notice to Give and What to Include

To end a month-to-month rental, you must give at least 30 days' written notice in Arizona, California, Florida, Montana, and Oregon, one month's notice in Texas, and written notice 20 days before the end of a rental period in Washington; week-to-week tenants give 7 to 10 days, or the same 20 days in Washington. A fixed-term lease usually ends on its end date without notice unless your lease or state law requires it: Washington requires at least 20 days' written notice before the end date. In Oregon after the first year, and in California where a just-cause law (one requiring the landlord to have a legal reason to end your tenancy) covers you, the tenancy continues month to month until you give notice. Send a dated, signed letter with your move-out date and forwarding address by a method you can prove, because a late notice usually means paying rent until a proper one would have ended the tenancy.

How much notice you need to give

A periodic tenancy renews each week or month with no end date. To end one, give at least the notice your state requires:

The rules for Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York are in month-to-month vs. fixed-term leases; for other states, check the state's landlord-tenant statute or its attorney general's tenant guide.

Your lease can change these defaults in some states. California's tenant guide says you follow the notice period in your rental agreement if it sets a different one, and Texas uses a different period only if a lease you both signed sets it. In California, the 30 days also applies when the landlord has given you a 60-day notice and you want to leave sooner.

Example: moving out at the end of June

Your rent is due on the 1st and you want June 30 to be your last day. Deliver your notice by:

• California and Florida: May 31, 30 days before June 30.
• Washington: June 10, 20 days before the rental period ends.
• Arizona: June 1, with the notice naming July 1, the next rent due date, as the end of the tenancy.
• Oregon: May 31 by hand, or May 28 by mail, since mailing adds 3 days.

Missing the date pushes the end back. In Florida, a notice delivered on June 5 is too late for June, so the earliest the tenancy can end is July 31.

When a fixed-term lease requires notice

California's tenant guide says most fixed-term agreements do not require notice that you are leaving at the end date, but suggests giving it anyway. Where California's just-cause law covers your tenancy, the tenancy continues month to month after the end date until you give notice or the landlord has a legal reason to end it, so 30 days' written notice before the end date covers you either way. Any lease can also set its own deadline, and missing it can trigger an automatic renewal clause or a charge. Find the deadline, put it on your calendar, and send notice before it.

Among the states in the table, Florida, Oregon, and Washington also set rules for fixed-term notice:

• Florida: a lease can require 30 to 60 days' notice before you leave at the end of the term only if the landlord must also tell you within that period when it will not renew. To charge the lease's penalty for a missed notice, the landlord must first send a written reminder listing the charges, no more than 15 days before your notice period starts. If you stay past the end date with the landlord's permission and then leave without 30 days' notice, you owe one more month's rent.
• Oregon: after your first year, a fixed-term lease becomes month-to-month at its end date unless you sign a new lease or give written notice at least 30 days before the end date.
• Washington: to end a fixed-term tenancy, give written notice at least 20 days before the end date, even if your lease has no notice clause.

What happens when your lease expires explains automatic renewal rules in other states. Leaving before the end date is breaking the lease rather than giving notice; breaking a lease early covers what that can cost.

How to deliver your notice so it counts

1. Put it in writing. Six of the seven states in the table require written notice. Texas's rule does not say written, but a letter is the notice you can prove, and California's guide says even an oral month-to-month agreement requires written notice.
2. Send it to the address for notices. Use the name and address your lease lists for notices or rent payments; Florida landlords must give you that name and address in writing at or before move-in. In California, if the owner-provided address does not accept personal deliveries and you mail the notice to the name and address in your rental agreement and keep proof of mailing, such as a certified mail receipt, the law presumes the owner received it on the postmark date.
3. Choose a method you can prove. California's guide recommends handing the notice to the landlord or manager, or sending it by certified mail with a return receipt. Keep a copy either way.
4. Use email only if you agreed to it. Florida and Oregon accept an emailed notice only if you and the landlord signed an addendum (a signed add-on to the lease) agreeing to email notices. In Oregon, you must also send the termination notice by first-class mail. In Florida, the email counts as delivered when you send it unless it bounces.
5. Allow for mail time. Oregon adds 3 days to the notice period for first-class mail. In other states, mail the notice early enough to reach the landlord before your deadline.

What to put in the letter

Include:

• The date, the names of every tenant on the lease, and the rental address with unit number.
• A statement that you are ending the tenancy, and the date you will move out.
• A forwarding address for your deposit refund and any list of deductions. Texas landlords can hold both until they have your forwarding address in writing, though leaving it out does not forfeit the deposit.
• A request for a walkthrough before your last day, with dates you are available. In California, you can ask for an initial inspection, held no earlier than two weeks before the tenancy ends, after which the landlord must give you a written list of the cleaning and repairs that would avoid deductions.
• When and how you will return the keys.
• Your signature, phone number, and email.

A short version you can adapt:

[Date]
To: [Landlord or manager name], [notice address from your lease]
Re: Notice to vacate, [rental address and unit]

[Tenant names] will end the tenancy at [rental address] and move out on [date].
Please send the security deposit refund and any itemized deductions to: [forwarding address].
We request a pre-move-out inspection and are available on [two or three dates and times].
Keys will be returned on [date] by [method].

[Signature and printed name of each tenant, phone, email]

What happens if your notice is late or short

• You owe rent for the full notice period. California's guide uses a notice given on September 10: the tenant must leave by October 10 and owes rent through October 10. If you move out sooner and the landlord re-rents to a tenant who starts paying before the notice period ends, you do not pay for those days.
• In Texas, the notice period controls. If your letter names a date less than one month away, the tenancy still runs one month from the day you gave notice, and you owe rent only up to the day it ends.
• In Arizona, Florida, and Washington, a late notice moves the end date to the next rental period, as in the June example above.
• The landlord can take unpaid rent from your deposit. A Texas lease can also make advance notice a condition of the deposit refund, but only if that requirement is underlined or in bold print in the lease.
• Pay your last month's rent. Texas presumes that a tenant who withholds the last month's rent because the landlord holds a deposit acted in bad faith, which can cost three times the rent withheld plus the landlord's attorney's fees.
• Leave by your date or get an extension in writing. In Arizona, a tenant who stays past the end of the tenancy without the landlord's consent, willfully and not in good faith, can owe up to two months' rent or twice the landlord's actual damages, whichever is greater. In Florida, staying after a lease expires without the landlord's permission can cost double rent for that time.

For the rest of the tasks between your notice and moving day, see the move-out timeline from notice to move-in.