Early termination rights. In many states, a victim of domestic violence can end a lease with notice (often 30 days). States typically require that the tenant provide proof (such as a protective order) of her status as a domestic violence victim. 


Limits on rental clauses. In some states, landlords cannot include clauses providing for termination in the event of a tenant’s call for police help in a domestic violence situation, nor can landlords make tenants pay for the cost of such calls. 


Section 8 tenants. Normally, Section 8 tenants may move without jeopardizing their right to continued public assistance only if they notify their public housing authority ahead of time, terminate their lease according to the lease’s provisions, and locate acceptable replacement housing. Domestic violence victims, however, may circumvent these requirements if they have otherwise complied with other Section 8 requirements, have moved in order to protect someone who is or has been a domestic violence victim, and “reasonably believed” that they were imminently threatened by harm from further violence. (Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005, 42 U.S. Code § 1437f(5).)


If your state has no law giving victims of domestic violence early termination rights or other domestic violence protections, don’t automatically assume that you’re stuck. First, if you want to move, appeal to your landlord’s bottom line: The last thing any landlord wants on the property is a disruptive, potentially violent situation. Letting you out of the lease might be just want the landlord wants, too—what the landlord loses in rent may pale in comparison with what the repair costs may be if the property is damaged, not to speak of the fall-out from negative publicity if the situation escalates.


Even if your state gives some special protections to domestic violence victims, these accommodations do not prevent landlords from terminating, if necessary, for nonpayment of rent. Unfortunately, all too often the abuser will leave the property but the remaining victim struggles to pay the rent. Landlords may legally terminate the tenancy of a domestic violence victim who falls behind in the rent, just as they would any tenant who hasn’t paid.