Landlord's Duty to Rerent When a Tenant Breaks a Lease

Find out which states require landlords to take reasonable efforts to rerent a rental property when tenants leave before their lease ends.

A lease covers a fixed period of time (called the "term") and obligates the tenant to pay rent until the lease ends. Some states allow tenants to break a lease and leave early without penalty under certain circumstances, such as leaving a domestic violence situation, or entering military service. And many states require landlords to take reasonable efforts find a new tenant (to rerent), rather than simply do nothing and expect the vacating tenant to pay rent through the end of the lease term. A landlord's responsibility to rerent is also known as the duty to mitigate damages. This chart provides some basic information on state laws on the subject. Read your state statute (or relevant court case) for the specific rules in your state. The citation is provided here, and you can visit the Library of Congress's legal research site for links to state statutes and judicial decisions.

Landlord's Duty to Rerent
State	Legal authority	Must make reasonable efforts to rerent	Has no duty to look for or rent to a new tenant	Law is unclear or courts are divided on the issue
Alabama	Ala. Code §§ 35-9A-105, 35-9A-423	X¹
Alaska	Alaska Stat. § 34.03.230(c)	X
Arizona	Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 33-1370	X
Arkansas	Grayson v. Mixon, 5 S.W.2d 312 (Ark. 1928)		X
California	Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1951.2, 1951.4	X	X²
Colorado	Schneiker v. Gordon, 732 P.2d 603 (Colo. 1987)	X³
Connecticut	Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 47a-11a	X
Delaware	Del. Code Ann. tit. 25, § 5507(d)(2)	X
District of Columbia	D.C. Code Ann. § 42-3505.52	X
Florida	Fla. Stat. Ann. § 83.595		X⁴
Georgia	Ga. Code Ann. § 44-7-34; Peterson v. Midas Realty Corp., 287 S.E.2d 61 (Ga. Ct. App. 1981)		X	X⁵
Hawaii	Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-70(d)	X⁶
Idaho	Consol. Ag v. Rangen, Inc., 128 Idaho 228 (Idaho 1996)	X
Illinois	735 Ill. Comp. Stat. § 5/9-213.1	X
Indiana	Nylen v. Park Doral Apartments, 535 N.E.2d. 178 (Ind. Ct. App. 1989)	X
Iowa	Iowa Code § 562A.29(3)	X
Kansas	Kan. Stat. Ann. § 58-2565(c)	X
Kentucky	Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 383.670	X
Louisiana	La. Civ. Code Ann. Art. 2002; Easterling v. Halter Marine, Inc., 470 So.2d 221 (La. Ct. App. 1985); Gray v. Kanavel, 508 So.2d 970 (La. Ct. App. 1987)	X		X
Maine	Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 6010-A	X
Maryland	Md. Code Ann. [Real Prop.], § 8-207	X
Massachusetts	Edmands v. Rust & Richardson Drug Co., 191 Mass. 123, 128 (1906) and assorted other cases	X		X⁷
Michigan	Fox v. Roethlisberger, 85 N.W.2d 73 (Mich. 1957)	X
Minnesota	Control Data Corp. v. Metro Office Parks Co., 296 Minn. 302 (Minn. 1973)		X
Mississippi	Alsup v. Banks, 9 So. 895 (Miss. 1891)		X⁸
Missouri	Rhoden Inv. Co. v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 499 S.W.2d 375 (Mo. 1973); Mo. Rev. Stat. § 535.300	X⁹
Montana	Mont. Code Ann. § 70-24-426	X
Nebraska	Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1432	X
Nevada	Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 118.175	X
New Hampshire	Wen v. Arlen's, Inc., 103 A.2d 86 (N.H. 1954); Modular Mfg., Inc. v. Dernham Co., 65 B.R. 856 (Bankr. D. N.H. 1986)			X
New Jersey	Sommer v. Kridel, 378 A.2d 767 (N.J. 1977)	X
New Mexico	N.M. Stat. Ann. § 47-8-6	X
New York	N.Y. Real Prop Law § 227-e	X
North Carolina	Isbey v. Crews, 284 S.E.2d 534 (N.C. Ct. App. 1981)	X
North Dakota	N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-13.5	X
Ohio	Stern v. Taft, 361 N.E.2d 279 (Ct. App. 1976)	X¹⁰
Oklahoma	Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 41, § 129	X
Oregon	Or. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 90.410	X
Pennsylvania	Stonehedge Square Ltd. P'ship v. Movie Merchs., 715 A.2d 1082 (Pa. 1998)		X
Rhode Island	R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-40	X
South Carolina	S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-730(c)	X
South Dakota	No cases or statutes in South Dakota discuss this issue.			X¹¹
Tennessee	Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-507(c)	X¹²
Texas	Tex. Prop. Code Ann. § 91.006	X
Utah	Utah Code Ann. § 78B-6-816; Reid v. Mutual of Omaha Ins. Co., 776 P.2d 896 (Utah 1989)	X
Vermont	Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 9, § 4462		X
Virginia	Va. Code Ann. § 55.1-1251	X
Washington	Wash. Rev. Code Ann. §§ 59.18.310, 59.18,595	X¹³
West Virginia	W.Va. Code § 37-6-7; Teller v. McCoy, 253 S.E.2d 114 (W.Va. 1978)	X
Wisconsin	Wis. Stat. Ann. § 704.29	X
Wyoming	Goodwin v. Upper Crust, Inc., 624 P.2d 1192 (1981)	X
¹Landlord can prioritize renting other vacant units first. (Alabama) ²Landlord must make reasonable efforts to rerent. However, landlord may keep the lease in effect and recover rent as it becomes due if landlord has not retaken possession, and the lease states that the tenant has the right to sublet or assign, subject only to landlord's reasonable limitations. (California) ³Case law favors mitigation. (Colorado) ⁴Landlord has the option of rerenting, standing by and doing nothing (tenant remains liable for rent as it comes due), or invoking its right to a liquidated damages, or early termination, provision. Latter remedy is available only if the lease includes a liquidated damages addendum, or addition, that provides for no more than two months' damages and requires tenant to give no more than 60 days' notice. Liquidated damages provision must substantially include specified language in Fl. Stat. Ann. § 83.595. (Florida) ⁵Ga. Code Ann. § 44-7-34 states that nothing precludes landlords from retaining the security deposit for rent and other damages provided the landlord attempts to mitigate the actual damages. However, a Georgia court has held that a landlord could keep the rental vacant and sue for rent as it becomes due in spite of this statute. (Kimber v. Towne Hills Dev. Co., 274 S.E.2d 620 (Ga. Ct. App. 1980).) (Georgia) ⁶The statute implies that the landlord has a duty to rerent: When a tenant breaks the lease, the landlord is entitled to the lesser of (1) the entire rent due for the remainder of the term or (2) the amount of rent accrued during the period reasonably necessary to rerent at a fair rent plus the difference between fair rent and the rent under the lease, as well as a commission for the renting of the unit. The landlord is entitled to the lesser of these two even if the landlord doesn't actually rerent the unit. (Hawaii) ⁷Although case law seems to accept a duty to mitigate, there is no definitive statement of the law and the issue remains unsettled. (Massachusetts) ⁸Many Miss. attorneys believe this old case is not sound authority, and that a trial judge would find a duty to mitigate in spite of it. (Mississippi) ⁹Landlord must mitigate only if intending to use tenant's security deposit to cover future unpaid rent. (Missouri) ¹⁰Duty to mitigate applies in absence of any clause that purports to relieve the landlord of this duty (courts must enforce this clause). (Ohio) ¹¹It is likely that a S.D. court would require a landlord to mitigate damages. The S.D. Supreme Court has found that "[t]he breaching party has the burden of proving damages would have been lessened by the exercise of reasonable diligence on the part of the non-breaching party." Ducheneaux v. Miller, 488 N.W.2d 902, 918 (S.D. Sup. Ct. 1992). (South Dakota) ¹²Applies only to counties having a population of more than 75,000, according to the 2010 federal census or any subsequent federal census. (See Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-102). (Tennessee) ¹³Detailed procedures must be followed when premises are vacant due to tenant's death. (See Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 59.18.595.) (Washington)