Breaking a lease in North Dakota

If you are the tenant

• Tenant or landlord: In a month-to-month tenancy, either party may end it with at least one calendar month's written notice given at any time; rent is due through the termination date (47-16-15(2)).
• Tenant or landlord: If a lease has converted to month to month after it expired (rent accepted) or because an automatic-renewal notice was not given, either party may end it on the last day of a month with at least one calendar month's notice (47-16-15(5)).

Written notice required: Yes. Notice ending a month-to-month tenancy must be written (47-16-15(2)).

An evicted tenant is liable for rent for the rest of the lease term, subject to the landlord's duty to mitigate (47-16-13.7); the aggrieved party has a duty to mitigate damages (47-16-13.5).

Landlord's duty to re-rent: Yes. The aggrieved party has a duty to mitigate damages (47-16-13.5), and the landlord's duty to mitigate continues even when a tenant owes rent for the rest of the term (47-16-13.7).

Lease-break fees: No statutory limit on lease-break fees found; the DV section caps the tenant's payment at the final month plus one month's rent.

• Domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking (N.D.C.C. 47-16-17.1)

  A domestic-violence victim may end the lease on the date stated in advance written notice.

  Proof:

  Advance written notice (by mail, fax or in person) stating the tenant fears imminent domestic violence from a person named in a court order, no-contact order, civil protection order or other court record, that the tenant needs to end the tenancy, and the termination date.

  What you still owe:

  Rent for the full month in which the tenancy ends plus one more month's rent (paid by the termination date), subject to the landlord's duty to mitigate; no other rent for the rest of the term.

• Military service (state law) (N.D.C.C. 37-01-43; 37-01-01)

  North Dakota National Guard and militia members called or ordered to state active service for 30+ consecutive days get all SCRA protections, including lease termination.

  Proof:

  Notice and orders as required by the federal SCRA.

  What you still owe:

  As under the SCRA.

• Unit unlivable or landlord fails to repair (N.D.C.C. 47-16-13; 47-16-17)

  If the landlord does not make required repairs within a reasonable time after notice, the tenant may vacate.

  Proof:

  Notice to the landlord of needed repairs and a reasonable time to repair.

  What you still owe:

  Discharged from further rent.

• Other (N.D.C.C. 47-16-18)

  On a residential tenant's death, the lease can be ended by a surviving lessee or the estate.

  Proof:

  Option of a surviving lessee or the estate.

  What you still owe:

  Lease ends on the last day of the month following the month of death (unless the term ends sooner).

• Unit unlivable or landlord fails to repair (N.D.C.C. 47-16-17(2))

  If the greater part of the rented property, or the part that was the main reason the tenant signed the lease, is destroyed from any cause other than the tenant's ordinary negligence, the tenant may end the lease early.

  Proof:

  None specified; the loss must not be caused by the tenant's ordinary negligence.

  What you still owe:

  The statute lets the tenant end the lease before the term ends; it does not say what rent is owed afterward.

Military orders, every state: the federal SCRA lets servicemembers with orders (permanent change of station or deployment of 90+ days) end a lease with written notice and a copy of the orders. How the SCRA date is counted.

• A lease requiring more than one month's notice from the end of a month must state it and have the tenant initial it; otherwise the tenant may end on the last day of a month with one calendar month's notice (47-16-15(4)).
• If the landlord changes lease terms under 47-16-07, the tenant may end the lease at the end of the month with at least 25 days' notice (47-16-15(3)).
• When a residential lease expires and the landlord accepts rent, it renews as month to month (47-16-06).

• Write a North Dakota notice to vacate
• North Dakota security deposit law: getting your deposit back after you move

• N.D.C.C. ch. 47-16 (incl. 47-16-06, -13, -13.5, -13.7, -15, -17, -17.1, -18) Retrieved October 13, 2026.
• N.D.C.C. ch. 37-01 (37-01-01 definitions; 37-01-43) Retrieved October 13, 2026.

Laws change. This page was checked against the sources above on October 13, 2026. It is legal information, not legal advice; see our methodology.