Breaking a lease in Alabama

The Act gives a tenant no general right to leave a fixed-term lease early. If the tenant abandons the unit, you must make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental, though you may rent your other vacant units first; if you re-rent for a term beginning before the lease ends, the lease terminates on the date the new tenancy starts (Ala. Code § 35-9A-423(c); Ala. Code § 35-9A-105(a)).

• A tenant may end the lease early for your uncured material breach or failure to maintain, for a willful or negligent failure to provide essential services, for serious fire or casualty damage, or for an unlawful ouster (Ala. Code § 35-9A-401(a); Ala. Code § 35-9A-404(b); Ala. Code § 35-9A-406(a); Ala. Code § 35-9A-407).See Tenant repair remedies on the Alabama page
• If you fail to deliver possession at the start, rent stops until you do, and the tenant may end the lease on written notice; you must then return all prepaid rent and security within five days (Ala. Code § 35-9A-402(a)).
• The Act has no early termination right for victims of domestic violence. A court protection order may remove and exclude the abuser from the victim's residence, regardless of who owns it (Ala. Code §§ 35-9A-101 to 35-9A-603; Ala. Code § 30-5-7(b)(7)).
• Federal military protection is separate from the Alabama Act. Under the SCRA, a covered servicemember with qualifying orders, such as a permanent change of station or a deployment of at least 90 days, may end an eligible residential lease without an early termination penalty. Give the landlord written termination notice and the required military documentation, such as orders or a commanding officer's letter. For monthly rent, termination generally takes effect 30 days after the next rent payment becomes due following proper delivery. Check eligibility, permitted delivery and the effective date rather than treating every military-related move as an immediate release (U.S. DOJ: SCRA housing rights and lease termination; U.S. DOJ: Know Your Rights under the SCRA).

Alabama gives tenants no right to repair and deduct, and a tenant may not withhold rent while in possession to enforce rights under the Act. For your material breach of the lease, or a failure to maintain that materially affects health and safety, the tenant may give written notice naming the breach and a termination date at least 14 days after you receive it; the lease ends on that date unless you adequately remedy the breach first (Ala. Code § 35-9A-403; Ala. Code § 35-9A-164; Ala. Code § 35-9A-401(a)).

• The tenant may also recover actual damages and reasonable attorney fees and get an injunction for your noncompliance with the lease or your maintenance duties (Ala. Code § 35-9A-401(b), (c)).
• If, after the tenant's notice, you willfully or negligently fail to promptly provide heat, running water, hot water, electric, gas or another essential service, the tenant may end the lease by written notice of a date at least 14 days after you receive it and moving out, or recover damages based on the reduced rental value. A tenant who uses this remedy may not also proceed under the general landlord-breach remedies for that breach (Ala. Code § 35-9A-404(b), (c)).
• In your action for possession, or for rent while the tenant is in possession, the tenant may counterclaim, must pay into court the rent already accrued and all rent as it comes due, and stays in possession only if the court allows; if the counterclaim is without merit and not raised in good faith, you may recover reasonable attorney's fees (Ala. Code § 35-9A-405(a)).
• If fire or casualty the tenant did not cause substantially impairs enjoyment of the unit, the tenant may move out at once and give written notice within 14 days to end the lease, or, if staying is lawful, vacate the unusable part and pay rent reduced in proportion (Ala. Code § 35-9A-406(a)).
• When the lease ends under one of these remedies, return all recoverable security and all unearned prepaid rent (Ala. Code § 35-9A-401(d); Ala. Code § 35-9A-404(b)(1); Ala. Code § 35-9A-406(b)).

Alabama has no statute that sets a general rule on subletting a home. The lease controls, so state in it whether the tenant needs your written consent (Ala. Code Title 35, Chapter 9A (Alabama Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act)).

• The Act's definition of landlord includes a sublessor, so a tenant who sublets is the subtenant's landlord under the Act (Ala. Code § 35-9A-141(7)).

Either you or the tenant may end a month-to-month tenancy by written notice given at least 30 days before the periodic rental date named in the notice, and a week-to-week tenancy by written notice given at least seven days before the termination date. Unless the lease fixes a definite term, a tenancy is week to week when the tenant pays weekly rent and month to month otherwise (Ala. Code § 35-9A-441(a), (b); Ala. Code § 35-9A-161(d)).

• Because a month-to-month notice must end on a periodic rental date, for rent due on the 1st a notice delivered on September 10 can end the tenancy no earlier than November 1 (Ala. Code § 35-9A-441(b)).
• If a tenant stays after the tenancy ends without your consent, you may bring an action for possession, and for a willful holdover not in good faith you may also recover up to three months' periodic rent or your actual damages, whichever is greater, and reasonable attorney's fees (Ala. Code § 35-9A-441(c)).
• If you consent to the tenant staying on, the tenancy becomes week to week or month to month (Ala. Code § 35-9A-441(c); Ala. Code § 35-9A-161(d)).

Within 60 days after the tenancy ends and the tenant delivers possession, mail the tenant the refund and, if you keep any part of the deposit, an itemized list of the amounts withheld. If you do not mail a timely refund or accounting within the 60 days, you must pay the tenant double the original deposit (Ala. Code § 35-9A-201(b), (c), (f)).

• When moving out, the tenant must give you a valid forwarding address in writing. If the tenant does not, mail the deposit or accounting by first class mail to the tenant's last known address or, if there is none, to the rental property (Ala. Code § 35-9A-201(d)).
• Mailing by first class mail to the address the tenant gave in writing, within the 60 days, is sufficient compliance. The forwarding address decides where you mail, not when the 60 days start (Ala. Code § 35-9A-201(b), (e)).
• A deposit the tenant does not claim, and any refund check left outstanding, is forfeited by the tenant after 90 days (Ala. Code § 35-9A-201(d)).
• Days in the Act are calendar days, but if a period ends on a weekend or official holiday, its last day becomes the next official business day the court is open (Ala. Code § 35-9A-141(3)).
• The double-deposit penalty does not stop you or the tenant from recovering other damages, and whoever holds the landlord's interest when the tenancy ends is bound by these rules (Ala. Code § 35-9A-201(g), (h)).