Breaking a lease in North Dakota

A tenant may end a lease early for domestic violence, and a surviving tenant or the estate may end it after a tenant's death. A tenant evicted according to law stays liable for rent for the rest of the term, subject to your duty to mitigate damages (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-17.1; N.D.C.C. § 47-16-18; N.D.C.C. § 47-16-13.7).

• On a tenant's death, any surviving tenant or the deceased tenant's estate may end the lease on the last day of the month after the month of death, unless the term ends sooner (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-18).
• The domestic violence termination right has its own notice, rent and confidentiality rules (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-17.1).See Ending a lease for domestic violence on the North Dakota page
• A party induced to enter the lease by fraudulent misrepresentations may end it (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-07.4).
• Destruction of the leased property ends the lease (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-14(4)).

A tenant who is a victim of domestic violence, or who fears imminent domestic violence against the tenant or the tenant's minor children if they stay, may end the lease without penalty by giving you advance written notice (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-17.1).

• The notice is given by mail, fax or in person before the tenancy ends, and states that the tenant fears imminent domestic violence from a person named in a court order or another court record, that the tenant needs to end the tenancy, and the specific date it will end (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-17.1).
• The tenant owes rent for the full month in which the tenancy ends plus one additional month's rent, subject to your duty to mitigate, paid on or before the end date. The tenant is then relieved of later rent but stays liable for amounts owed before the termination (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-17.1).
• You may not disclose the tenant's documentation, enter it into a shared database or give it to anyone, except as evidence in an eviction or a claim for unpaid rent or damages, or as otherwise required by law (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-17.1).
• A court may award $1,000 in statutory damages, actual damages, reasonable attorney's fees, costs and disbursements (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-17.1).
• Retaliating against a tenant, applicant or household member for using this right is prohibited (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-17.1(10)).See Retaliation on the North Dakota page

If you neglect, within a reasonable time after the tenant's notice, to repair dilapidations you ought to repair, the tenant may make the repairs and deduct the cost from the rent, recover it in any other lawful way, or move out and be discharged from further rent and other conditions of the lease (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-13).

North Dakota 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 (N.D.C.C. ch. 47-16).

• If the tenant assigns the lease, you have the same remedies against the assignee, for breach of the lease or to recover possession, as against the tenant, for claims that arise while the assignee holds the lease (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-30).

Either party may end a month-to-month tenancy with at least one calendar month's written notice, given at any time, and rent is owed through the termination date. If a lease has converted to a month-to-month tenancy, it ends on the last day of a month (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-15(2); N.D.C.C. § 47-16-15).

• If the tenant stays after the lease expires and you accept rent, the lease is presumed renewed as a month-to-month tenancy, unless it has an automatic renewal clause (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-06).See Automatic renewal clauses on the North Dakota page
• A lease term requiring the tenant to give notice of more than one month from the end of a month binds the tenant only if the tenant initialed it. Without the initials, the tenant may end the lease on the last day of a month with one calendar month's notice (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-15(4)).

In a lease for a specified term of two months or more, you may enforce an automatic renewal clause only if you notified the tenant of it in writing, delivered personally or by first-class mail, at least 30 days before the current term expires. Otherwise the lease expires and converts to a month-to-month tenancy (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-06.1).

• A renewal clause that requires the tenant to give more than one month's notice from the end of a month binds the tenant only if the tenant initialed it (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-15(4)).See Ending a month-to-month tenancy on the North Dakota page

Within 30 days after the lease ends and the tenant delivers possession, deliver or mail to the last address the tenant furnished an itemized list of anything you kept, with the amount due and a written notice stating any amount the tenant still owes or the refund due (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-07.1).

• You may apply the deposit and its interest to damage caused by the tenant's pet or by the negligence of the tenant or a guest, to unpaid rent, and to cleaning or repairs that were the tenant's responsibility and are needed to return the home to its move-in condition, reasonable wear and tear excepted (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-07.1).
• Withholding deposit money without reasonable justification makes you liable for treble damages (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-07.1(4)).
• If you transfer the property, the deposit and accrued interest pass to the new owner, and you stay liable until they do (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-07.1).
• Deposit money the tenant does not claim within one year after the lease ends falls under the state's unclaimed property reporting rules, which this page did not read (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-07.1(3)).
• When a tenant ends a lease for domestic violence and only the tenant and the tenant's minor children are on the lease, the return deadline runs from the first day of the month after the tenant vacates; if other tenants remain bound by the lease, it runs from the lease's expiration (N.D.C.C. § 47-16-17.1).See Ending a lease for domestic violence on the North Dakota page