Housing Laws

The law says that to end your lease early, you must be following all terms of your lease, including all of the rental obligations listed in section 57-22-5 on our Selected Utah Statutes page.¹  However, there is an exception. You can still end your lease if any of the following specific lease violations are due to domestic violence:

• there is damage to your home;
• your rent is overdue;
• you have kept your landlord out of your home when s/he wanted to make repairs; or
• you have disturbed your neighbor’s peace.²

In this case, you must give your landlord all of the following documents:

1. a final court order protecting you from the abuser or a police report saying that you’re the victim of domestic violence;
2. a written “notice of termination” that includes the date you intend to move out;
3. evidence that the lease violation(s) listed above happened less than 30 days before the date you gave the written notice of termination; and
4. evidence that domestic violence caused the lease violation.³

Note: You cannot use this process for early lease termination if your landlord has already served you with a notice of eviction.⁴

¹ UT ST § 57-22-5.1(4)(a); see also § 57-22-5
² UT ST § 57-22-5.1(5); see also § 57-22-5(1)(g), (2)
³ UT ST § 57-22-5.1(5)(a), (5)(b), (5)(c)
⁴ UT ST § 57-22-5.1(7)