There will be times when a rental agreement needs to be terminated, and the rental agreement will specify under what conditions the agreement can be terminated by the landlord or the tenant. In Georgia, the landlord is limited to two main reasons for termination:
- Tenant or tenant’s guests or invitees fail to comply with any term of the agreement
- Tenant misrepresents any material fact on their rental application
The tenant has several reasons for termination. The most obvious reason is if the premises is damaged or destroyed other than by the wrongful or negligent acts of the tenant. Beyond that, early termination is available to the tenant if the landlord materially fails to comply with his maintenance obligations, and 10 days have elapsed after the tenant delivered notice of the noncompliance. At that point the tenant may reasonably assume that the landlord will not remedy the issue or delays will continue. Finally, Georgia allows military service members to terminate a lease early as per O.C.G.A § 44-7-22. The service member must provide written notice and proof of assignment to the landlord.
Limitation on Rent Liability for Military Personnel
If a member of the military does need to terminate the lease due to a change of station orders, then their liability for remaining rent is limited.
Per O.C.G.A. § 44-7-37 any liability of the service member for rent under the lease may not exceed thirty days’ rent after written notice and proof of the assignment are given to the landlord. The tenant remains liable for the cost of repairing damage to the premises caused by an act or omission of the tenant.