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Ending a Lease on State Active Duty — Housing and the Car, by Written Notice

A dwelling lease or a motor vehicle lease signed before you entered state active duty or full-time Guard duty can be ended by written notice. On a monthly rent, termination lands thirty days after the next rent day. On a vehicle lease, no early termination charge may be imposed.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: Written notice ends the lease; no early termination charge on a vehicle lease

The section applies to a lease of premises occupied for a dwelling, or for professional, business, agricultural or similar purposes, where the lease was executed before the person entered military service and the premises have been occupied by the person or by the person and their dependents.
It applies in the same terms to a lease of a motor vehicle used or intended for personal or business transportation by the person or their dependents.
Notice is in writing, delivered to the lessor or the lessor’s grantee or an agent, at any time on or after the start of the period of military service. Mailing the notice counts as delivery.
On a lease providing for monthly rent, termination is not effective until thirty days after the date the next rental payment falls due after the notice is delivered or mailed.
On any other lease, termination takes effect on the last day of the month following the month the notice was delivered or mailed; rent for the period before termination is prorated, and rent paid in advance for the period after termination is refunded.
A motor vehicle lease terminates only if the vehicle is returned within fifteen days of delivering the notice. The lessor may not impose an early termination charge, but taxes, summonses, title and registration fees, excess wear and mileage charges that are due and unpaid must still be paid.
Seizing or holding the tenant’s belongings to press a claim for rent accruing after termination, or interfering with their removal, is a misdemeanour under subsection (e).

Who is entitled to it

Chapter 657D reaches the state military forces and full-time National Guard duty.
Your home is in this state.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

Deadline: Any time from the start of the period of state active duty

1Put the notice in writing and keep proof of posting. The statute expressly allows delivery by mail, which makes a dated mailing receipt the cleanest evidence you have.
2Count the date. On a monthly tenancy the lease does not end when you give notice — it ends thirty days after the NEXT rent day, and you owe rent up to that point.
3On a car lease, return the vehicle within fifteen days of the notice or the termination does not take effect. Settle unpaid taxes, fees and excess-wear charges; refuse an early termination charge.
4If a landlord holds your possessions over rent that accrued after the termination date, subsection (e) makes that a misdemeanour — say so in writing before you spend money on a lawyer.
5Attach a copy of the order placing you on state active duty or full-time National Guard duty. That order, not a DD-214, is what brings you inside this chapter.

Form: Written notice to the lessor
File with: The lessor, the lessor’s grantee, or an agent of either
Documents you will need: dd214
No renewal: Once granted it does not need renewing.

CorrectionThis is not the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and it is not a state copy of it. §657D-1 limits "military service" to state active duty in the state military forces and to full-time National Guard duty. Someone on federal active duty uses the federal act, whose lease provision turns on permanent change of station and deployment orders — a different trigger from this one, which turns simply on entering service after the lease was signed.

Worth knowingSubsection (c) lets the lessor apply to court before the notice period runs out, and the court may modify or restrict the relief in the interests of justice and equity. The right is strong but it is not beyond a judge’s reach.

Sources

authority · statuteHRS §657D-25 — Termination of residential or motor vehicle leases by lessees
operating · statuteHRS §657D-1 — Definitions ("military service", "state active duty")

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