End a Lease on a Change of Assignment — Liability Capped at 30 Days’ Rent
An active service member or the member’s spouse may terminate a residential lease on written notice and proof of a change of assignment. Liability stops at rent then due plus 30 days’ rent, and damages the tenant caused.
Verified August 23, 2026
What this benefit is
An active service member or the member’s spouse may terminate a residential lease on written notice and proof of a change of assignment. Liability stops at rent then due plus 30 days’ rent, and damages the tenant caused.
What it's worth: Liability capped at rent then due plus 30 days’ rent — no early-termination penalty beyond it
- What this saves depends on how many months were left on the lease and what the lease would have charged for breaking it. A tenant with ten months left and a two-month penalty clause saves a great deal; a tenant with six weeks left saves little.
- The cap is on liability, not a payment. You still owe rent and lawful charges then due, plus 30 days’ rent, plus actual damages for repairs the tenant caused.
Who is entitled to it
- You are the active service member, or the member’s spouse.
- Your home is in Maryland.
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: On receiving the change of assignment — give notice with the proof- 1Put it in writing and attach the proof. The section runs on written notice and proof of the change of assignment, so a phone call to the leasing office does not start the clock.
- 2Check whether your orders count. "Change of assignment" reaches permanent change of station orders, temporary duty exceeding 90 days, orders requiring relocation to military quarters, and release from active duty — including retirement, honourable discharge, or demobilisation after 180 or more consecutive days.
- 3If you are the spouse rather than the member, the section names you too. That is broader than many landlords expect, so it is worth quoting the section by number.
- 4Know what you still owe: rent or lawful charges then due and payable, plus 30 days’ rent, plus actual damages for repairs to damage you caused.
- 5Refuse anything beyond that. The section says liability may not exceed those amounts, which is what stops an early-termination fee or a claim for the rest of the term.
- 6Keep a copy of the notice and the orders. If the landlord withholds a deposit later, the paper trail is the whole case.
- File with
- Your landlord, in writing
- No renewal
- Once granted it does not need renewing.
Sources
- authority · statuteMd. Code, Real Prop. §8-212.1 — Termination of lease by service member
Why only one source type: The section carries every operative term — who may terminate, what orders qualify, the notice, and the ceiling on liability. Maryland publishes no administering-agency page for it because there is no agency: the right is exercised against a landlord and enforced in court, so the statute is the only authority there is.
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.