Terminating a Lease on Entering Service — and the Landlord Who Keeps Your Furniture Commits a Crime
State law lets a tenant who enters military service end a residential, professional, business or agricultural lease by written notice, including a lease signed jointly with a spouse. For a monthly tenancy it ends thirty days after the next rent day. A landlord who seizes or holds your possessions to secure rent accruing after that is guilty of a misdemeanour — up to a year in gaol or a $1,000 fine.
Verified August 23, 2026
What this benefit is
State law lets a tenant who enters military service end a residential, professional, business or agricultural lease by written notice, including a lease signed jointly with a spouse. For a monthly tenancy it ends thirty days after the next rent day. A landlord who seizes or holds your possessions to secure rent accruing after that is guilty of a misdemeanour — up to a year in gaol or a $1,000 fine.
What it's worth: Written notice ends the lease: thirty days after the next rent day for a monthly tenancy, or the last day of the following month otherwise, with advance rent prorated and refunded — and a criminal penalty on a landlord who detains your property for post-termination rent
- The section covers a lease for dwelling, professional, business or agricultural purposes executed by a person who afterwards entered military service, including a lease executed jointly with a spouse.
- Termination is by notice in writing delivered to the lessor or the lessor's grantee or agent, and the statute expressly allows delivery by posting a properly stamped and addressed envelope in the United States mail.
- Where the lease provides for monthly rent, termination is not effective until thirty days after the first date the next rental payment falls due after the notice is delivered or mailed.
- For other leases, termination takes effect on the last day of the month following the month in which the notice is delivered or mailed, with rent prorated and any advance payment refunded.
- The lessor may apply to the court before termination for a modification of the relief on terms the court finds just and equitable.
- A person who knowingly seizes, holds or detains the personal effects or property of a person who has lawfully terminated, for the purpose of subjecting that property to a claim for rent accruing after termination, is guilty of a misdemeanour punishable by up to one year's imprisonment or a fine of up to one thousand dollars, or both.
- The property-seizure offence is written to protect the service member's spouse and dependants as well as the service member.
Who is entitled to it
- Your home is in New York.
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.
From what you have told us so far, you appear to qualify.
How to claim it
- 1Put it in writing and post it. The statute names posting a properly stamped, properly addressed envelope in the mail as delivery, which means the landlord cannot make the argument that they never received it if you keep proof of posting.
- 2Count the date properly. On a monthly tenancy it is not thirty days from your notice — it is thirty days after the NEXT rent day. Sending notice on the 2nd rather than the 28th can cost you a full extra month of rent.
- 3Attach the orders even though this section does not demand them. The federal Act does, the landlord will ask, and an argument about proof is the usual reason a lawful termination turns into a dispute.
- 4A lease signed jointly with your spouse is covered. That is stated in the section and it is the point most often missed by a landlord holding a two-name lease.
- 5Ask for advance rent back. Where the lease is not monthly the statute prorates the rent and refunds what was paid ahead. Nobody volunteers that money.
- 6If your possessions are being held over rent that accrued after termination, say the word misdemeanour. This is a criminal provision, not a civil argument, and quoting the penalty to a landlord's solicitor ends most of these quickly.
- 7Expect the landlord to have the right to go to court before termination and ask for terms. That is in the statute; it is not a sign you have done something wrong.
- Form
- A written notice of termination to the landlord or the landlord's agent
- File with
- Your landlord — with a copy kept, and the orders attached
- No renewal needed
Sources
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.