LetterAgent
Mail physical letters by just asking your AI assistant.
Home > Guides > Notice to vacate
You need a short written notice stating you are ending the tenancy, the last day you will pay rent, and a forwarding address. Check your lease and your state or province for the required notice window (commonly 30 days in the US and 60 days in Ontario), and mail it by the lease's stated method, certified or registered when none is stated, so you have dated proof.
This is general information, not legal advice.
Keep it to one page. The landlord needs to file it and act on it, not admire your prose. Every notice-to-vacate letter has the same seven parts:
| Part of the letter | What to write |
|---|---|
| Date | The date you sign the letter, not the move-out date. |
| Your name and rental address | Exactly as they appear on the lease. |
| Statement of intent | One plain sentence: you are ending the tenancy. |
| Last day | The date the tenancy ends and rent stops. This date has to fit your lease's notice clock and rental period, so do not pick it before reading the next section. |
| Forwarding address | Where the landlord sends the security-deposit return and any final bills. |
| Keys and condition | When and where you will return keys, fobs, and remotes, and the condition you will leave the unit in. |
| Signature | Sign and print your name. |
Read the lease before you write the date. Many leases spell out a notice window, and some add a twist: notice must be received by a specific day of the month (for example, by the 1st) rather than simply given a set number of days before you leave. If the lease is silent, the statute in your state or province fills the gap, and the answer varies.
In the US, many states set 30 days' written notice for month-to-month tenancies, but the exact clock, the required form, and whether email counts all vary by state. Here is the part that trips people up: your notice usually has to line up with the rental period. A 30-day notice handed over on the 15th does not always mean you are out on the 15th of next month; in many places it means the tenancy runs to the end of the next full rental period. And the clock generally starts when the landlord receives the notice, not when you drop it in the mailbox, so build in mailing time.
In Canada, the rules are provincial. In Ontario, a tenant on a monthly tenancy gives 60 days' notice on the standard Form N9, and the termination date must be the last day of a rental period. Other provinces use their own forms and clocks, so check your province's tenancy rules rather than assuming the Ontario pattern.
One more case: if your fixed term is ending and you will not renew, some jurisdictions require no notice at all. But if you stay a single day past the end date, the tenancy usually converts to month-to-month, and notice rules switch on from that moment. When in doubt, send the letter anyway; an unnecessary notice costs you nothing and a missing one can cost you a month of rent.
Use whatever delivery method the lease names. If it names none, send it by certified mail in the US or registered mail in Canada. The signed receipt is dated proof that the landlord received the letter and when, which is exactly what you need if the move-out date or the last month's rent is ever disputed.
Keep a copy of the letter itself and the mailing receipt, together, somewhere you will find them months later. Security-deposit disputes often surface long after you have moved, and your proof of when notice was received is what decides which rental period your last payment covered.
Do not rely on a text message or an email unless the lease accepts that channel. A landlord can ignore a channel the lease never authorized, and you would have no proof the notice counted.
The forwarding address is not a courtesy line. In many places the landlord is required to send the deposit return, plus an itemized list of any deductions, to your new address within a set number of days after move-out. They cannot meet that deadline without an address, and a missing one is sometimes used as an excuse for a late or missing return. Put it in the letter even if you told them verbally.
State when and where you will return the keys, fobs, and remotes. Unreturned keys can trigger a lock-change charge deducted from the deposit, and a short line in your notice removes the ambiguity about when the return happened.
Finally, photograph every room after your final clean, with timestamps on the photos, plus the meter readings if you report them yourself. This is your evidence if the landlord later claims damage you did not cause. Photos cost nothing; disputes without evidence are expensive.
No, and the direction is the whole difference. A notice to vacate comes from the tenant: you are telling the landlord you are leaving. An eviction notice comes from the landlord: it starts a legal process to remove you. They are mirror images, not synonyms, and calling your letter an eviction notice in conversation with your landlord will confuse everyone. If your landlord has sent you a notice, you are dealing with the other direction entirely.
Ready to mail it? Send your letter with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it is printed and mailed.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
Need help? Ask your assistant: it can check a job's status any time. If it ever can't handle something: hello@getletteragent.com