To write a 60-day notice to vacate, put in writing that you are ending your tenancy, name yourself and any co-tenants, give the full rental address, state the exact move-out date, provide a forwarding address for your security deposit, sign and date it, and deliver it so you can prove your landlord received it at least 60 days before you leave. The letter itself is short. What makes it work is the specific information inside and the delivery method you choose.
What to Include
A notice to vacate doesn’t need legal language, but it does need specific details. Missing one can give your landlord a reason to call the notice defective. Include all of the following:
- Your full legal name as it appears on the lease. If there are co-tenants, name all of them and have each one sign.
- The rental address, including unit or apartment number.
- The date you are writing and sending the notice. This establishes when the 60-day period starts running.
- Your intended move-out date, as a specific calendar date. This is the day you plan to vacate and return keys.
- A clear statement of intent. One sentence saying you are terminating your tenancy and will not renew.
- Your landlord’s name and mailing address, or the property management company’s.
- A forwarding address where the landlord should send your security deposit. In most states the landlord’s deadline to return the deposit doesn’t begin until you provide a forwarding address in writing. It doesn’t have to be your new home; any address where you can receive mail works.
- Your signature.
You can also ask for a move-out walkthrough inspection and give a phone number or email for scheduling it. That isn’t required everywhere, but it signals that you expect the unit’s condition to be documented before any deductions are made.
Keep the tone professional and the content narrow. Resist the urge to explain why you’re leaving or raise old maintenance complaints. The letter has one job: establish the date, establish the intent, and create a paper trail. Anything else belongs in a separate communication.
Sample Letter
A simple format covers everything:
[Your Name]
[Apartment Address, Unit Number]
[City, State, ZIP]
[Today’s Date]
[Landlord or Property Manager Name]
[Landlord’s Mailing Address]
[City, State, ZIP]
Re: Notice of Intent to Vacate
Dear [Landlord or Property Manager Name],
Please accept this letter as my written notice that I will be vacating my apartment at [full address with unit number] on [move-out date]. This letter fulfills the 60-day notice requirement under my lease agreement dated [lease start date].
I would like to schedule a move-out walkthrough inspection during the week before my move-out date. Please contact me at [phone number or email] to arrange a time.
Please send my security deposit refund to my forwarding address:
[New Address]
[City, State, ZIP]
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
[Your Signature]
[Your Printed Name]
[Phone Number]
How to Count the 60 Days
Counting wrong is one of the fastest ways to end up owing an extra month of rent. The 60-day clock generally starts the day your landlord receives the notice, not the day you drop it in the mail. If you send it by regular mail, add several days for delivery. Certified mail typically arrives within one to five business days.
There is a second wrinkle. Many leases and state statutes require the termination date to land on the last day of a rental period. If you pay rent on the first of the month, your move-out date usually needs to be the last day of a month. Say your landlord receives the notice on March 5. Counting 60 days forward takes you to May 4, but you would need to stay through May 31 because that is the next rental-period end date. Check your lease for this language, and if the lease is silent, check your state’s statute for periodic tenancies.
When in doubt, give yourself a cushion. Sending the notice a week or two early costs you nothing. Sending it a day late can cost you a full month’s rent.
How to Deliver It
A perfectly written notice is worthless if you can’t prove the landlord received it. The most common landlord defense against a notice is “I never got it,” so delivery method matters as much as content.
Certified Mail With Return Receipt
This is the strongest option. USPS certified mail gives you a tracking number, timestamps every scan, and the return receipt captures the recipient’s signature and the date of delivery. If a dispute reaches court, the signed receipt is hard to argue with. The cost is modest for the protection it provides.
Hand Delivery
Delivering the letter in person works only if you walk away with proof. Bring two copies. Ask the landlord or property manager to sign and date your copy as acknowledgment of receipt. If they refuse to sign, you have no proof, and you are in the same position as if you had never delivered it.
Email or Tenant Portal
Some leases explicitly allow notice by email or through an online portal. If yours does, use that method as a supplement, not a replacement. Send the email and mail a hard copy. Landlords can claim they didn’t see the message, the portal glitched, or the email went to spam. A read receipt helps but doesn’t carry the same weight as a signed postal receipt.
Whichever method you choose, keep copies of everything: the notice itself, the certified mail receipt, the return receipt card, any signed acknowledgments, and email confirmations. Store these separately from the documents you’re packing in moving boxes.
Why the Forwarding Address Belongs in the Notice
Including your forwarding address in the notice isn’t just convenient. In most states, the landlord’s clock to return your deposit doesn’t start running until they have that address in writing. If you leave it out, the landlord isn’t required to hunt you down. You can provide the forwarding address separately when you turn in keys, but putting it in the notice itself removes any ambiguity about when the landlord received it. Deposit return deadlines vary by state, typically from 14 to 60 days after move-out.
Before You Sign and Send, Confirm the 60 Days Actually Applies
Your lease is the first place to look. Fixed-term leases spell out when and how to notify your landlord that you won’t renew, and many contain auto-renewal clauses that roll the agreement into a new term if you miss the notice window. If you are now month-to-month because your original lease expired and you stayed on, state law controls the notice period, which ranges from 30 to 90 days depending on where you live. A handful of states require 60 days once a month-to-month tenancy has run more than a year. Read your lease first, then check your state’s landlord-tenant statute. If the two conflict, the longer notice period is the safer choice.
What Happens If the Notice Is Short or Missing
Giving fewer than 60 days, or skipping the notice entirely, can cost you well beyond the apartment. If your lease requires 60 days and you give 30, the landlord can hold you responsible for rent through the remaining 30 days. A tenant who stays past their stated move-out date can, in some jurisdictions, be charged double rent for the holdover period. The security deposit is often applied first to any unpaid rent from the uncovered period, and if that doesn’t cover it, the landlord can sue for the difference.
In most states, landlords also have a legal duty to mitigate damages. They must make reasonable efforts to re-rent the unit. If a new tenant moves in two weeks after you leave, the landlord can’t charge you for two full months of vacancy. You owe for the period the unit actually sat empty, provided the landlord was actively trying to fill it.