Indiana Lease Termination Rules

IC 32-31-1-1 provides: '(a) A tenancy at will may be determined by a one (1) month notice in writing, delivered to the tenant. (b) A tenancy at will cannot arise or be created without an express contract.' IC 32-31-1-2 treats a general tenancy occupied with the landlord's consent as month to month. For a year-to-year tenancy, IC 32-31-1-3 requires notice 'not less than three (3) months before the expiration of the year.' Under IC 32-31-1-8, no notice is needed where the lease sets a specified term or end date, where the tenant is at sufferance, where a tenant at will commits waste, or where rent payable in advance is unpaid. A fixed-term lease simply expires at the end of its term unless the lease provides otherwise.

No specific statutory penalty. A party who ends a tenancy at will without giving the required one-month written notice under IC 32-31-1-1 has not validly terminated it, so the tenancy and rent obligation continue until proper notice runs; a tenant who breaks a fixed-term lease early remains liable for rent under the lease.