Brazil Lease Termination Penalty Calculator

The proportional rule under article 4

Brazil’s Tenancy Law (Law 8,245/1991), as amended by Law 12,112/2009, states that during the agreed term the landlord may not take the property back, while the tenant "may return it, paying the agreed penalty, proportional to the period of performance of the contract, or, failing that, the penalty judicially established".

Two things follow. First, leaving early is lawful: the tenant does not need the landlord’s permission or a good reason, only the willingness to pay the compensation. Second, the penalty shrinks as the lease runs. The three months of rent written into most Brazilian leases is a ceiling that would apply if you left in month one, not a flat fee.

Article 413 of the Civil Code points the same way: a judge must reduce a contractual penalty when the main obligation has been partly performed or when the amount is manifestly excessive. In REsp 1,906,869, decided by the Third Panel of the Superior Court of Justice in July 2022, the court confirmed that the compensatory penalty in a lease is subject to a "proportional reduction for the period of the contract already performed". A clause purporting to charge the full penalty regardless of time served does not hold up.

How the calculation works

The formula used by agencies and reproduced in court decisions has three steps: multiply the monthly rent by the number of months of penalty in the lease to get the full penalty; divide that by the total number of months in the term; multiply by the months still remaining.

Penalty owed = (full penalty ÷ total months) × remaining months.

Example, matching the calculator’s defaults: rent of R$2,000, a penalty of three months, a 30-month lease, keys handed back in month 12. The full penalty is R$6,000. Divided by 30 months, that is R$200 per month of term. With 18 months left, the penalty owed is R$3,600 — R$2,400 less than the headline figure.

The date that freezes the calculation is the day you hand the keys back, not the day you gave notice. Until the keys are returned, rent keeps accruing pro rata, along with condo fees, property tax and utilities. Always get a dated, signed key-handover receipt: it is the document that ends the tenancy.

When no penalty is due at all

The best-known exemption is in the sole paragraph of article 4: an employer transfer. No penalty is owed if the tenant returns the property because their employer, private or public, transferred them to work in a different location — provided the landlord is notified in writing at least 30 days in advance. Both conditions are strict: the move must be ordered by the employer, and the written notice with proof of delivery is what makes the exemption stick.

There is also no penalty when the term simply ends. A written residential lease of 30 months or more terminates on its final date without any notice (article 46). And once the term has passed and the tenant stays on for more than 30 days without objection, the lease becomes open-ended: under article 6 the tenant can then end it with 30 days’ written notice and owes nothing. Failing to give that notice only exposes the tenant to one month of rent and charges under the sole paragraph of article 6 — not to the three-month penalty.

One exception cuts the other way. In build-to-suit commercial leases governed by article 54-A, § 2, the penalty may reach the sum of all remaining rent payments, and the proportional rule of article 4 is expressly displaced.

Deposit, exit inspection and the final settlement

When the lease is secured by a cash deposit (caução), article 38, § 2 caps it at three months of rent, requires it to sit in a savings account, and gives all interest earned to the tenant on withdrawal. Agencies typically deduct the penalty from the deposit and refund the balance — check that arithmetic, because with a correctly proportional penalty there is usually money coming back to you.

On the exit inspection, article 23, III requires the tenant to return the property in the condition received, except for deterioration from normal use. Faded paint and small furniture marks are normal wear; broken glass and large holes are not. Article 22, V entitles the tenant to a detailed written description of the property’s condition at handover, so keep the entry report and dated photographs — they turn the exit inspection into an objective comparison rather than an argument.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Lei 8.245/1991 — Lei do Inquilinato (art. 4º)
• Lei 12.112/2009 — nova redação do art. 4º
• Código Civil, art. 413 — redução da cláusula penal

Related calculators