Plaintiffs Jerry and Tammy Stearns rented an apartment to defendant Lenore Mondell pursuant
to a verbal month-to-month lease. On July 10, 2023, plaintiffs sent defendant a letter terminating the
rental agreement. It was an informal letter that reflected personal familiarity, and a copy of the letter is
included in an appendix at the end of this opinion. It explained that defendant had failed to pay her rent
for July, and had paid only half her rent for June, and that the amount of overdue rent was $1200.
Plaintiffs requested that defendant “vacate the property” by the end of the month, and informed
defendant that they would “start the process of eviction” if she did not vacate by then. Plaintiffs
thereafter filed this complaint for eviction, and defendant filed a motion to dismiss.
At issue is whether a notice of termination for nonpayment of rent must include information
about the right to cure. A split of authority exists, in which a number of courts have concluded that it
must, e.g., Tyler v. Elberson, No. 21-CV-01041 (Vt. Super. Ct. Dec. 6, 2021) (Toor, J.); Crompton v.
Ball, No. 686-10-05 Rdcv (Vt. Super. Ct. Dec. 15, 2005) (Norton, J.); Mills v. Smart, No. 155-6-97
Bncv (Vt. Super. Ct. Jul. 9, 1997) (Wesley, J.) (citing Halasz v. Kingsbury, No. S502-87 WmC (Vt.
Super. Ct. Dec. 15, 1987)), whereas other courts have concluded that inclusion of the information is
not required, at least in some contexts, e.g., Barnet Tradepost, LLC v. Alden, No. 22-CV-02437, 2022
WL 19002742 (Vt. Super. Ct. Nov. 9, 2022) (Richardson, J.); Corse v. Pickett, No. 219-12-15 Oecv,
2016 WL 1167745 (Vt. Super. Ct. Feb. 4, 2016) (Tomasi, J.). Both views are supported by persuasive
considerations, including the extent to which information about the right to cure is needed to provide
the tenant with notice of their rights, e.g., Mills, No. 155-6-97 Bncv, and the observation that
information-disclosure requirements are expressly included in other legislative schemes (such as those
pertaining to mobile-home park evictions, nonjudicial foreclosures, and the provision of information
about VAWA occupancy rights), but are not included within the statutory provisions related to notices
of termination of residential rental agreements, e.g., Corse, No. 219-12-15 Oecv.