Lease Rejection Claim Calculator
When a tenant files bankruptcy and rejects your lease, the Bankruptcy Code caps what you can claim for the lost future rent. This works out that cap under both methods courts use — free, no sign-in.
This is an arithmetic aid, not legal advice. It applies the text of 11 U.S.C. § 502(b)(6) to the figures you enter. It does not decide which charges count as "rent reserved" under your lease, how a security deposit or letter of credit is applied, whether the lease was validly terminated before the petition, or what your damages are under state law — each of which can change the result. Have bankruptcy counsel review any proof of claim.
Enter the lease figures above to see the cap under both methods.
Section 502(b)(6) disallows a landlord's claim for damages from the termination of a real-property lease to the extent it exceeds (A) "the rent reserved by such lease, without acceleration, for the greater of one year, or 15 percent, not to exceed three years, of the remaining term of such lease," measured from the earlier of the petition date and the date the landlord repossessed or the tenant surrendered the space, plus (B) "any unpaid rent due under such lease, without acceleration, on the earlier of such dates." Read the statute.
The cap is a ceiling, not the claim. You first need real damages under your lease and state law, net of what re-letting recovers. The allowed claim is the lesser of those damages and the cap.
Two ways to read "15 percent." Under the time approach, the cap is the rent falling due during the first 15 percent of the remaining term (no less than one year, no more than three). Under the rent approach, it is 15 percent of all rent remaining under the lease, bounded by one year's and three years' rent. They give the same number unless rent changes over the term. Most recent decisions use the time approach, including In re Cortlandt Liquidating LLC, 658 B.R. 244 (S.D.N.Y. 2024), a district whose bankruptcy courts had long used the rent approach; in that case the debtor was the lease guarantor rather than the tenant, and the court held the cap applies to a claim against a debtor-guarantor too. See commentary from DLA Piper and Jones Day. Check which approach your court follows.
What this simplifies. Escalations are applied once every twelve months from the start date; if your lease steps rent on other dates or by fixed amounts, the result is approximate. Enter as "monthly rent" only the charges that qualify as rent reserved under your lease — courts differ on whether taxes, insurance and common-area charges count.
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