Breaking Housing Lease

[whattothink]

I may have the opportunity to move to a different city for a FANTASTIC job opportunity!!! I'm thrilled about it, but have only one concern. I have a lease that would need to be broken! I checked out my lease and there is nothing about a penalty for moving early. When signing the lease my landlord said that it was negotiable...I know I should have gotten it in writing, but did not.

 

Anyone have any ideas about how much I might be throwing away if I get this job and want to break my lease??? I know this isn't relationship oriented, but thought someone might have an idea. My rent is $345 a month.

 

THANKS!!!

[bluechocolate]

I don't know the particulars about your lease, which of course are very important. However, when breaking a lease usually you'll have to front the cost for finding a new tenant & continue paying the rent until that happens. Wait until you know for sure & then speak to your landlord about it. Then your best bet might be to try & find someone who is willing to move in straight after you leave.

[Tony T]

I may have the opportunity to move to a different city for a FANTASTIC job opportunity!!! I'm thrilled about it, but have only one concern. I have a lease that would need to be broken! I checked out my lease and there is nothing about a penalty for moving early. When signing the lease my landlord said that it was negotiable...I know I should have gotten it in writing, but did not.

 

Anyone have any ideas about how much I might be throwing away if I get this job and want to break my lease??? I know this isn't relationship oriented, but thought someone might have an idea. My rent is $345 a month.

 

THANKS!!!

 

Talk to your landlord and ask him or her what the penalty would be. Like he or she said, it's negotiable.

 

A lease is a contract that a person will be occupying a property for a specific period of time. It protects both parties in different ways and assumes both parties are honorable enough to fulfill their obligations. If you have to move and cannot live up to your agreement, face the consequences like an honorable man. In civilized societies, contracts are sacred.

 

In most cases landlords will be reasonable. The worst thing that can happen is you'll have to live up to your obligation until the unit is rented to someone else...or you could sublet it yourself.

 

In this particular case, I seriously doubt the landlord would go through the expense of suing you for the remainder of the lease...which he or she is entitled to do. It would probably be way too much trouble. Just leave the place in excellent condition and don't expect to receive your deposit back.

[Craig]

Do you have a nice reasonable landlord or an unreasonable prick of a landlord?

[whattothink]

She is rather kind. Her words during our inital visit were something like "if you hate your job I'll understand if you want to move." She is ill now, but used to work in social services as well. I'm getting an offer to work with my ideal population, and she knows that is very important to me. I've dealt mostly with her husband since she is ill. He is very kind as well. They are moving in two weeks out of state and something tells me that once I move, they will sell the house I live in.

[Craig]

She is rather kind. Her words during our inital visit were something like "if you hate your job I'll understand if you want to move." She is ill now, but used to work in social services as well. I'm getting an offer to work with my ideal population, and she knows that is very important to me. I've dealt mostly with her husband since she is ill. He is very kind as well. They are moving in two weeks out of state and something tells me that once I move, they will sell the house I live in.

Be honest and be fair. As soon as you are certain that you will need to move let them know about it. From what you say about them it should be relatively easy to work out a fair and equitable solution.

 

If you tell them now that you might move in the future they may hear that you are moving in the near future and put the house up for sale now.

[kjl933]

I assume it is a one year lease. Even if you are in month 1, it is doubtful that the LL will go to the courts for the remainder. THe longer you are in, the better off you are anyhow. $345 is not a huge amount.

 

If there is nothing in the lease about penalties, I would say that you can ive her notice. I woudl try to give notice as far in advance as possible but not on a guess--have the job first

[whattothink]

I assume it is a one year lease. Even if you are in month 1, it is doubtful that the LL will go to the courts for the remainder. THe longer you are in, the better off you are anyhow. $345 is not a huge amount.

 

If there is nothing in the lease about penalties, I would say that you can ive her notice. I woudl try to give notice as far in advance as possible but not on a guess--have the job first

 

Thanks! It's only a six month lease and I've already paid three months of it! That was encouraging to hear!

[kjl933]

If it is a 6 month lease she was not expecting you to be therre anyhow. SHe may ask for the remaining months, but I doubt she will take you to court. It is under $1000 and really probably not wiorth the time.

 

I would let her know that you are considering a job and may be leaving but you are not sure---come clean. If she tosses you, and you don;t get the job find another place--I mean you theroetically could have been out of there in 3 months.

[magda]

If the company hiring you pays your moving fees, that may include the cost of breaking the lease. That's how it worked for us. If they hire you, see if you can work something out.

[insomnie]

I recently had to break a lease as well, and for me subletting my apartment worked really well. The fine to break the lease would have been 80% of my monthly rent for as long as it was unoccupied, but because I found someone who took my lease over for me I didn't have to pay anything except for a small application fee ($35).

 

I would suggest trying craigslist in your area. I posted there and got TONS of replies (20+ ) in just one day. It took me three days to find someone who wanted to move in and get all the paperwork figured out.

 

Your management might not take you to court for illegally breaking a lease, but oftentimes the new apartment you will want to move into will ask for details about previous residence and may want to contact the previous landlord. If they have bad thigns to say about you, you might be in trouble later on.

[bella_girl]

there are usually tenants associations around the place - search the web for them. They can usually provide advice on how to go about breaking a lease correctly... best to do this before talking to the landlord.

 

Also read your lease agreement what does it say?

 

I have learnt the hard way about breaking a lease and speaking to a tenants association too late... but they were still very helpful. We actually came out alright in the end up it almost ended up in court.. sorry to scare you.

 

Also it's good to do things in writing therefore you have a record of it, rather than by phone because then it becomes a you said/i said type of thing that is impossible to prove. If things go belly up - like in my above case... we would speak to the landlord on the phone and then write a letter stating our understanding of the conversation and post to them. Plus we keep a timeline of everything, what happened, who did what etc. That helped too.