Breaking the lease

[pheaton]

Hello, I'm in a lease that expires 5/31/09. We are closing on a house on 4/2/09. So I need to break my lease. I called the office today and the person said that if I want to vacate prior to lease termination I have to give 30 days notice, pay the rent for the 30 days, and also pay either until the apartment is re-rented, or pay a penalty of 2 months rent. In either case I forfeit my security deposit. This money is due on my move out date.

It would appear the terms on the lease support what she told me.

My first lease expired on 9/30/07, they didn't make me sign a new lease until May of 08, is that my fault? I paid them monthly without default during that time.

Finally, April 5 is when I want my last day here to be. I will be out of here by the end of the day on April 5th.

What is likely to happen if on March 5th, I give them 30 days notice, vacate at the end of the day April 5th, on my way out of the complex I drop the keys in the deposit box with $305 (half of April's rent). Leaving my deposit to them.

Thanks for the advice....

 

[amber_waves_of]

Sounds Fair but they still may have legal recourse

Hi! Your solution sounds very fair. But unfortunately if your lease that you signed says you must do all of those things when breaking a lease, then they could come after you for either the rest of the rent til the end of our lease, or rent until they re-rent or the two-month breaking lease clause.

Can you find out which one of these two scenarios they will pursue? Like from other tenants or even from management themselves? Also you might look up the tenant laws for your city/county or state to see if this is legal for them to have this in the lease? Or charge you for two months rent when you have less than that left in your lease. (They probably can only charge you til the end of your lease in a worse case scenario).

The until rented or max 2 months rent (or end of lease whichever is shorter clause) sounds pretty standard but you may have a local law that negate this. Or if you can find some other glaring illegal term in the lease (depends what) it may help you break the lease.

Also how can you pay upon move out when you don't know when if/when the apartment will be re-rented?

Don't tell them (if possible) you are buying a house, since then they will know if they take you to collections you will pay to keep it off your credit.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

What is likely to happen if you follow your scenario (i.e., skipping out a month and a half early on your lease) is that you may 1. find yourself being sued in Small Claims court for the remainder of your owed rent or 2. find yourself being hounded by a collection agency.

Either move will have a negative effect on your credit report.

Gail