Penalty for Breaking Lease

[brooklyncharlie]

Jurisdiction: Brooklyn

My one year lease expires next week at the end of August. I am on a contract at work until the end of Dec and then will be leaving the city. I spoke with an employee in the property management company office in my builidng about signing a four-month lease (for a different apartment in the same building: i now have a roommate so we needed a bigger place. She is also leaving at the end of Dec.). The management co. representative said that this was not possible but that I could sign a one year lease and, if I needed to break it, provide thirty days notice and pay one month's additional rent. I am starting to get the feeling, however, that he may not know what he is talking about and that the director of the company may refuse to let us break our lease. Two questions: 1. Is the representative's verbal commitement to me binding? 2. If not, what is the worst case scenario in terms of how much we will have to pay to break our lease?

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

1. You need to get this in writing. Many large complexes provide this "buy out" (typically requiring either forfeiture of the security deposit and one months rent or two months rent) as this avoids the time and expense of taking the previous tenant to court to sue for owed rent. The idea is that in many cases, a unit can be rerented within the two month period.

2. If you sign a year lease and leave in four months without a "buyout", you would be liable for the rent until the unit can be rerented or until the end of the lease. Management would have an obligation to make the effort to rerent the unit (they couldn't simply sit around doing nothing until next August, expecting you to continue paying). In other words, you could face a lawsuit for this owed rent.

Keep in mind that the winter months (since you are leaving at the end of December) are often lousy times to find new tenants.

Gail