Ridiculous Early Termination Penalty

[Vanessa_Hodge]

My husband and I have been living at this property for 7 months and signed a 1 year lease. We stumbled across a great deal on a house and decided to go for it. We approached the management here regarding terminating the lease early and they are trying to charge us a ridiculous amount (about $7600). We had expected, like every other apartment community we have lived in (and we have both terminated leases before), that they would charge us a month and a half extra for rent as a penalty. THey are assessing a few high charges such as a $1765 charge for basically inconveniencing them (the cost of finding another tenant), an additional $450 early lease termination fee, and we are required to pay the difference between the market rent and the lower rent they actually charged us for the entire time we have lived here. The difference is close to $450 for each of the 7 months. Now, I have thoroughly read through the lease and it does not state any specific penalties besides the $1765 fee. It does not state anywhere that we have to pay back the difference in the market rent. I feel this is extremely unreasonable seeing as it was there choice to offer the apartment at a lower price (a fact which was unbeknownst to us going in). Having said all of that, I was also laid off a couple of days ago so needless to say we do not have over $7000 to pay them regardless of what they want. We are prepared to give them a month and a half extra, but we have nothing more. What is the worst that could happen if we don't pay it in its entirety? Also, are they being unreasonable as I have never heard of such a practice in any of the other Georgia communities I have lived in?

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

While some large complexes allow a tenant to break a lease with, say, losing their deposit and paying a month or two of rent, there is no law that says they must do this. A tenant is legally responsible for all the months left on their legal contract (the lease) until the unit is rerented plus the cost of finding new tenants to take over the rental unit.

Large complexes offer this "buyout" for tenants who wish to break their leases because 1. it avoids the time and trouble of taking these tenants to court to sue them for the owed rent and 2. it provides the tenants with information on what they owe to get out of the lease.

What's the worse the complex could do to you? They could file a lawsuit against you (most of these lawsuits in Georgia are handled through our version of Small Claims since Georgia allows up to $15,000 to be handled by this court). If this is done quickly, it might (if you haven't gotten your finances for the new house locked in) affect your ability to get a loan for your new house.

Have you discussed trying to find a tenant yourself to take over the lease? Some landords/management allow subletting (this often requires that the new tenant go through the normal screening process).

Gail