Breaking leases for apartments (1 Viewer)

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Zack Lee

Zack Lee

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So my girlfriend and I found an apartment we really want but it will require us to break her lease. We are not concerned with getting the deposit back but there is an interesting clause in it. What is the best way to handle this. The apartment is a peice of work and does not fix anything they agreed to before the lease was signed. Also, this is her second apartment in this complex, the terms of the first lease were met before she moved to the bigger unit
 
It's basically a stipulation that if you break the lease, you owe a re-renting charge of $1,290. How much of a deposit do they have? Often deposits will include "last month's rent" but that doesn't mean they can just keep it - most states' rules about deposits are pretty strict. So leases will include a stipulation like this one that actually gives them the authority to keep that last month's rent out of the deposit.

If the deposit they have is actually less than the $1,290, they could theoretically sue her for it and she probably wouldn't have much of a defense (the old "well they never fixed anything" doesn't work unless there is ample evidence of that but even then the tenant typically has to give a 'fix this or I'm leaving' notice with fair opportunity to correct). They might also put a collection agency on it which means it could impact her credit.

Whether they actually do those things, who knows. Certainly some apartment companies will pursue.
 
Step 1, ask them. If it's a management company, if she's already been there a year, and just switched units, she may have already met the initial term. After that, a lot of them switch to sort of a month to month deal, so long as you give them a month notice.

1,2,3,4 are all cut off so hard to see the specific terms.

These bigger companies love people who move out early and paid. Because now they can get someone new in there at a higher rate. They are also especially generous if you're switching to another property they run/own.

Individual owners hate having to find a new tenant.
 
Found it.

112825

What is the written move-out notice specified in paragraphs 23 and 37?
 
If she is still under a lease contract, you will probably not be able to get out of the lease without paying whatever is owed to complete the lease. So, if she still has 7 months left on the lease, they are going to expect you to pay 7 months of rent to get out of it; unless there is a clause that you can break the lease for X amount of dollars (usually some calculation of a couple months worth of rent).
 
CapitalCitySaint said:
unless there is a clause that you can break the lease for X amount of dollars (usually some calculation of a couple months worth of rent).
Click to expand...

That's what he posted in the picture.

(Typically, apartment buildings have enough rental demand that they just can't charge you for the full value of the lease when you leave early - because they have an obligation to mitigate their damages by renting to someone else. So they know they'll be able to, and they calculate this "re-leasing" charge).
 
I’m at work but I have the lease in my car. I’m tackling this first thing in the morning. Thanks for the input guys. I’ll get the rest of the info to formulate a game plan and get back to you
 

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