Breaking your lease

Question

Hey - 

Is anyone else on here faced with having to break a lease in order to head off to grad school? Unfortunately I signed a lease that ran from Jan-December with an auto renew clause in it. When December rolled around I was faced with wait lists and dings and decided not to give notice since I was unsure of my future.

I did give my landlord 2 months notice (vacate Aug 1) and he has listed the apartment, but the only way he will let me out is if someone else rents it. I understand where he is coming from but at the same time it is a valid reason for breaking a lease.

Any ideas?

Oasis

riverripper · Answer

Sounds like since you signed the lease and agreed to the terms then you are pretty much stuck. Just hope that he can rent it before you leave. If you live in an area where a good apartment is hard to find you may luck out. If you were month to month after a year it would be easy but you are in a tough spot. I bet your landlord understands (most are decent people) but if he has a mortgage on the place then why would he let you bail out and require him to pay out of pocket. 

The best you can do is keep your place looking sharp for anyone that comes to check it out. Keep your ears open for anyone looking to rent a place. Reread your lease carefully and see if there is anything you can use to help get out of it.

OasisNYK · Answer

Yeah I figured as much - I have put an ad on craigs list too and already have some bites. Hopefully it will go. I will probably just try to rent it myself and when a qualified renter is serious I will let him know. 

He has a broker listing as well so I think someone will eventually take it - its in a great location.

johnnyx9 · Answer

Had a similar problem once before, I just wanted to get it rented so I subsidized part of the first month's rent and marketed it w/ a gimmicky, "Half off first month's rent if you sign this week!" It was worth the money to get out of the lease.

OasisNYK · Answer

Good idea - I will see how these 2 leads pan out and if they dont I will def try that.

piper41955 · Answer

Speaking as someone with rental property, your landlord is probably more interested in making sure the property is rented and at the same rate or better so no monetary damage is done. If you get someone in there, then it shouldn't be a really big deal. I had one person try this last year, though I only wish she were as responsible as you….she did 7k worth of property damage and then skipped town 8 months early

I guess that is what I get for renting to someone with less than stellar credit who claimed to be on the “right track”.

Breaking your lease

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