Breaking Your Lease
Your lease is a written contract between you and your landlord/management company. In most cases you are signing a lease for between 6-12 months, which means that once your signature is on the lease if you want to break the lease early you will more than likely have to pay a penalty. Very rarely are month-by-month leases available. Early termination of your lease most often means that you will lose your security deposit, as well.
There are several reasons why the need to break a lease might arise, including a new job opportunity, marriage, an upcoming move to a new city, dissatisfaction with your home, military duty and many others. Although you may have a valid reason for early termination of your lease, this does not mean that you won’t have to face a penalty, however. Each individual landlord/management company has their own lease termination policies and you can find these terms written on your lease. Remember to always keep good records of any correspondence and anything else related to why you are requesting early termination.
There are common circumstances where you generally can terminate your lease early without having to pay a penalty including the following:
1- If you are in the military and are called to duty after you have signed your lease.
2- If you become seriously sick or injured.
3- If your apartment becomes inhabitable due to reasons not caused by you, including hazards, natural disasters, crimes, or other reasons that are out of your control. Hazards include mold, broken smoke detectors, lose balcony railing, security issues and more. If you have notified your landlord and nothing has been done to fix the issue, this is reason for legal action or lease termination.
4- Delay of occupancy due to construction, repairs, cleaning or a previous resident’s holding over.
There are also some reasons for early termination of your lease that typically will result in no penalty, but remember that this is not always the case:
1- Your landlord does not perform the duties that are required as stated in the lease.
2- Your landlord does not respond to your general requests and/or is not ever in contact with you. If your landlord is supposed to be a liaison between you and maintenance and you cannot ever contact him, this is a violation on his/her part.
Finally, there are several reasons that you will most likely have to pay a penalty by terminating your lease early. These are reasons that are not valid reasons recognized by law and thus are left to your landlord’s discretion.
1- Marriage/Divorce/Separation
2- Change of Job/Job Transfer
3- Voluntary or involuntary school withdrawal or transfer
4- Moving to a new city because of work/personal reasons
5- Loss of co-residents
6- Loss of employment
Most states require landlords to reduce damages by trying to re-rent your apartment as soon as possible. Therefore, the sooner you give notice of a possible lease termination the better, and it may also help if you can find a replacement tenant to move in. Always keep a copy of any notice about ending your lease and make sure that it is signed and dated.
You also need to keep in mind that if you are renewing your lease for another term, there are often strict rules that must be followed to prevent auto renewal. Most landlords require written notice to be received a certain number of days or months before your lease term ends. Oral notice is typically not accepted. Typically if you do not terminate your lease prior to the date given, your lease will be auto renewed for another term so you need to make sure to keep this date in mind!
On the other hand the landlord can break a lease for the following reasons:
1- The tenant did not pay rent within the guidelines of the lease agreement
2- The tenant violates some other part of the lease agreement
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