Have you ever broken a renting lease?
Last December the bf and I moved into this apartment, and we were a little rushed in the process. We'd been housesitting for a professor, and when she returned we had to find a place. We didn't look long, and we ended up signing a one year lease at the only apartment we looked at. I cried all day we signed the lease, because I KNEW it was a bad decision, but I just didn't know what else to do. We felt a little up against the wall. Nothing else had panned out, and we were panicked.
We've had so many issues here. The walls are made of paper, and we've had noise problems with neighbors, neighbors have had noise problems with us (my treadmill). There is dog poop all over the place, sidewalks included. We found black mold in the house, and they made me get it tested for toxicity, and haven't been helpful in the process at all. The windows and door leak cold air (and the apartment is less than a year old), and it's 45 minutes away from my work. So, I pretty much abhor this place. It is 1 br, 1 bath, and I pay $779 a month plus utilities, and this is WAY more than any other apartments in the area. I thought with the higher price range we'd get...a nicer place? But there are tons of students here, and I've been drunkenly verbally harassed by stupid kids and there are tons of parties and just juvenile shit I'm sick of.
Looking on Craigslist, I saw a house that is only 600 a month, it has 2 bedrooms, 3 baths and a YARD! So, HERE IS MY QUESTION (FINALLY):
How bad is it to break a lease? Does this reflect really poorly on us? Does it go on our credit? We would have to pay a 700 dollar releasing fee, but we'd make this back in less than 4 months by moving to the new place. Financially it makes sense. But I don't want to ruin or credit or make it hard to rent in the future. HELP!
It probably won't do anything bad to you. I just broke ours and all I had to do was find someone new to take it over and fax in a paper saying I was breaking the lease. Sorry you have the $700 fee. Have you read the section of the lease that talks about breaking the lease?
I broke my lease when I finished grad school. I hated living there and it was cheaper for me to pay the fee for breaking the lease and move back to SC than to pay rent there for the rest of the lease. Nothing bad happened. I'm pretty sure people break leases all the time; job relocation, cheaper apts elsewhere, etc. I'm sorry that you're going through such a rough time. It sucks when you hate where you live. :(
I have read the lease, and the $700 is a given, that's fine. But I am not sure, but I am 50% thinking that I would have to continue paying rent until they found someone else to rent the apartment. Is this even possible? It says that the buy out is not a cancellation or a buyout fee. That concerns me a little. I don't have the money to pay 2 rents at one time. Any ideas?
Okay, I'm going to type it verbatim, because I don't really know what's important. I'm sorry it's so boring.
Early move-out. You'll be liable to us for a reletting charge of $692.10 (not to exceed 100% of the highest monthly rent during the lease term) if you: (1,3,4 don't apply) (2) move out without paying rent in full for the entire lease term or renewal period
The reletting charge is not a cancellation fee and does not release you from your obligations under this Lease Contract.
Not a release. This reletting charge is not a Lease Contract cancellation fee or buyout fee. It is an agreed-to liquidated amount covering only part of our damages, that is, our time, effort and expense in finding and processing a replacement and is not a penalty but a separate bargained for consideration promised by you to us in exchange for our entering into this Lease Contract. These damages are uncertain and difficult to ascertain--particularly those relating to inconvenience, paperwork, advertising, showing apartments, utilities for showing, checking prospects, office overhead, marketing costs, and locater-service fees. You agree that the relettting charge is a reasonable estimate of such damages and that the charge is due whether or not our reletting attempts succeed. If no amount is stipulated, you must pay our actual reletting costs so far as they can be determined. The reletting charge does not release you from continued liability for: future or past-due rent; charges for cleaning, repairing, repainting, or unreturned keys; or other sums due.
That's all on the early move out. Sorry it's so long, but I hope someone smarter than me knows just what this is saying. I'm scared they want the 700 PLUS the rest of the rent until December. That's over 7700 dollars...no way that's happening.
Yeah, it looks like you're responsible for the rest of the obligation, unless you can talk to your landlord and try to get out early.
I'm in the same boat. I'm renting a house for $1100/mo. I was doing fine until my roomie moved out and now I'm really struggling to make ends meet, but my lease won't end until Sept. I am renting through a realty company, and I know they will sue me if I break the lease. :-\
can you sublet... you stay on the lease basically and have someone else living there and paying?
it sounds like if YOU found someone to rent your place (dunno how hard this is where you live, but it's usually easy in college towns) you wouldn't be charged anything. or you could at least talk them out of it, cause they wouldn't incur any expense finding anyone and would still be making the rent, so you wouldn't need to pay to cover.
i think the reletting charge sounds like bs.
Definitely get some tenant's rights advice. There are a lot of BS rental agreements out there that people get held to because they are basically decent people, while their landlords are not. It's well worth the consulting fee. And in some areas there are tenant rights services on the pro bono, depending on your income.
Yeah, subletting or getting advice like yabbit said would be a good idea. I once had an abusive roommate and had to get out of the lease and he wouldn't agree to anyone subletting my room so it was disastrous and I didn't know what I could do because I didn't want to have to keep paying. I talked to a lawyer friend of my parents and he was really good with helping me understand my rights and so forth. Dealing with leases sucks but there are definitely people who can help make it easier. I'm sorry you're in such a sh*tty situation (literally!) but I hope you can get out soon and enjoy the new place!!
What happened with the mold? They said it was harmless?
What happened with the mold? They said it was harmless?
They never tested it. I gave them a sample, and they never tested. I tested my sample, but this isn't my area, so I don't really know what I have. I just had to compare it to a book, and now they want to know what I found out. I kind of want to lie and say it's 100% toxic. How the hell do I know if it isn't? I do bacteria!
any progress?
You are asking the right person here! I am a cronic moover, I live someplace 6 months, hate it then move again after signing 1 year leases at apartments at every one of these places. Once I lived in a place where I signed a 1 year lease for a total of two weeks then I moved again because I hated it.
It won't affect your credit, they will just keep your security deposit and may harrass you for the remainer of the lease rent (the place I lived in for 2 weeks did this) and I said like hell, you can't get blood from a stone and you may get scary letters from "collection agencies" but if you ignore them they stop.
You will just loose your security deposit. I never ever took a hit to my credit for breaking a lease, but I always had my rent paid on time up until I moved, I just simply moved out and quit paying rent, and put the keys in the drop box. Easy peeezee.
Get out of that hell hole, the place sounds aweful. If I was there I probably would have left after two days!
I have read the lease, and the $700 is a given, that's fine. But I am not sure, but I am 50% thinking that I would have to continue paying rent until they found someone else to rent the apartment. Is this even possible? It says that the buy out is not a cancellation or a buyout fee. That concerns me a little. I don't have the money to pay 2 rents at one time. Any ideas?
NO NO NO! You don't give them crap, just pay the rent on time until you move, then move out, leave your keys, and never send them another dime! What the lease says is irrelevant. Trust me, I have done this probably a dozen times!
Sorry, one more thing, they can't hit your credit. If you pay your rent on time up until you move, then it can't effect your credit because it is something that you arn't using. It is hard to explain. Here, let me try, school loans for instance, if you don't pay those, yes you will get a hit on your credit because that is something that was already provided to you and you are paying back for a past service.
But getting a hit to your credit for unpaid rent on a place you no longer live at is like getting a hit to your credit for student loans you took out for NEXT year's classes. If you got the money and spent it else where, okay, but say you never got the money, never took the classes, the loan wouldn't exist then.
Does that make sense? No, probably not. Trust me, as long as you turn in your keys as soon as you move out, and pay all the rent up until and including the day you move out, you can not take a hit to your credit. I never gave any move-out notices either...
You certainly won't go to jail if that is what you are worried about!
Ok, I work with peoples' credit and bankruptcies for a living and I want to let you know that your landlord or rental company can most definitely take you to court or send your account to collections if you do not pay the amount stated in your lease agreement.
Do they have to? No, but they can. I see it everyday - a ton of my clients have some sort of lease abandonment collection on their credit reports.
So I take it that SQ has just gotten lucky in the past - but I wouldn't risk it.....
We broke our lease when we bought our house, and I paid the full $1125 that I owed - $125 of that was for re-painting the walls, which I didn't feel like doing before we moved out, so I just gave the complex a little extra - thankfully it worked cuz I never heard from them again.
I guess maybe you are right that I just got lucky. Legally they can, yes, because you did sign a lease.
Will they? Most likely not. The reason, it costs money to take you to court, lawyers are expensive!
In my experience, the more property they own the more likely they are to get the courts involved. It makes sense if you thing about it. People that own tons of property probably deal with their attorneys all the time while people with just a couple units may not even have a lawyer. The place a rented in college had a clause that said you had to pay even if the place burnt to the ground and was inhabilitable. Silly.