Breaking lease early

Question

We have been renting a house for about 4 months and I just got transferred by my employer to another city. Our lease on the house is for a year but the lease that we signed doesn't say anything about any fees or payments we have to make for early termination. Has anyone ever broken their lease early, or just have some opinions on the matter?

Answer 1

If it doesnt say anything in the lease than i would think that there would be no penalty. I dont know that for sure though.  

Answer 2

You should be able to break the lease early if you have a good reason to, although if a deposit was put down on the home then it could be withheld.  

Answer 3

No fees or penalties are mentioned in the lease because you are expected to fulfill your lease obligations for the full term.

You have three options, all will cost you $$$

1. Negotiate an early termination or lease buyout with the landlord.

Understand that the landlord would be doing you a favor and is under no obligation to let you out of the lease. The landlord is actually in the driver's seat here, so do not go into negotiations with the attitude that you are entitled to get out for no cost or penalty.

Start out by offering the amount equal to 2 months rent to terminate the lease and all liabilities immediately. The landlord may accept your offer or counteroffer for a higher amount. If you come to an agreement, get it in writing! Make sure that you are released from any further liability or future claims.

This gets you out of the lease immediately for a set cost and will not affect your credit or rental history. It is considered a termination by mutual agreement.

2: Offer to stay until a replacement tenant is found.

Offer to pay the advertising costs (you'd ve liable for them anyway) and allow the landlord to enter the rental to be shown as often as needed to get a new tenant in. Keep the place show worthy.

With this method your liability ends as soon as a replacement tenant is found. You must stay until a replacement tenant is found, however the landlord suffers no loss of rent or advertising costs (you paid them) and you are not paying for a rental that you are not living in. Also, you will keep a positive rental reference in tact by working with the landlord.

This will not affect your credit or rental history.

3. Break the lease and move out without any mutual agreement with the landlord.

You would be held liable for the rent until either a replacement tenant is found or the lease expires. The landlord can also hold you liable for any costs he may incur due to your breach, such as advertising costs, agent fees, etc.

This way leaves you open to being liable for an unknown number of months of rent for a place that you will not be living in plus any other costs incurred. As long as you pay the rent monthly, it would not affect your credit, but may still affect your future rental reference.

If you fail to pay all costs mentioned above, the landlord can sue you and get a judgment against you. The judgment would include court costs, legal fees and accrue interest.

The judgment can be renewed for up to 20 years, so it will not go away any time soon. The landlord can garnish wages or bank accounts or place liens on personal property.

You may want to purchase a car or house someday and the judgment would have to be paid in order to do so.

Going this route will negatively affect your credit and rental histories for many years. Many landlords will not accept an applicant that broke their lease, owes the landlord money and forced the landlord to sue in court. You may have a hard time finding a decent rental in the future.

Answer 4

will employer come up with some money to help you break the lease.

Answer 5

Legally, you can be held liable for rent through the end of the lease.  However, most landlords will allow you out of the lease in a circumstance such as yours.  They will, however, charge a fee.  Often, they keep the security deposit at the very least.