Ever broken an apartment lease?

[Captain4]

Anyone ever broken a lease on an apartment? If so, were there any repercussions? Trying to decide whether I want to pay out the rest of my lease or just ditch the place. Any thoughts?

 

[Mill]

Wondering this right now too.

 

[Bleep]

See a lawyer! You should never enter into any legal binding contracts without legal advice. Break the lease and you will probably have to pay out the lease and maybe even damages.
Bleep

 

[Jumpem]

Had to pay an extra months rent past when we were leaving, and had to forfeit the security deposit.

 

[N8Magic]

Most larger property managers can reassign the lease for a small fee. In my case, it was $100.00 and they found someone who was willing to assume my lease.

The catch is that you are not out of your lease until the property manager finds someone to assume it. I was in a high-turnover area and got lucky as my apartment lease was assumed almost immediately.

If you break the lease and abandon the apartment or whatever you are renting, be prepared to pay big time,

 

[max105]

maybe you can try talking to your landlord to see if you can get a mutual agreement. I think if there's a mutual agreement, you can legally break it. Or maybe the landlord will be able to offer some sort of resolution instead of just ditching the APT so that it doesn't damage your credit and stuff too.

 

[Mill]

I want my roomates to be able to take over my lease. I am hoping this will work out. I will know tommorrow.

 

[jaeger66]

I did. I had to give up my deposit and pay an extra month's rent, but that was it.

 

[badluck]

If you ditch.....the apartment complex will most likely file suit against you in civil court. You will be responsible for the rent + lose your security deposit. After they win, the judgement can go on your credit report. You will also lose them as a reference (obviously).

Try to work it out with them. As stated previously, you might be able to get out of it if they can find someone to take your place over.

 

[Rent]

I had to do this back in January. You have to see what you contract says. In my case, it was a fee please notice. They also made us pay an extra months rent because my roommate at the time was extremely slow to move out.

It all just depends on your contract. Talk to the apartment management if you have any questions.

 

[jamautosound]

I did that when my first wife and I were getting a divorce. My name was on the lease, where she and my baby son were living, I wasn't living there at the time. The place ended up having a big time cockroach problem. Management sprayed, they came back. Sprayed again, they came back again. The last time they sprayed, I told them if the bugs show up one more, I will find another place for them to live, because that was unacceptable. Well the bugs showed up the next day and I moved them out that same day, since all their stuff was packed up anyway since they had to keep spraying.

They tried to use scare tactics to get me to pay, since they had just moved in and I signed a six month lease. I just threatened them right back saying I would report them to the housing dept. They ended up dropping they're fight, and I even got my deposit back! Ha ha. I showed them.:|

So I guess it all depends on the circumstances.

 

[Rakkis]

It really depends on the terms of your lease. There is probably a provision about eraly termination in it. I suggest you READ your lease <gasp>
And then consult your leasing office.

 

[StageLeft]

At my particular building early lease termination includes:

-forfeiting security deposit
-paying extra month rent
-giving 30 days notice (so if I had to leave tomorrow they still need the 30 days, basically meaning I pay yet another month rent on top of the one mentioned above.

 

[John]

When I left Dell back in 2000 to pursue a better job opportunity, I had to break my apartment lease. I packed up my stuff in one day and left the keys in the office drop slot. Fortunately they did not report it to the credit bureaus, and I am sure they were able to rent it out within a week or so since it was in near immaculate condition.