Getting out of a lease early

[dmw16]

Originally posted by: Gibson486

Originally posted by: dmw16

Originally posted by: Gibson486

Originally posted by: dmw16

Originally posted by: aceO07

Originally posted by: dmw16
His offer kind of sucks because he has no incentive to find a new tenant before September. I thought my offer was much more fair. It penalizes me and potentially rewards him for finding a tenant for July because then he essentially gets double rent.

Your offer kind of sucks because if he doesn't find a tenant before September, he's penalized for someone not paying as agreed by contract. It's not always possible to find a new tenant when a lease is up, so he doesn't want to take that risk.

See if he'll accept you finding a new tenant for him. As long as he agrees and the new tenant is good, nobody loses out. You have to do extra leg work, but at least it's better the landlord just looking by himself.

Maybe both of our offers suck. Maybe he'll counter with 1.5 months penalty or something, but I am not just going to roll over and take the first offer.

All I can say is goodluck and be happy you are not dealing with a management company. If that was the case, you would be screwed and you are at their mercy (the have none). And that talk show host sounds like a scum bag. It does not matter how much notice you give.

Talk show host is an experienced and well respected real estate agent, but whatever.

The deal he offered me is the same as what you'd get from any leasing company so really it wouldn't matter if I was dealing with them or him in that regard.

and respected real estate agents cannot be scum bags?

touche, but he doesn't seem to be.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: dmw16
Yeah, I know lawyers cost money. But even if a consultation and letter cost $1000, I still saved over $2000 potentially.

That's not really the right term...

Look, I understand your predicament. But what you're saying is that your integrity isn't worth $2000. You committed to something, and your landlord committed to something.

He's trying to be flexible with you and you're looking for any way you can screw him.

Honestly, crap like this is the reason I'm not a landlord anymore.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: dmw16

Originally posted by: JJ650
My wife puts up with this sort of shit all of the time. She and her mother own their own property management company and are always being threatened to be sued by someone wanting to move out for any sort of reason (legit or not).

What the landlord offered you is baisically a standard practice. You signed a LEGALLY binding contract to rent that property for the designated time. Now that you are going back on your signed commitment, this means that the landlord/manager has now missed out on a tennant that could have commited to the full term agreements.

Right now, the chances of someone renting that property are better than waht might have been a couple of years ago due to mortgage fiascos and all.

I would take the offer handed to you. Your counter offer is a slap to the face. The threat of courts only pisses people off.

How is my offer insulting? It's business plain and simple. I didn't do it as a slap to the face or anything else. He wants as much money as possible and so do I.

I know I signed a lease. I was merely looking for others who may have been in a similar situation. If I have to pay for the remaining lease payments I will. I knew in taking this job that it was a possibility. But if I can find an out I would like to and so would you.

Quit bitching about it on teh intarweb and sublet the apartment for fuck sake!!! The amount of time and energy you've wasted trying to get out of the contract YOU SIGNED could have been spent running an ad to sublet the apartment to someone else.

 

[dmw16]

Originally posted by: rivan

Originally posted by: dmw16
Yeah, I know lawyers cost money. But even if a consultation and letter cost $1000, I still saved over $2000 potentially.

That's not really the right term...

Look, I understand your predicament. But what you're saying is that your integrity isn't worth $2000. You committed to something, and your landlord committed to something.

He's trying to be flexible with you and you're looking for any way you can screw him.

Honestly, this is the reason I'm not a landlord anymore.

I am looking for a mutually agreeable exit. It isn't about my integrity being worth $2000. That might be the case if I just stopped sending rent payments, but I will continue paying if that is ultimately what he and I agree to.

It is easier for me to simply quantify my loss. So rather than him trying to find new tenants and me be on the hook for July, August, and September. I'd rather reach some dollar value, cut a check, and move on. If I agree to pay all of July and some penalty it could play out in his favor.

 

[dmw16]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: dmw16

Originally posted by: JJ650
My wife puts up with this sort of shit all of the time. She and her mother own their own property management company and are always being threatened to be sued by someone wanting to move out for any sort of reason (legit or not).

What the landlord offered you is baisically a standard practice. You signed a LEGALLY binding contract to rent that property for the designated time. Now that you are going back on your signed commitment, this means that the landlord/manager has now missed out on a tennant that could have commited to the full term agreements.

Right now, the chances of someone renting that property are better than waht might have been a couple of years ago due to mortgage fiascos and all.

I would take the offer handed to you. Your counter offer is a slap to the face. The threat of courts only pisses people off.

How is my offer insulting? It's business plain and simple. I didn't do it as a slap to the face or anything else. He wants as much money as possible and so do I.

I know I signed a lease. I was merely looking for others who may have been in a similar situation. If I have to pay for the remaining lease payments I will. I knew in taking this job that it was a possibility. But if I can find an out I would like to and so would you.

Quit bitching about it on teh intarweb and sublet the apartment for fuck sake!!! The amount of time and energy you've wasted trying to get out of the contract YOU SIGNED could have been spent running an ad to sublet the apartment to someone else.

How would you like me to sublet from 300 miles away? I am in CT and my wife is in MD. I will not have people coming to our place when she is living alone.

Finding a sublet would probably be the least expensive thing to do, but I am willing to absorb extra cost because of the situation.

 

[Taughnter]

Originally posted by: dmw16
I want to exit my lease early. My landlord offered me the following deal:

I move out July 1, but continue paying rent until he finds a tenant. At that point I'll be excused from the rest of my lease payments. I will also have to pay 1/2 months rent penalty ($825 of our $1650/month lease).

I sent him a counter offer of:

I move out June 25 and pay for the full month of June. I also give up my security deposit ($1650) and then I am not responsible for any more rent payments regardless of him finding a tenant.

Since you didn't provide any info to the contrary, we have to assume that your lease doesn't provide any early termination clause or other information about "breaking" the lease or subletting. (Or, if it does, it is even worse than either of the two offers.) If that is true, your "worst case" scenario is to pay all the rent through the end of September. (3 months) Obviously your "best case" would be to pay through the end of June only. (No landlord is going to pro-rate a months rent, in this case June, when you're leaving early.)

Basic lease breaking principle here is that your landlord, once you tell him about your intentions, has a duty to mitigate the damages. In simple terms, he has to look for a new tenant, and if he finds one, he can only charge you for his actual loss. Essentially, his offer to you is just a restatement of his obligation. The part I'm potentially confused by is his extra 1/2 month rent penalty. Is he going to advertise in a newspaper? Is there some other service, like a credit check, that he is going to be paying himself to account for that extra penalty? If he legitimately has other costs involved, then his offer really just makes sense for him, and even if it doesn't, I'm sure he's asking for the extra 1/2 month because this is inconvenient for him. Bottom line: You should do a search to try and determine the relevant laws for renters in your state and determine whether such a fee is allowed and what other rights or obligations may be involved for you or the landlord. Beyond that, you should be looking to your new employer to help offset the costs of breaking the lease.

Assuming that your landlord is insisting on his proposal, and even if he is doing something he's not technically allowed to, you're not going to hire a lawyer over the $825. And for that matter, if he returns the rest of your security deposit, its pretty much a worthless battle. He could just as easily try to charge you a few hundred dollars for repairs that aren't necessarily needed (or even done) and leave you trying to recover that. Once you move, its probably going to be cost-prohibitive to go after any of the money.

Two quick notes:
1. This is not legal advice. If you want legal advice, contact a lawyer in Maryland. You may be able to get a free consult which theoretically could answer all of your questions.

2. Your offer may be reasonable, but justified? Your landlord has rights, just like you do. That's why you sign a lease. You can offer him/her whatever you want, but that doesn't mean they have to accept your offer, even if its good, reasonable, justified, etc..

 

[aceO07]

Originally posted by: dmw16

Originally posted by: aceO07

Originally posted by: dmw16
His offer kind of sucks because he has no incentive to find a new tenant before September. I thought my offer was much more fair. It penalizes me and potentially rewards him for finding a tenant for July because then he essentially gets double rent.

Your offer kind of sucks because if he doesn't find a tenant before September, he's penalized for someone not paying as agreed by contract. It's not always possible to find a new tenant when a lease is up, so he doesn't want to take that risk.

See if he'll accept you finding a new tenant for him. As long as he agrees and the new tenant is good, nobody loses out. You have to do extra leg work, but at least it's better the landlord just looking by himself.

Maybe both of our offers suck. Maybe he'll counter with 1.5 months penalty or something, but I am not just going to roll over and take the first offer.

My father is a landlord and we've had a pretty scummy tenant family before, so I usually side with landlords (unless they're scummy landlords.) The last horrible family we had was looking to move and refused to sign new lease when it ran out. We gave them month-to-month for 2 months then on the last month, they a refused to pay for the extra days/2weeks of a new month before they left. Claiming, oh it's ONLY 2 weeks and not a whole month. Tried to leave old computers in our garage, which we let them use for storage. Lied to our face about it being not theirs so they wouldn't have to deal with trashing/recycling it. Did half ass job cleaning before leaving even though the wife usually stayed at home. Had the excuse of 'no time' to clean. Holes in wall from them mounting stuff that shouldn't have been mounted (at least by them), think cabinets. I could go on, but what I learned from that experience is that a scummy tenant is usually very well protected by the laws. It takes a long process to even start evictions...

Anyways, you signed a contract. That should have some meaning to you.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: dmw16

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: dmw16

Originally posted by: JJ650
My wife puts up with this sort of shit all of the time. She and her mother own their own property management company and are always being threatened to be sued by someone wanting to move out for any sort of reason (legit or not).

What the landlord offered you is baisically a standard practice. You signed a LEGALLY binding contract to rent that property for the designated time. Now that you are going back on your signed commitment, this means that the landlord/manager has now missed out on a tennant that could have commited to the full term agreements.

Right now, the chances of someone renting that property are better than waht might have been a couple of years ago due to mortgage fiascos and all.

I would take the offer handed to you. Your counter offer is a slap to the face. The threat of courts only pisses people off.

How is my offer insulting? It's business plain and simple. I didn't do it as a slap to the face or anything else. He wants as much money as possible and so do I.

I know I signed a lease. I was merely looking for others who may have been in a similar situation. If I have to pay for the remaining lease payments I will. I knew in taking this job that it was a possibility. But if I can find an out I would like to and so would you.

Quit bitching about it on teh intarweb and sublet the apartment for fuck sake!!! The amount of time and energy you've wasted trying to get out of the contract YOU SIGNED could have been spent running an ad to sublet the apartment to someone else.

How would you like me to sublet from 300 miles away? I am in CT and my wife is in MD. I will not have people coming to our place when she is living alone.

Finding a sublet would probably be the least expensive thing to do, but I am willing to absorb extra cost because of the situation.

Guess you should have thought of that before you moved huh?

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: dmw16

Originally posted by: rivan

Originally posted by: dmw16
Yeah, I know lawyers cost money. But even if a consultation and letter cost $1000, I still saved over $2000 potentially.

That's not really the right term...

Look, I understand your predicament. But what you're saying is that your integrity isn't worth $2000. You committed to something, and your landlord committed to something.

He's trying to be flexible with you and you're looking for any way you can screw him.

Honestly, this is the reason I'm not a landlord anymore.

I am looking for a mutually agreeable exit. It isn't about my integrity being worth $2000. That might be the case if I just stopped sending rent payments, but I will continue paying if that is ultimately what he and I agree to.

It is easier for me to simply quantify my loss. So rather than him trying to find new tenants and me be on the hook for July, August, and September. I'd rather reach some dollar value, cut a check, and move on. If I agree to pay all of July and some penalty it could play out in his favor.

You've clearly made up your mind here and like most people who ask for advice, you seem to only want 'advice' that aligns with whatever you're thinking to begin with.

It absolutely IS about your integrity. You agreed to something with your landlord, now you're trying to get out of that agreement. Your landlord makes an offer and your first thought is to get a lawyer to see how you can best screw him out of the money you promised to pay when you made the agreement.

Sure, it COULD play out in his favor, or it COULD screw him.

He's offered to help facilitate the stopping of your payments and you're not happy with that because you're assuming the risk that he won't find a new tenant. Instead, you want him to carry that risk.

Like I said, I understand your predicament, and you can call it 'just business' and 'quantiying your loss' or whatever you you feel like, but the bottom line here is that you're backing out of an agreement - contract or no- and that doesn't say anything positive about your integrity.

How would you react if the landlord had found someone willing to pay more for the place and told you you needed to move 4 months early?

 

[dmw16]

Originally posted by: Taughnter

Originally posted by: dmw16
I want to exit my lease early. My landlord offered me the following deal:

I move out July 1, but continue paying rent until he finds a tenant. At that point I'll be excused from the rest of my lease payments. I will also have to pay 1/2 months rent penalty ($825 of our $1650/month lease).

I sent him a counter offer of:

I move out June 25 and pay for the full month of June. I also give up my security deposit ($1650) and then I am not responsible for any more rent payments regardless of him finding a tenant.

Since you didn't provide any info to the contrary, we have to assume that your lease doesn't provide any early termination clause or other information about "breaking" the lease or subletting. (Or, if it does, it is even worse than either of the two offers.) If that is true, your "worst case" scenario is to pay all the rent through the end of September. (3 months) Obviously your "best case" would be to pay through the end of June only. (No landlord is going to pro-rate a months rent, in this case June, when you're leaving early.)

Basic lease breaking principle here is that your landlord, once you tell him about your intentions, has a duty to mitigate the damages. In simple terms, he has to look for a new tenant, and if he finds one, he can only charge you for his actual loss. Essentially, his offer to you is just a restatement of his obligation. The part I'm potentially confused by is his extra 1/2 month rent penalty. Is he going to advertise in a newspaper? Is there some other service, like a credit check, that he is going to be paying himself to account for that extra penalty? If he legitimately has other costs involved, then his offer really just makes sense for him, and even if it doesn't, I'm sure he's asking for the extra 1/2 month because this is inconvenient for him. Bottom line: You should do a search to try and determine the relevant laws for renters in your state and determine whether such a fee is allowed and what other rights or obligations may be involved for you or the landlord. Beyond that, you should be looking to your new employer to help offset the costs of breaking the lease.

Assuming that your landlord is insisting on his proposal, and even if he is doing something he's not technically allowed to, you're not going to hire a lawyer over the $825. And for that matter, if he returns the rest of your security deposit, its pretty much a worthless battle. He could just as easily try to charge you a few hundred dollars for repairs that aren't necessarily needed (or even done) and leave you trying to recover that. Once you move, its probably going to be cost-prohibitive to go after any of the money.

Two quick notes:
1. This is not legal advice. If you want legal advice, contact a lawyer in Maryland. You may be able to get a free consult which theoretically could answer all of your questions.

2. Your offer may be reasonable, but justified? Your landlord has rights, just like you do. That's why you sign a lease. You can offer him/her whatever you want, but that doesn't mean they have to accept your offer, even if its good, reasonable, justified, etc..

Useful advice, thank you.

The lease makes no specific mention of how a lease can be broken. So in my research the situation you described does apply.

He does not pay for a credit check (or at least not normally as we paid that when we moved in). Maybe he is listing it in the paper or with a broker and that is how he justified the $825 "fee". However he called it a penalty and that seemed contrary to what I had read online about me only paying for his actual loss.

It was only after he wanted to charge me a penalty that I figured I'd counter his offer. I figure I have nothing to lose in making an offer like I did. I didn't go about it in an aggressive way. I typed a letter explaining my offer and sent it along with a self addressed and stamped envelope. No threats or anything.

I guess we'll see if he responds. If not or if he rejects it then I'll likely just accept his offer even if it does skirt the law because, like you said, he could just find random crap to charge me for. I'd rather he be up front and call it a penalty if that is what it is.

 

[JJ650]

Originally posted by: dmw16

Originally posted by: JJ650
My wife puts up with this sort of shit all of the time. She and her mother own their own property management company and are always being threatened to be sued by someone wanting to move out for any sort of reason (legit or not).

What the landlord offered you is baisically a standard practice. You signed a LEGALLY binding contract to rent that property for the designated time. Now that you are going back on your signed commitment, this means that the landlord/manager has now missed out on a tennant that could have commited to the full term agreements.

Right now, the chances of someone renting that property are better than waht might have been a couple of years ago due to mortgage fiascos and all.

I would take the offer handed to you. Your counter offer is a slap to the face. The threat of courts only pisses people off.

How is my offer insulting? It's business plain and simple. I didn't do it as a slap to the face or anything else. He wants as much money as possible and so do I.

I know I signed a lease. I was merely looking for others who may have been in a similar situation. If I have to pay for the remaining lease payments I will. I knew in taking this job that it was a possibility. But if I can find an out I would like to and so would you.

It's not business for you, it's personal finance. It IS business for them.


I can tell you what their company does in a similar situations.

They dished out the same offer that your landlord has. The contract cannot be renegotiated or rewritten if it was done thru a management company. They legally cannot adjust that. They work for the owner, not you.
Your best hope it to review the original agreement and scope out any info on sub-leasing or early termination.
Otherwise, bust your hump and hope the owner/manager/whatever is interested to find a replacement quickly.

 

[dmw16]

Originally posted by: rivan

Originally posted by: dmw16

Originally posted by: rivan

Originally posted by: dmw16
Yeah, I know lawyers cost money. But even if a consultation and letter cost $1000, I still saved over $2000 potentially.

That's not really the right term...

Look, I understand your predicament. But what you're saying is that your integrity isn't worth $2000. You committed to something, and your landlord committed to something.

He's trying to be flexible with you and you're looking for any way you can screw him.

Honestly, this is the reason I'm not a landlord anymore.

I am looking for a mutually agreeable exit. It isn't about my integrity being worth $2000. That might be the case if I just stopped sending rent payments, but I will continue paying if that is ultimately what he and I agree to.

It is easier for me to simply quantify my loss. So rather than him trying to find new tenants and me be on the hook for July, August, and September. I'd rather reach some dollar value, cut a check, and move on. If I agree to pay all of July and some penalty it could play out in his favor.

You've clearly made up your mind here and like most people who ask for advice, you seem to only want 'advice' that aligns with whatever you're thinking to begin with.

It absolutely IS about your integrity. You agreed to something with your landlord, now you're trying to get out of that agreement. Your landlord makes an offer and your first thought is to get a lawyer to see how you can best screw him out of the money you promised to pay when you made the agreement.

Sure, it COULD play out in his favor, or it COULD screw him.

He's offered to help facilitate the stopping of your payments and you're not happy with that because you're assuming the risk that he won't find a new tenant. Instead, you want him to carry that risk.

Like I said, I understand your predicament, and you can call it 'just business' and 'quantiying your loss' or whatever you you feel like, but the bottom line here is that you're backing out of an agreement - contract or no- and that doesn't say anything positive about your integrity.

How would you react if the landlord had found someone willing to pay more for the place and told you you needed to move 4 months early?

I have no problem with advice that doesn't 'align' with what I want to hear. It was the personal attacks on my integrity that I object to.

I signed an agreement and I intend to honor it. HOWEVER, I am now seeking to modify that agreement in a way that both my landlord and I can agree on. I see no breach of integrity there. Like I said, if I just quit sending checks and said "so sue me" then it would be a different story.

If he came to me and said he found new tenants 4 months early and was willing to compensate me (as I am willing to do for him in this situation) I'd consider his offer.

 

[Taughnter]

Originally posted by: dmw16

Originally posted by: Taughnter

Originally posted by: dmw16
I want to exit my lease early. My landlord offered me the following deal:

I move out July 1, but continue paying rent until he finds a tenant. At that point I'll be excused from the rest of my lease payments. I will also have to pay 1/2 months rent penalty ($825 of our $1650/month lease).

I sent him a counter offer of:

I move out June 25 and pay for the full month of June. I also give up my security deposit ($1650) and then I am not responsible for any more rent payments regardless of him finding a tenant.

Since you didn't provide any info to the contrary, we have to assume that your lease doesn't provide any early termination clause or other information about "breaking" the lease or subletting. (Or, if it does, it is even worse than either of the two offers.) If that is true, your "worst case" scenario is to pay all the rent through the end of September. (3 months) Obviously your "best case" would be to pay through the end of June only. (No landlord is going to pro-rate a months rent, in this case June, when you're leaving early.)

Basic lease breaking principle here is that your landlord, once you tell him about your intentions, has a duty to mitigate the damages. In simple terms, he has to look for a new tenant, and if he finds one, he can only charge you for his actual loss. Essentially, his offer to you is just a restatement of his obligation. The part I'm potentially confused by is his extra 1/2 month rent penalty. Is he going to advertise in a newspaper? Is there some other service, like a credit check, that he is going to be paying himself to account for that extra penalty? If he legitimately has other costs involved, then his offer really just makes sense for him, and even if it doesn't, I'm sure he's asking for the extra 1/2 month because this is inconvenient for him. Bottom line: You should do a search to try and determine the relevant laws for renters in your state and determine whether such a fee is allowed and what other rights or obligations may be involved for you or the landlord. Beyond that, you should be looking to your new employer to help offset the costs of breaking the lease.

Assuming that your landlord is insisting on his proposal, and even if he is doing something he's not technically allowed to, you're not going to hire a lawyer over the $825. And for that matter, if he returns the rest of your security deposit, its pretty much a worthless battle. He could just as easily try to charge you a few hundred dollars for repairs that aren't necessarily needed (or even done) and leave you trying to recover that. Once you move, its probably going to be cost-prohibitive to go after any of the money.

Two quick notes:
1. This is not legal advice. If you want legal advice, contact a lawyer in Maryland. You may be able to get a free consult which theoretically could answer all of your questions.

2. Your offer may be reasonable, but justified? Your landlord has rights, just like you do. That's why you sign a lease. You can offer him/her whatever you want, but that doesn't mean they have to accept your offer, even if its good, reasonable, justified, etc..

Useful advice, thank you.

The lease makes no specific mention of how a lease can be broken. So in my research the situation you described does apply.

He does not pay for a credit check (or at least not normally as we paid that when we moved in). Maybe he is listing it in the paper or with a broker and that is how he justified the $825 "fee". However he called it a penalty and that seemed contrary to what I had read online about me only paying for his actual loss.

It was only after he wanted to charge me a penalty that I figured I'd counter his offer. I figure I have nothing to lose in making an offer like I did. I didn't go about it in an aggressive way. I typed a letter explaining my offer and sent it along with a self addressed and stamped envelope. No threats or anything.

I guess we'll see if he responds. If not or if he rejects it then I'll likely just accept his offer even if it does skirt the law because, like you said, he could just find random crap to charge me for. I'd rather he be up front and call it a penalty if that is what it is.

That is, for the most part, what *I* would do in a similar situation. And for the record, even if I knew I was somehow saving money by doing it, I'd still be annoyed about paying for a penalty I didn't believe I was legally obligated to pay. I've got a feeling that your landlord knows exactly what he's doing here, and he's partially protecting himself and partially using the system to milk as much $ out of you as he can, simply because any alternative will either cost you more or be too much trouble.

Hopefully your landlord will start looking for a new tenant ASAP and your cost will be limited to 1/2 months rent.

 

[dmw16]

Agreed. I hope he finds someone quickly. The penalty that seems to violate the basic lease laws (tho not spelled out in our lease) was what kinda set me off on this whole counter-offer thing.

I wonder if I should email him and explain myself and that a counter offer should be arriving in the mail shortly.

 

[Brainonska511]

I don't understand why you don't just find a subleter? Is your wife so helpless that she can't interview potential subleters??

 

[dmw16]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511
I don't understand why you don't just find a subleter? Is your wife so helpless that she can't interview potential subleters??

Not helpless in the least bit, but I don't like the idea of strangers being there when she is by herself.

 

[JJ2016]

Try to sublet; you can do it over the weekend.

 

[dmw16]

Originally posted by: JJ2016
Try to sublet; you can do it over the weekend.

I will accept is $825 penalty and let him try to sublet before I bother. The weekends are the only time I get to spend with my wife and I won't use them dicking around with people coming to see the place.

If he accepts my counter offer, great, if not, then I accept his initial offer.

 

[jonks]

Find a suitable (read: good credit/income) replacement tenant and the landlord will pretty much have to take him. In contract law there is a duty to mitigate damages. If you break the lease but the landlord has a replacement ready to go, he can't get any damages from you since there will not be any damages.

Leases are broken all the time because life throws curveballs at people sometimes requiring them to move. It would be wrong for you to simply abandon the property and not expect to pay anything if he can't find a replacement, but if you present one and the landlord refuses, he'd be unable to win in any suit against you. And why would he bother if you presented him with someone to pay the rent?

This isn't personal, or about each of you having made "committments". You signed a contract, that's all. It isn't marriage. If you need to break it because of circumstances, then help the landlord not lose any money by finding someone worthy to takeover the lease and neither of you will have anything to complain about.

His deal offer sucks because as you stated, he has absolutely no incentive to replace you. Your deal offer is less than perfect because you are breaking the lease and putting the onus of finding a replacement on him. Find the replacement yourself (craigslist?) and meet him halfway.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Welcome to CT where are you living?

Try subletting on craigslist.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: dmw16
I have no problem with advice that doesn't 'align' with what I want to hear. It was the personal attacks on my integrity that I object to.

I signed an agreement and I intend to honor it. HOWEVER, I am now seeking to modify that agreement in a way that both my landlord and I can agree on. I see no breach of integrity there. Like I said, if I just quit sending checks and said "so sue me" then it would be a different story.

You're contradicting yourself. First you say you intend to honor the agreement you made, then you say you want to make a new agreement. I would see the move to force the landlord into accepting a new agreement by the use of a lawyer as a breach of integrity. You might not - I do.

If you can amicably negotiate something with your landlord, I have no problem with that. Strongarming someone into accepting your idea of something equitable I just don't see in a very kind light. I'd be just as harsh on the landlord if he were trying to pull something on you.

[/quote]If he came to me and said he found new tenants 4 months early and was willing to compensate me (as I am willing to do for him in this situation) I'd consider his offer.[/quote]

That's just it - the compensation you're offering (or trying to get) falls well short of the original agreement. To continue the analogy, it would be like the landlord telling you he'd supply you with a new place to stay that's half the size - but your lease payment would stay the same (you seem to be trying to get for about half of the total remaining on your lease).


Edit: Just finished the thread.

Originally posted by: dmw16

Originally posted by: JJ2016
Try to sublet; you can do it over the weekend.

I will accept is $825 penalty and let him try to sublet before I bother. The weekends are the only time I get to spend with my wife and I won't use them dicking around with people coming to see the place.

If he accepts my counter offer, great, if not, then I accept his initial offer.

:thumbsup: