Should I Get Out of My Short Term Lease? (apartment, deposit, fees)

[Grad23]

I am temporarily living in the suburbs of another city in the Midwest. I am originally from the East Coast but living here temporally until November on a short-term lease for work.

I just graduated college and have taken a job here in the Midwest until late November/Early December. I am also paying rent on an apartment with a close friend back home-as I never anticipated leaving the area when I graduated college. Which was a really bad move on my part in retrospect.

My employer needed me up here as soon as I possibly could as soon as I was offered the job. So I moved here with the need to pick a place to live quickly, not knowing the area, and at the time believing that I was facing budget constraints in picking an apartment.

I have been thinking about breaking the short term lease mainly due to the fact that I absolutely hate the town I live in for a variety of reasons as it's arguably the trashiest place I''ve seen, the town's main strips consist of nothing but loan shark joints, businesses advertising that they take EBT or Medicaid benefits, discount stores, fast food joints, tattoo parlors, and empty storefronts.

A lot of the people here are pretty trashy too. Traffic is very bad at all times of the day even in off hours and at night, and often interferes with my work. In addition, it is smack dab next to one of the most dangerous cities in the country and only about a 10-15 minute drive into the heart of it. Strangely enough where I live has a low crime rate on paper overall.

However, in general getting to know the area from living here overall. The town I am living in is not highly regarded as a good place to live.

I realize in retrospect that I could have lived some place a lot nicer for what I'm paying right now. Overall I'm miserable where I currently am. Hence I've given some thought to trying to get out of my lease by subletting my apartment here for the reminder of it and finding someplace else until Nov/Dec. Or even just taking the bullet and breaking the lease/deal with the consequences.

Although I'm also finding a lot of reasons to not do ether as if I'm going to be here for a month and a half at most is it's worth it to go through all the trouble of even doing a swap just to live someplace nicer? I mean if I find myself staying here for a lot longer I can just move someplace else when the lease is up.

In addition I figure that doing so would also cost a lot in administrative and other costs like utilities since those all add up not to mention unforeseen consequences of all of this.

Hence I'm thinking it might not be worth the trouble of trying to get out of my lease here, esp. if I'm going home at the end of November?

Would it be worth breaking my lease to find someplace a lot nicer for the reminder of my time here? Or am I just better riding things out until it expires? Even if I were able to do a housing swap that meets my needs?

Thank you in advance for any replies I get
Grad 23,

[moon2]

It sounds like a whole lot of trouble for just 6-8 weeks - and you could be opening up a bigger world of hurt subletting to someone you don't know, who would take a place in a sketchy area. You'd be liable for any damages they do, and what if they stop paying rent and squat?

Personally, I'd just suck it up for that short a time, or find out what it would cost to get out of the lease, though with that short a time left, best guess is they'd hold you to it. Couldn't hurt to ask if they'd let you out w/ 30 days notice though.

[FromChicagotoSeattle]

Oh goodness. It's only 2 months. The neighborhood "looks trashy" but you haven't had any run ins or incidences besides bad traffic.

You're young. Most young people are more flexible with their "dislikes" when they know it's only going to be very short term. You really need to focus on other things in life, than some place you're going to be living for 2 months, having empty storefronts. Is this post even serious?

[Kim in FL]

It's not worth moving when you only have 6-8 weeks left on the lease. By the time you find something, get approved, get all your monies together (the penalty fee for breaking the lease, the app fees and deposit for the new place,) you'll have roughly a month to go. Suck it up.