Breaking a Lease (apartment, eviction, renter, deposit)

[RentGuy]

I have been approved in buying my first home after working in dead end jobs. My lease ends after February and I want to get the tax credit so I am closing on my home before December 1st. The problem is my apartment they have two options to break a lease A) Sublet where they find someone else and I get my Deposit back but must pay $200 which I dont mind or B) automatic cancellation and three months rent which is $1600 plus a loss in my deposit. I dont know how hard they are looking I gave them a 2 1/2 month notice. I dont have $1600 to give them and I feel that is unreasonable once you add in the deposit it equals close to $2000.

My question is can they come after me for the money? or will they? Or will they just put me in their records as a bad renter saying I owe them the money. Or will they take me to court? Cause I am tempted not to pay on the principal its way too much money for one month. I want to pay for the months I stay but thats alot of money to give out for nothing.

Also I have been looking on the internet about eviction cause what I am seeing is if I stopped paying them they would file a $245 Unlawful Detainer and then when I lose I would have to pay them my back rent plus the $245 court filing fee but I would still come out ahead cause the lease break is $1600.

I dont think they are working with me and I dont have the money to pay them $1600 all my money is going towards closing and like I said two months notice is enough time and its an unreasonable amount of money to break a lease.

[tilli]

Frankly - if you don't have the money to pay off your lease, you really have no business buying a house.

[STT Resident]

You signed a contract and if you breach the contract you most certainly can (and probably will) be sued and, yes, this will reflect very negatively on your credit rating. You may think you're being more than reasonable in giving your LLs 2.5 months notice of quit but your opinion means nothing where contract law is concerned.

Since you are about to become a home owner, I strongly suggest you abide by your lease and avoid a black mark on your credit rating. It will come back to bite you big time!

[DONNIEANDDONNA417]

make arrangements....if you do decide to break the lease you can pay them back when you receive your tax credit...

by the way congrats on the new house

[BigDGeek]

I closed on my house nearly 2 months before my lease ended and I considered paying off the remainder of the lease (about $2400) part of the cost of doing business. However, I did not turn the keys over to the landlord until the last day of my lease because I did not trust them to not double-rent the place.

It is not easy to time the end of a lease perfectly with buying a new house so you are not paying rent and a mortgage at the same time. I knew this going in, though!

It is not your landlord's problem that you bought a house and are eager to close prior to the end of your lease to get the tax credit. You signed a contract with the LL and you have every obligation to fulfill it. If you break your lease, your LL can and probably will come after you for damages and they would be 100% right to do so. Talk to him/her to see what your options are; maybe he/she will let you out of your lease. Maybe he/she won't. But renting is a business arrangement, your LL most likely sees you as a revenue stream, and they are going to do whatever they can to protect the income to which they are contractually entitled.

[Floridamom1970]

I just backed out of buying a house. I had two approvals from lenders and down payment assistance lined up. I had a contract on a house and then my original lender wanted information about my autistic childs disability payments that was illegal to ask for.

My own lease is up in March and I had thought that I could simply pay my usual rent, give my thirty days notice and pay my reletting fee just before we move out.It turned out that they want it all at once. As much as i wanted that house I had to let go and call it a rather expensive lesson learned.

I now know that I need to take a year and a half to save more money. Then when I have the 3.5% FHA down payment saved myself I will buy myself and my family a nice little house in a neighborhood that we want to live in. Like the OP, I thought that I could get the down payment assistance, buy a house collect the tax credit and use it to pay off most of my debts.

[Floridamom1970]

Oh and another option to consider is wether or not you could borrow the money to break out of your lease. If you take out a loan from a lender then you would have to do it ASAP AFTER closing. Then when you get the tax credit refund you could pay it back in full and still come out with over $6000.

I would have tried this myself,but my cards are at or near the limits as is my line of credit at the bank. I am working on paying them all off. I really did not even want to open up a new line of credit as there was no guarantee that I would even be approved for enough money to break the lease.

[bentlebee]

You signed the lease and you are responsible for what is in the contract....I can assure you that most management companies and LL will go to small claims court and get a judgment against you...I have done it and will do it every single time...it prevent other LL and companies to rent out to people who change their mind and who act in their own interest and stop paying because it is convenient for them.

I agree with Tilly...if you can't afford to pay for the rent, how can you buy a house...what if the refrigerator or washer brakes down...what will you do, stop paying your mortgage?