Lease break (sublease, apartment complex, rental) - Phoenix area - Arizona (AZ) - City-Data Forum

DOOOO · 12-09-2011, 12:49 AM

I am a student moving to another state to complete my education, I have 7 months left on my lease. I have been with the complex for 2.5 years and never defaulted on my rent. They want me to pay lease break fees since i gave them a 30 day notice. They are coating about 1200 dollars and i don't have such monies, what can i do? can i just move out and not pay rent again? what are the consequences of this action? I currently don't owe them any rent, i have payed all of my December rent. I am really trying to get someone to sublease but all my efforts have been in vain. Please help. I need to move out in the next week in other to start school in the other state. Thanks

rgscpat · 12-09-2011, 01:23 AM

Does your (old) school have a free legal clinic?

Zippyman · 12-09-2011, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DOOOO

I am a student moving to another state to complete my education, I have 7 months left on my lease. I have been with the complex for 2.5 years and never defaulted on my rent. They want me to pay lease break fees since i gave them a 30 day notice. They are coating about 1200 dollars and i don't have such monies, what can i do? can i just move out and not pay rent again? what are the consequences of this action? I currently don't owe them any rent, i have payed all of my December rent. I am really trying to get someone to sublease but all my efforts have been in vain. Please help. I need to move out in the next week in other to start school in the other state. Thanks

Move, then run like the wind!.

redjan1225 · 12-09-2011, 09:44 AM

You are liable for the charges. You signed a contract when you moved in.

I had the same thing happen when I bought a house. The sellers chose to close early and I had to break a rental lease. I had a perfect rental history, but ended up paying about $1200 to break the lease. The $1200 included forfeiting my deposit and pet deposit.

HX_Guy · 12-09-2011, 09:51 AM

There really isn't anything you can do. Either pay the fee to break the lease or don't pay it and they will send it to collections and your credit will be affected.

Finger Laker · 12-09-2011, 09:58 AM

HX pretty much nailed it ..... only other option I could think of is if your apartment complex is open to a sub-let ... basically you'd find someone to take on the rest of your lease, but it would have to fit the approval of the complex

Other than that you are either going to have to pay the early termination fee in your lease. If you just skip they will send it to collections for the entire remaining term (so instead of the fee they'd send to collections the 7 remaining months).

Zippyman · 12-09-2011, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Finger Laker

HX pretty much nailed it ..... only other option I could think of is if your apartment complex is open to a sub-let ... basically you'd find someone to take on the rest of your lease, but it would have to fit the approval of the complex

Other than that you are either going to have to pay the early termination fee in your lease. If you just skip they will send it to collections for the entire remaining term (so instead of the fee they'd send to collections the 7 remaining months).

They can't really do that - they can only charge for the time the place actually remains vacant. If that's less than a month, he's out a month. Then they get to try to collect, from someone who already stated he doesn't have any money, and has already fled the state.

Run, snowflake, RUN...

Rick Lee · 12-09-2011, 10:30 AM

EVen if you have the money to lose, unless you buy wherever you're headed, a future landlord will see that lease break on your credit report. I'm a landlord and the thing I look for most in a credit report is housing history and prior landlord/tenant issues. The very next landlord might not get wind of it, but the one after that will. And the trick with landlording is not to call the prospective tenant's previous landlord, but rather the landlord before that one.

Zippyman · 12-09-2011, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

EVen if you have the money to lose, unless you buy wherever you're headed, a future landlord will see that lease break on your credit report. I'm a landlord and the thing I look for most in a credit report is housing history and prior landlord/tenant issues. The very next landlord might not get wind of it, but the one after that will. And the trick with landlording is not to call the prospective tenant's previous landlord, but rather the landlord before that one.

True, if the O.P.s' credit report is worth $1200, he should certainly pay. As a landlord, I wouldn't rent to someone with a judgement or a ding from a previous landlord on their credit. But, he will be in a much better position to settle the issue fairly if he isn't in Arizona.

If he leaves the place clean, documents that with lots of pictures, and has a neighbor verify when the place is actually re-rented, then calls the landlord from a trac-phone with an offer to settle - they'll take a fair offer instead of nothing, which is what they can expect to get by smearing his credit.

Tenants move sometimes, and landlords are in the business of renting properties out. A landlord that uses a lease as a cudgel to extract excess fees from a decent tenant isn't any more fair than a tenant trashing a unit and running like the wind.

Finger Laker · 12-09-2011, 11:05 AM

Good luck with all of that - very difficult to get all of that lined up and even if you do the best case is they were only vacant for a month (when it sounds like his buyout is 2 months) .... so for all that extra work and contention you may end up $600 better than you previously were

If it ends up in collections you can eventually end up in court - the credit will follow you, student loans, other housing options, etc.