breaking a lease ? (apartment, tenant, renters, credit check) - Renting -Apartments, houses, lease, tenant, landlord, agreements, termination - City-Data Forum

jkiss · 03-02-2009, 12:36 PM

My dh was laid off last week. He is/was the major bread winner although I do work full time. I paid March's rent and gave our notice to vacate on 4-1-09. We have 6 months left on our lease. While I totally understand if they don't get the place rented we are liable...however we are beyond broke and very well may end up in a homeless shelter. Also the landlord isn't in the best of financial shape either. I feel absolutely horrible. I have never done this before. I will leave the house clean and nicer than when we moved in but we won't be able to pay after 4-1-09. Any suggestions? BTW even with unemployment we will be behind.

Naptowner · 03-02-2009, 02:52 PM

Try everything you can to get another renter in there. Craigslist is free, although your landlord may run background and credit checks that the new tenant would have to pay for. Perhaps there are other places around town where you can post ads for the apartment. Keep the place spotless so that when other prospective tenants look at it, they won't be turned off by the condition of the place. Deep clean everything as well as you can before you move out. These are things I think can help both you and the landlord - it's in everyone's best interest to have another tenant take your place, and if you do most of the legwork on finding new tenants, it takes the strain off the landlord.

ShaneSA · 03-02-2009, 08:54 PM

At least you gave notice. if the LL chooses to persue it, so be it. You are doing the fair thing in this economic bad time. I've had 2 renters just leave. I didn't know it until they failed to pay the rent. At least your LL has a chance to get the place re-rented.
BTW, you are not liable for the remainder of the rent if it gets rented. The LL can't collect rent twice.
Best of luck to you.

mikaela · 03-03-2009, 01:28 AM

Maybe you can talk to your landlord and settle with something you both can live with. Since you mentioned that your Landlord is also not in a good financial shape, maybe you can help each other. I agree with the suggestion of Naptowner. You can do this and maybe your landlord will agree on it.

Lacerta · 03-03-2009, 10:00 AM

I've had one tenant abandon, which we didn't know about until he failed to pay rent. He was month to month, but didn't give notice. We sent him a bill for the months rent we were already out when we learned about it, plus the next month's, since he hadn't given notice, as well as for all the damage he did to the property.

I've also had one tenant call up on February 27th and say he was moving...that day. One day notice. He was also breaking the lease, but only 2 months early. We held him to paying March, but let him off for April.

Keep good communication lines open. Not much I hate worse than a tenant who avoids me. What the others said is the best advice. Look for replacement tenant possibilities. Keep the place spotless (and available any time) for showings. Leave when you agreed to and clean well. If the LL holds your feet to the fire after that, there isn't much you can do about it, but you'll at least know you did the right thing.

jkiss · 03-03-2009, 05:43 PM

Thanks everyone. I e-mailed her today and let her know the house still needs to be rented but since my dh is tranferring to another place 180 miles from here we will keep paying the rent as long as he has a job. I pray he doesn't get laid off in the new place. (he works for the rr) The economy is killing us. I have always taken care of the places we have lived in. When we moved here it was very dirty and I cleaned it, the ll also gave me permission to paint it since it was disgusting. It looks pretty decent now. I have always been up front with all LL. I can't imagine leaving a place dirty or with no notice. I know some people do though. My sister is like that.