Amazon.com Review Anyone who's ever run afoul of a landlord will appreciate the information contained in Every Tenant's Legal Guide, a comprehensive handbook of tenants' rights put out by Nolo Press. Are you curious about the strange-sounding clause in your lease? What's the best way to make sure your security deposit is returned when you move out? Janet Portman and Marcia Stewart answer these and countless other questions as they walk readers through each step of renting, from finding an apartment to giving notice. Credit reports, rent control, grace periods for late rent, privacy rights, evictions--the book lists the legal rights and responsibilities of both landlord and tenant in almost every rental situation imaginable. If you do get into legal difficulties, the state-by-state charts listing key landlord-tenant laws might come in especially handy. But the time to acquire this book is before things come to such a pass. With Every Tenant's Legal Guidein hand, you just might save yourself a lot of aggravation--and money. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

4 Responses to “Can You Break An Apartment Lease Before The Start Date?”

1. jimmy dean says:

   August 23, 2009 at 3:26 am

   That would be a good question for the apartment manager. Most of the time they will work with you.
2. Morganna says:

   August 23, 2009 at 3:26 am

   I has to do this once and the lady was really nice about it but she kept our security deposit.
3. L.J. Watcher says:

   August 23, 2009 at 4:10 am

   Most states have the landlord/tenant laws posted on/linked to their website. If the apartment manager is not willing to work with you on this, I would suggest that you find the laws specific to your state.
   Good luck!!
4. Nickel says:

   August 23, 2009 at 5:02 am

   Hahaha! You sound worse than me. Well, usually you sign the lease when you pick up the keys and pay the first month’s rent. Are you absolutely SURE what you signed was the actual lease and not a “pre” contract, authorization to pull your criminal or credit or some such? They gave you a copy, right? I’d say if it really is the bona fide lease, then yeah, you’re probably screwed as far as their reporting you to the credit bureaus (if they have your social security no., which you gave them? no?) Other than that I wouldn’t worry too much. Broken leases are not a felony – they will haunt you in the fact that next time you might have to put down more money as a deposit and may even bring your credit score down a little, but not a huge deal, really.
   (If what you signed was NOT the real lease then you are off the hook except for the deposit – they won’t give that back).