Question by steve42086: Need to break lease/ nothing in my lease concerning breaking it, any opinions?
I’ve recently signed a 1yr lease for my apt, but must now leave for personal reasons. My lease states nothing about what would happen if I must break my lease early. What should I do? Is there a loophole to break my lease without facing charges?

Best answer:

Answer by Ms. E
Hi,

Technically, you can break a lease even if the lease says you can’t. What the landlord then has to do is what is called “mitigate” damages. What this means is that the landlord has to make a reasonable effort to rent the apartment to someone else as quickly as is reasonable.

What happens then is that you will be charged for any rent in between when you moved out and the landlord got it rented again. The landlord can’t just sit around and not try to rent it again.

The bad thing is that you won’t likely be able to use the landlord as a good reference because you broke your lease. But, from what I’ve learned in law school (I’m just a law student, but am also a property manager of a 26 unit apartment building in California), you can still break your lease even though you said you’d be there a year, for instance. The landlord then has to make a reasonable effort to get it re-rented, but can then take the lost rent out of your security deposit.

But, of course, don’t expect a good reference.

Best of luck to you!

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Question by bobby_jorgensen32: I may need to break my lease but there is no information on my lease?
I may need to break my lease, in month 6/12, due to a possible job across the state. I looked through my lease contract and there is nothing on breaking a lease or pre-termination. It just says that there is a 0 subletting fee. Does this mean that legally there should be no penalty for breaking lease because I did not agree to anything on it in writing?

Best answer:

Answer by Shawn
It depends on what kind of “apartment” you are renting. If it’s just a room in someone’s house or something similar, then they may let you go free and clear. However, if you’re renting from a basic landlord in an apartment complex, then there’s likely a stiff penalty implied in your lease agreement.

Look through it again. In almost every lease out there, especially in your first year of renting, there is no “fee”, but you are responsible for paying rent until the end of the lease term. Most landlords will let you out without penalty IF you find someone to take over payments immediately. If they have to find a replacement tenant they’ll usually keep you on the hook until they can rent the place out again. If you can’t afford to pay for 2 places at once, then try to find someone to take the place over for you. If your current place is in high demand, you may only end up paying for 1, maybe 2 months until it gets filled again. Sorry, but a lease is a binding contract for the term. There’s a pretty hefty penalty for breaking it.

If you still don’t quite know, just sit down with your landlord and have them explain it to you. Who knows, they could be sympathetic and let you go free and clear.

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