What if I don't pay my lease contract termination fee?

Question

I just signed a 13-monthes lease contract in July. Right now I want to vacate this apartment which is going to broke the contract. The termination fee will be more than $2000 dollar with 60 days prior notice!!! And I must move NOW. I am thinking what if I just get out of here without notifying my leasing office and don't pay the termination fee? What are they going to do if I ran? (of course I did pay monthly rent)

Well, they will use 'law' weapon for sure...The big headache is they don't even allow subleasing! I might do that without their knowledge~~How long dose it take for me to really get someone else in this apartment?! I must move this week... And 60 days prior notice, oh god, I haven't done this so. My landlord is a company! I definitely would be honest with them BUT they don't care, they just want my $$$ and make my progress complicated. They even charge me $275 for late payment. (I mean I did pay rent and everything for the time I live there, I just hate the termination fee.) If I pay termination fee and want to move now, they still request me to pay additional 2 monthy rent (almost $2000 for 2 monthes rent)! What a hell bad company!

Answer 1

If you don't pay they will almost certainly get a judgement against you. There is probably also a clause in your lease allowing them to tack on legal expenses - While lawyers are cheap bastards, their services are expensive. Now, getting a judgement does not automatically take your money. They can ruin your credit by hiring a collection agency to report the unpaid judgement to the credit monitoring companies. If you plan on renting again in the future - good luck finding an apartment!

Answer 2

You still owe the $2,000 termination fee. Just like with a cell phone, you would owe it. Since it also requires 60-day notice, you would be required to pay 60-days worth of rent as well as the $2,000 termination fee, so you might as well stay for those two months. If you run and don't pay either the rent or the termination fee, they can put an eviction on your credit and sue you in small claims court to recover the monies lost from your breach of contract.

Answer 3

Bottom line is you signed a contract.... a legal binding document... do not run... rather communicate with your landlord.... see if your landlord will allow you to sub lease the unit to another party, thus allowing you out of the lease. Otherwise wheather you leave or not you are still responsible for that unit for the entire 13 months.

Answer 4

Well, you can run but you cannot hide. They will still go to court and file a judgement against you. Don't forget all of those other things they can charge you for-believe me, there are alot! You need to be honest with them. That won't change the $$$ that you owe them, but it will give you a better opportunity to negotiate the figure in the future. Put it in writing.

Answer 5

They will make it very hard for you to ever rent property again.....Have you thought about sub-letting? Do you know someone who may need a place to live? If you do, you may be able to talk to your leasing agent about that possiblity first.....You can't just run out a contract....They will find you in the end.....Good Luck!

Answer 6

Are you talking about leaving but still paying rent? Because that's legal. But if you leave and don't, you can (and will) get sued.

Are you allowed to have a subleaser? If so, I'd get to advertising to find one and do that. Much cheaper.

Answer 7

tell them which you get your finished month in case you signed a 365 days long contract. and study your contracts greater clever next time (human beings will attempt to drag a change in the event that they think of you will no longer study each and every thing). additionally, continually ask for a duplicate of the contract on the TIME OF SIGNING. do no longer sign until eventually you will get a duplicate, via fact it rather is feasible for them to alter it and in case you have not got a duplicate...then there is not any thank you to coach it.