What does it take to get someone to take over my apartment lease?

Question

Here is my problem. Me and my GF got an apartment in Ventura, but its costing us a lot more than we thought and we dont have the play money we want, and we want to move back to Bakersfield, but i wasent sure what i needed to do to get someone to take over the lease.

Answer 1

If you are a tenant who wants to move out permanently, one option is to “assign” your lease to a new tenant who is acceptable to the landlord. Use a "Consent to Assignment of Residential Lease" to turn over the remainder of your lease to someone else. Unless the landlord agrees otherwise, you’ll still be responsible for rent payments if the new occupant fails to pay. Having a second source of payment is one reason savvy landlords agree to an assignment.

There are generally two ways that a tenant/lessee can transfer his interest in the Lease Agreement to a third party: sublease and assignment. In both cases, the original tenant grants a third party the right to possess and use the leased property, enjoying the same rights under the Lease Agreement that the original tenant did. In both cases, however, the landlord may have to give consent before the transfer can be carried out.

A sublease grants a third party the same rights to occupy and use the leased property that were enjoyed by the original lessee. However, the original lessee remains ultimately accountable to the landlord under the original terms of the lease. The original lessee is no longer entitled to use the premises, but is liable for failure to pay rental payments, damage to the premises, or other default conditions.

An assignment is a complete transfer of the Lease Agreement to a third party. Once an assignment is made, the original lessee is absolved of all responsibility under the lease, and the third party becomes directly accountable to the landlord under the terms of the Lease Agreement.

In many cases, Lease Agreements will require the original tenant to obtain a Landlord Consent to Sublease or a Landlord Consent to Assignment before any such transfer can be made. In the absence of any provision in the lease requiring landlord consent to a sublease or assignment, state law will govern. California landlord consent to sublease is not mandatory by law nor is landlord consent to assignment. The reason for this difference is that under a sublease, the original parties (landlord and original lessee) continue to be held accountable under the lease agreement. When an assignment is made, this is not the case.

Answer 2

You will have to work it out with your landlord. They might not be so understanding that you don't have enough "play" money to do what you want and pay the rent.

If your apartment is in a sought after location, the landlord might be willing to let you out of your lease early. We have apartments, and whenever someone wants out early of their 2 bedrooms we let them out (because we have so few of them and they are always in demand), but not until we have it re-leased, at that time we can also raise the rent to what fair market value is.

We tell them that as soon as we find new tenants they are free to move. In the mean time you'll probably have to allow the landlord to come into your apartment to show it to prospective tenants. They might also be willing to let you sub-lease your apartment, to find other renters for the length of your lease, but you will be liable if they skip out in the middle of the night without paying rent.

Answer 3

you can sublease it to another tenant, that is if you are allowed to, check in the contract you signed with the landlord.

Answer 4

first you need the landlord's permission, and if they give it you have to find people to want to take it over.....