How Can I break my apartment lease?

Question

There are several reasons for wanting to move:
1)mangment- these are some of the most horrible people I have ever ahd to deal with. they treat me like a child, are very rude, and simply do not care about my needs.
2)my roof leaked- during a rainstorm the entire corner of my room began dripping with water. they waited a over a week for it to be fixed, only doing something when I came into the office demanding it be fixed immidiatly.
3) no pets. I live by myself, its lonely. I would love to adopt a dog, or even have a bird...a hampster? but NO PETS....
4)At night I have to sleep with a humidifier becuase I can here the tenent upstialrs trounce around and watch tv.
Now: Once I spoke to the office about moving out and breaking lease they said I could do so if I paid the remainder of the lease, or found someone else. However everyperson I have offered to take over my lease is, they have found ways to reject them. I don't know what to do. I have to get out of there...I'm going nuts!

Answer 1

PLEASE don't listen to christmas mac daddy! You'd be sorry.
The only way you can break the lease is if your living conditions don't meet health & safety codes.
#1. Problems w/management are personal & subjective
#2. They DID repair the roof
#3. No pets if that's what it says in the lease
#4. You could ask management to tell above tenants they are disturbing your sleep, but from what you state, I doubt they would
I can certainly understand why you want to move, but none of the above reasons is LEGALLY valid. They'll come after you for the remainder of the lease, believe me, & you DON'T want to go through that, (plus--you'd have no reference for a new place). You would HAVE to pay, & probably fight for your deposit, if you made one, & be certain you cleaned the place & hadn't damaged it n ANY way, or they'll keep the cleaning deposit, too. I've seen this happen many, many times. Best you can do is keep trying to find someone to take it over. I hope there aren't too many months left. Good luck!

Edit: I've handled a lot of landlord/tenant cases. christina m is totally wrong; it is NOT illegal to demand the remainder of the lease. Mr Mojo Risin gave you some--tentatively--good advice, but you haven't stated anything that indicates they haven't lived up to their side of the lease. If everyone has "found ways to reject.." it may be unlikely they'll find a new tenant soon. They WILL fight it; necessary motions w/the Court aren't that costly that it wouldn't be cost effective. As for Mark H, everyone is trying to be helpful, but have they been through it & know the legal process? If you feel you'd like advice--& I've given you what anyone would, unless there are factors you didn't mention--go to a PARALEGAL. They're far less expensive, & landlord/tenant cases are NOT complex as to determination & procedure. I've seen landlords get EXTREMELY nasty.

Second edit! bostonian's suggestions should be well taken. He is so on target about "mitigating damages." This often comes into play. That's why I included the thing about--if the people you hoped might take over the lease had rejected it, it might not be very appealing & could take awhile for the landlord to rent.

Answer 2

most rentals in a particular area have an organization they belong to and therefore have the same rules, same lease. If they said you would have to pay the balance of the lease then that's exactly what they mean, and if you don't then they will ruin it for you so you can't get your next apartment.

My suggestion is this: because it takes about $1500 or more to make a move, save up for that move first. And save up money for the pet deposit as well. Then when your next renewal comes up you'll have enough money to move instead of being dunned. If you're going nuts, realize those people are just people too and no matter where you go you'll have to put up with stuff...the grass is not greener on the other side. Do your best to ignore the annoyances until you can buy your own home...but even then you'll have some kind of annoyances. People usually leave every year or two so it's not that big a thing, just that you need to have enough money when you move to do what you want.

Answer 3

It does not say how much time you have on your lease, but if it is a short period, I would just stick it out. I am not sure what type of deposit you left either. But, you would forfeit any deposit if you break the lease.

If you are very unhappy, I would just break the lease. I would give them a months notice and then just leave. Chances are you already gave them a month's deposit and that would cover rent for the following month. The landlord could come after you for the remainder of the lease if the apartment remains empty the entire time. Once the landlord rents the apartment to someone else, then they are no longer losing money on the apartment.

Most landlords try to fill an empty apartment as soon as possible. They understand that there is very little to gain in trying to collect on a broken lease because it is a long time consuming process to try and bring you to court. Then their is the chance that they lose in court because they did not live up to their side of the lease. Most landlords realize it is more cost effective to lease the apartment out as soon as they can instead.

Best of luck

Answer 4

Psychic Cat is pretty well on the mark. I'd like to add one comment though, from personal experience as a tenant who has broken a few leases, and later as a landlord who has had to deal with broken leases.

Legally you can be held responsible for the remainder of the lease, BUT. And this is a big BUT! The landlord does have a legal obligation to re-let the premises to mitigate your liability to him. You are not obligated to refer potential replacement tenants but it is in your interest to do so. The landlord MUST consider them using their normal approval criteria. If you refer someone with a similar credit history and capacity to pay the rent the landlord cannot deny them. This can be tricky to prove -- you'll need someone who is willing to confide their financial history to you and testify in court on your behalf but it can be done. On balance, the landlord only needs to make their usual effort to place a tenant and is NOT obligated to place the next potential tenant who walks through the door in your old unit particularly if there are other vacant units on the property.

If it goes to court, most courts in most jurisdictions have held that 2 months is sufficient time to find and place a new tenant. Of course, local conditions can alter that time period. If housing supply is tight the landlord may only be given a couple of weeks. If there's an over-supply of housing you could be held liable for the entire remainder of the lease.

Probably your best bet right now is to suck-up and bear with it until you're within a month or two of your lease end date. That way they can't hold you responsible for much -- certainly nothing beyond the end of your least anyway.

Answer 5

Just because you found a warm body to take over your lease doesn't mean they are qualified.

You can walk, and lose your security deposit and pay future rent until the end of your lease or until they find a new tenant, or you can buy out of the lease by making them an offer.

Answer 6

There are two alternatives.

1) You can simply walk out on the lease -- move out, stop paying, and hope they landlord doesn't take you to court. If they do, you will lose.

2) You can take the lease agreement to an attorney and spend the money for a couple of hours of his time to review the agreement and point out what constitutes termination of the agreement for cause (as opposed to termination for convenience, which is what you've been asking the landlord for).

If they really are bad landlords, it is quite possible that you can establish cause for termination of the lease, either because of past failure to perform on their part, or (more likely) because you take the right steps in the future when they fail to perform. An attorney can advise you about, and assist with, the "right steps."

Yes, it will cost you a few bucks -- but what price your sanity?

Answer 7

Keep in mind that Me O is a property owner. He would love for you to break the lease and come after you legally. Take the advice of the others who urge you to save up and then get out of there. That is why I do not ever want to rent again! If your next rental is imminent, go for a low cost rental, save up and buy a small house. Then you can have your pet and be happy with no one above you to disturb you.

Answer 8

You need to check the contents of the lease. Get some legal advice on it too, to see whether the landlords have already broken the lease. If they have, then you are free to walk.

Answer 9

Find a new place to live. Give your 30 day notice. Ask that your deposit be applied to your last month's rent. And move out. Be
prepared, they may serve you with a 3 day notice; depending on
the state that you live in. Move since you're not happy.

Answer 10

they can't make you pay the remainder of the lease that is illegal bring a legal represenitive with you and be very firm about it