I am wondering if breaking a lease hurts your credit score? I am also wondering how bad breaking a lease hurts your rental history? Like if I wanted to rent again in the future....would I be turned down because I broke this lease. (this is my first lease and the first time I would break a lease. I am going to give my landlord a 30 day notice)
2007-03-09 08:07:57 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Business & Finance ➔ Renting & Real Estate
Yes, it can hurt your credit score, but only if your landlord reports you to the credit agencies. Some will. Some won't. If I were a landlord, I would.
Yes, it could hurt your ability to rent again in the future, but again, not necessarily. Some apartments and townhouses ask for references and rental histories, and some do not. Some apartments and townhouses network and can get this information, and some do not. If an apartment one way or another finds out you broke a lease, especially a really nice place, you might get turned down.
Odds are it won't make a big difference in either of these areas, but it can. It's a gamble. Maybe you win. Maybe you lose. Provided you have a good reason to break it, however, I would examine your lease carefully. Is there anything on there that your landlord has not followed through on? I got out of a lease once simply by demanding to be released from my lease because the landlord had failed to live up his end of the lease by not properly maintaining the property. It worked for me, but it had better be true before you try it.
One last thing: if you "break" the lease, you may still be liable for the rent. In other words, you signed a contract. Your landlord is within their rights to take you to court and make you pay for it. Unlike the above things that MIGHT make a difference, a LOT of landlords DO follow up on their lease money. Most WILL take you to court if they have to. Money is money. So you may want to reconsider breaking the lease for this reason, if not the ones you were concerned about.
Good luck!
2007-03-09 08:21:36 · answer #1 · answered by Mr. Taco 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You do realize that if you signed a lease then you are responsible for paying the rent for the period of the lease, don't you? If you signed a year lease and you are only 8 months into it, then even if you moved you are responsible for the four months rent that are left on the lease. Your landlord can release you from this commitment but doesn't have to. So I suggest you speak to him/her about it before you do anything else.
2007-03-09 08:15:18 · answer #2 · answered by marklemoore 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It all depends on your landlord and what your actual lease says. If they are a nice landlord, they could let you go iwth just not returning your down payment that you should get back at the end of your lease. But, if they are mean and nasty, they could turn you over to collection agencies. As for not being able to rent in the future, just don't put that landlord down as a reference, and whomever you're renting form won't ever know.
Just be honest with your landlord and they should treat you ok.
2007-03-09 08:13:03 · answer #3 · answered by Sara S 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Apartments have their own rental history credit report that they pull from, so YES you will hurt your rental history. And most apartments do not accept Co-signors for a lease.
2007-03-09 08:19:33 · answer #4 · answered by withluv7 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋