How to break free of your lease

Despite all your careful efforts, you simply can’t uncover everything you need to know about an apartment before signing the lease. No amount of due diligence and number of visits can fully uncover your neighbors’ strange habits or the super’s apathy towards your nonfunctional heater.

Renting an apartment is supposed to be a temporary, one or two year commitment, but sometimes even that is too long. Lee Lin, chief executive of RentHop, offered advice on breaking your lease.

Carefully read through your lease to understand what the rules are for lease breaks and sublets for your unit. How long you have rented the unit may be a factor. For example, it may be easier for tenants to break their lease once they have lived in the unit for at least 12 months vs. a new tenant who has only been living there for a few months.

Contact your landlord or management company- don’t go around them. In other words, don’t try to sublet the apartment or find a new tenant without talking to the landlord first; they’re bound to find out from a super or doorman. This could create potential legal issues for you and your security deposit may be forfeited. Ask whether you are able to break the lease if you can find a new tenant to take over. If yes, ask if you would be assigning the lease to the new tenant.

Bring them a tenant to replace you. Since the new tenant often pays the fee, the tenant breaking the lease often gets out of the lease without any additional payment. In this case, make sure you will be assigning the lease to a new tenant instead of subletting the unit; if you are assigning the lease to a new tenant you are relieved of all connection to the lease.

If you can’t find a new tenant, inquire about subletting. If you do not obtain approval from your landlord to assign the lease to a qualified tenant, you can ask for the right to sublet the unit. If subletting is permitted, obtain written approval from your landlord and ensure that you have an executed sublet agreement in place with the new tenant.

If you cannot sublet the apartment, speak to a qualified attorney who specializes in residential tenant’s rights to determine what options you have left to try to get out of your lease. For example, in some states, the landlord may not continue to hold you responsible for the lease once a new tenant moves in at an equal or greater price. Even if the new tenant signs at a lower price, the legal damages to the landlord would only include the difference between your rent and the new tenant’s rent for the duration remaining on your lease.

Always get it in writing –whether you are inquiring about breaking the lease, finding out about policies on replacement tenants or subletters, or getting permission from the landlord/management company to break the lease, always supply inquiries in writing and get answers in writing (at least on email) to legally protect yourself.

Research rent guidelines and tenant rights laws in your city or state. Some parts of the country, such as New York and California, are notoriously tenant-friendly and provide many tenant protections in the event of a landlord disputes. Other parts of the country, such as Nevada and Texas, are known to be extremely landlord-friendly. Usually the state level is the place to begin but individual cities can offer additional regulation.