OT: Breaking a rental lease???

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-04-2004
OT: Breaking a rental lease???
2
Thu, 06-09-2005 - 4:41pm

Does anyone know how to go about breaking a rental lease on an apt.? I have signed a one year lease, back in January and now my apt. complex is going to pot. They don't keep the buildings up anymore, they don't seem to care when I make a complaint about a loud neighbor and now there are a lot of cars being stolen and broken into again. My car was stolen a year ago and I now have a garage, but last night my DBF's expensive after market fog lights were stolen off his car. I have lived there for almost 4 years and seen it getting worse and worse, but more so in the last couple months. I know I will not be signing another lease in January, but is there any way to break my current lease? Thanks in advance for any advise you might have.

~leanne

~leanne

deciding to be happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect, but that you had decided to look beyond the imp

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-02-2001
Thu, 06-09-2005 - 5:16pm

You should read your lease. It should tell say what the procedure is if you want to break the lease. If you have lived in the same complex for more than 1 year, you should be able to break the lease with no penalty as long as you give 30 days notice. You could always call the management company and ask.

Good luck!

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-20-2004
Thu, 06-09-2005 - 5:16pm
Leann,
First thing you have to do is read your lease, and see what the terms are. With some leases, you are responsible up until the expiration of the lease unless they can find another tenant. Some leases will only hold you liable for one month, etc. First thing to do is read the fine print on your lease. Then go to your state governments home page and search for landlord-tenant laws. I broke my last lease..the lease was went from one year to month to month with 60 day notice of move-out. There was a no moveout in winter clause, so they were trying to stick us with rent from December to march because we gave notice on Sept 7 instead of September 1. I had agreed to pay November's rent since it was not a full 60 days notice, but they wouldn't budge. They didn't deliver notice to the terms of our new lease. I did the research myself and then went to an attorney and for under $100 (again, i had the law right in front of me..attorney didn't even have to do any research) resolved the issue.
So anyway, the easy answer to your question is that it depends on your lease and the laws of your state. But every state has landlord-tenant laws, and you have rights as a renter, which if they are not being fulfilled, may void your lease altogether. So read things over and if you have the specifics, i might be able to point you in the right direction (THOUGH I AM NOT A LAWYER SO I"M NOT QUALIFIED TO GIVE LEGAL ADVICE!!!)
Good luck, Heather