breaking a lease

does anyone knoe a way to break a lease without suffering too many penalties? My FI lives in NYC and there should be no problem in finding someone else to rent. Thanks.

Need more information...

1) Does his lease have a cancellation clause? 2) Does his lease allow him to sublet? 3) Exactly how much time is left on the lease? It's a tough market now (I do this for a living in Manhattan), if his rent is under market, the landlord will probably be thrilled to *help* him vacate. However, if his rent is at or above market, there may be difficulty re-renting the apartment.

Need more information...

there is no cancellation clause - it says if he leaves he has to pay the rest of the rent. he may not sublet or assign. There are 8 months left...do you think there is a chance. His next door neighbor came to look at what a 2 br layout was like b/c she wants to move in with her boyfriend. Would it be possible to tell the landlord that my FI is getting married and buying a house and this person wants to move in? He pays way too much for rent...

Hmmm....

Ouch! 8 months left? Does the same landlord own the apartment next door to your FI? If not, that might be your out. The landlord might be willing to allow her (the neighbor) to fulfill the lease as long as there`s no loss of rent. Best case scenario: he should tell the landlord that he`s getting married :) and buying a house. It doesn`t mean the landlord will be nice about it. Hopefully, he will be. Worst case scenario: (not advisable) your FI breaks the lease and leaves the apartment vacant (abandonment), the landlord is required to mitigate damages by re-renting it ASAP and he is not allowed, by law, to collect double rent, so once it`s re-rented, your FI is released. He would be held responsible for the costs incurred in re-renting, i.e. getting a lower rent, painting & cleaning, advertising, and he may have to surrender his security deposit. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any more questions.

Options

Can your FI rent to these people w/o telling the landlord? i know it is a pain, but if he knows these people and trusts them he could always have them write your FI a check each month and then your FI could write a check to the landlord himself - pain in the ass though! or: if your FI tells the landlord that he is moving out and gives her a 30 or 60 day notice (whatever the contract says)and she finds someone to move in w/in that time, she cannot continue charging him for rent. kathi is right, the landlord cannot double charge on an apartment. as long as she is collecting money from 1 person for the apartment, she cannot charge your FI for the same apartment even if it is a penalty charge. or: what i did once was tell the leasing agency that i was moving out - transfer w/ the company(didn`t even give a 30 day notice), wrote them a certified letter and they contacted me via phone saying that i would have to pay the remainder of the rent (like 3 months and lose my deposit). when i did move, i wrote them a check for the month and on the back of the check wrote final payment and monies owed for apartment #15b. they cashed the check which made it a binding agreement to the terms that i wrote. i did lose my deposit, but never heard from them afterwards, never sent a forwarding address and nothing has come about it ie: collection agency. if you write something on the back of the check and they sign it and cash it, they are legally bound and agreeing to the terms stated. or: as others suggested, speak w/ the landlord and explain your situation. tell her that you are giving her a 30 day notice and in that time you will find a someone to rent the apartment. don`t let her think that you have someone in mind. tell her that if a tenant cannot be found within that time frame that you (your FI) will agree to stay another 30 days until you can find another tenant. let her think that you understand that you want to abide by the terms of the signed lease and in doing so, that you will take on the responsibility for finding someone else to rent. hope this helps!

Where is the apt. by the way?

I know many, many people who would be interested in a two bdrm apartment!!

Michelle SF

It's in the Lower East Side - Rivington St and Allen (1st Ave) - 2 blocks south of Houston. It was just remodled 2 years ago. Near the F and JMZ subways