NWR: Rent Leases

Question for all my renters out there -

FH & I currently are locked into a lease till May. We want to buy a home and close in March so basically we want to break our lease 2 months early. I called the landlord to get his feedback, he said he would let us leave early but he would want the 2 months rent but would return our security. We have had quite a few issues in the complex and they know we are not happy and would never renew our lease with them.

Does anyone have any good tactics or know some legal advice (janna???) on how to get out of a lease????

I have no clue...When we rented it was from a friend so we never really had a lease agreement...

I would think though that in lieu of paying him the two months rent and getting your security back, wouldnt he just keep the security instead and let you go no strngs attached?

to be honest it depends on your landlord & if he/she likes you. when i used to do building management if the landlord didn't like a tenant he would be really mean & make them pay until the lease actually ended. however if he liked them he would be really nice.

if your landlord already said that you have to pay until your lease expiration date you should schedule your closing to occur around the same time. then you don't have to worry about giving them money for no reason.

I can't schedule my closing to be in May, its too long. I was hoping for him to say he would just keep the security, which would be ok with us bc its nothing really coming out of our pocket.

I just wanted to see if anyone knew of any loop holes.

you're definately going to have to read your lease. Normally the tenant has the longer end of the stick when renting BUT that is why there is a lease. not exactly helpful but:

http://blog.laborlawtalk.com/2007/12/13/breaking-a-lease-in-connecticut/

you can always hire a lawyer too but $$$ either way

It sounds like the landlord has convinced you he's doing you a favor when he hasn't. (1) He has to give you the security back anyway. (2) He'll 'let you leave' but keep two months rent... that mean's you're paying anyway, you can physically leave whenever you want. Giving you back your security is no kind of favor. It's what you would get at the end of the 2 months anyway. Even if it's giving it back early... doesn't really make a difference.

Your best bet is to try to find someone to rent your apartment (advertise it early and show it yourself) and then if you can present them with a person who wants to rent the apartment starting two months before your lease is up or whatever, then show the landlord that it's in his best interest to (1) let you out of the lease early, provided you give him a letter stating that you're going to vacate the apt on X date, and (2) then he can re-rent the apt starting that date and he'll have the 'security' of knowing it's rented for the following 8 months. That's what I did and it worked out perfectly, we found a great apt two months before my lease was up. You can use craigslist or apts.com or something (we allowed the broker who found us our new apt to show it, and then she gave us a cut of the commission on our apt).

Or, if he has one month's security he's holding, you can pay just the one month's rent and then he will take the unpaid rent out of the security. If he's giving back the security it's kind of the same thing. At the very least, you should speak to him and ask him if he could start advertising the apt earlier, so that in the event they find someone to rent it, it will work out for everyone and you'll vacate before the lease is up.

HTH, I was stuck in the same position a couple months ago

I thought it New York all that was required was 30 days notice to break a lease or move out?

At least at my apartment in Bayside it said it on the lease agreement....

What are the ramifications if you just don't pay those last 2 months?