Getting out of a lease

commercial?

residential?

depends on the language of the specific lease.

 

I believe there are specific guidelines for what a landlord can do in Texas, and I don't believe it includes accelerating your lease. Not sure but if you want I can ask my wife who I believe looked at the guidelines when we broke a lease (she got a job in another city - she's also an attorney like Max btw).

 

Just about every lease is similarly written, especially with apartments.

If you break a lease, you are responsible for 80% of your rent per month until they can locate a new tenant.

Typically, that means an apartment can charge you for 80% of your lease for two months. After that, you have a legitimate argument with the lessor as to why they haven't found a new tenant.

So to break a lease, expect a penalty of 160% of 1 months rent.

 

I got out a lease very quickly by sleeping with the owner's daughter.

 

...or, you could hire one of your buddies to take all of your stuff and put it in his place, then complain to the manager that you don't feel safe there. I'm sure you could convince the manager to break the lease for you.

 

Or you could be honest and let the manager know you found another place and would like to move.

I think managers would rather let you walk then risk keeping you against your will. Think of all the damage you could cause to the property?

My sister in law recently got out of her lease by just asking if it was ok.

J

 

Is this in Houston? You should go talk to the complex. There may be a waiting list because a friend of mine who just moved back said that he had a hard time finding a place due to a lot of the displaced New Orleans residents getting apartments. They may be willing to let you out of the lease. It's rare, but it's happened before.

 

Hmm...maybe you can buy your way out but it doesn't sound like you have a buy-out clause in your lease...or you would have seen it already. Usually, it is one and a half month's rent to buy your way out. They may still allow you to buy your way out, though. I always ask for a buy-out option just in case I run into that scenario. I just bought a house recently and was lucky in that my landlord forgot to make me re-new my lease so I was on a month-to-month. So, they screwed themselves out of some money basically.

 

Another way a buddy of mine got outta a lease, was that he wrote death threat letters to himself, basically saying someone wants him outta the complex.

Kinda dangerous, kinda funny, but it worked.

 

I agree with the posts on here that you should just talk with your landlord and tell them that you want out and what they would be willing to let you do.

You could probably buy it out for a fair price which would be reasonable if you really like the place that you want to move into.

 

Move out in the middle of the night and lock the apartment with the keys inside.

 

I'm a real estate agent in B/CS. I just had a previous employee ask me the same question last week so I cut and pasted the response I sent to her.

In response to your question about your lease, other than our personal rental property, I really don't do too much in leasing (mostly sales), however, I do have a TAA (the Red/White & Blue one that most leasing companies use) and looked through it to see what outs you might have. From the way I read it, according to paragraph 22, unless there are construction issues, you are in the military and being transferred (which I assume do not apply) it appears that you don't have a loophole out of the lease. Paragraph 37 states that even if you give written notice that you will still be liable for the entire lease.

I don't know if the TAA lease is the lease you signed, as they all vary from lease to lease. The landlord could settle with you regardless of what it says in the lease and that would probably be the best case for both parties, if a tenant could be found either by you (subleasing) or him leasing it. Typically the charge is 85% of one months rent to make the property ready for the next tenant.

If you have a different lease than the standard TAA lease, I'd be happy to look at it for you. You could fax it to me at (979) 680-1009 or email it if you like.

However, I've allowed tenants out of their lease before especially when I know I was unlikely to see the rent or thought they might damage the property. The landlord would have to go to a small claims court to enforce the lease and depending on when you lease expires and how much money it would cost him in lost rent, it may be easier for him to release you from your lease and lease it to someone else.

Depending on how easy it is to lease properties in the area you're located the landlord may be willing to cooperate and you may be able to reach a mutual agreement that is satisfactory for both parties. Do you lease from a management company or the owner directly? Often it is easier to deal directly with the owner, as you would have the chance to explain your situation and appeal to his better nature.

My advice would be to contact the owner directly (unless your lease prohibits you from doing this) and explain your situation and see if he's willing to work something out with you. Hope this helps! Gig'em!