How Can I Get Out of a Lease Agreement Early?
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Getting out of a lease agreement can be tricky, but if you feel like you have no other choice, start by reading your lease very carefully. Ideally, you should have read through your lease before signing it in the first place, so you should be at least roughly familiar with the section of the lease which details giving notice and moving out. In the worst case scenario, you may be responsible for your rent through the end of the lease whether or not you live in your house; however, you may be able to get out of a lease agreement without paying through the nose, especially if you do it carefully. If you are trying to get out of a lease, you should definitely contact a local tenant's rights organization or a lawyer to help you out, as these professionals are familiar with all of the ways to legally get out of a lease agreement.
Start by determining why you want to leave. If you are leaving because of poor conditions in your apartment, document those conditions carefully and start complaining, if you haven't already. You may be able to break your lease because your landlord has already broken it by failing to provide safe and sanitary conditions. If you are leaving because of roommate issues, you may be able to get a roommate release which removes you from the lease while leaving your roommates responsible. If you are relocating for school, a job, or something else, it can be harder to get out of a lease agreement, although if your job offers relocation assistance, ask for help with getting out of your current lease.
Lease terms vary widely. If you have a month to month lease, typically you need to give notice a month in advance and then you can move out. If you have a yearly or semi-annual lease, you may still be able to give notice and leave before the term of the lease is up; information about this can be found in your lease. Annual leases may ask for two months notice if you intend to leave, which gives your landlord ample time to find new tenants. Some annual leases are also flexible enough to allow subletters, in which case you don't need to get out of a lease agreement, you just need to find a trustworthy tenant to sublet to.
If you have a friendly, flexible landlord, you may want to approach him or her about the problem. Landlords prefer not to see their leases broken, but they would rather have ample warning than lose a month's rent because you vanished in the night. If you have a good reason and you offer to help find a new tenant, a landlord may let you get out of a lease agreement early with minimal penalties. If you know that your landlord is not very friendly or helpful, hire a lawyer to look over your lease; the expense could end up saving you money in the long term if the lawyer finds a loophole.
Try to avoid feeling trapped by your lease agreement, and don't let panic dictate your actions. There are all sorts of reasons to need to move early, and while you are legally responsible for your lease, all landlords are aware that unforeseen circumstances do arrive. By asking for help from a tenant's rights advocate and approaching the problem from every possible angle, you should be able to get out of a lease agreement with minimal pain, financial or otherwise.
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38
In may of 2009 i signed a two-year lease with my landlord and i am closing the business because my rent is $2,650 and i make about $2,000 in sales a month. and i am having a baby. i need to get out. please help me -- what can i do? they want me to stay until they find someone else. :S:S - anon51264
37
I've been living in a house with three other people. I work on the weekends in a different town, and every Monday when I come back my house is a disaster, my room has been broken in to and used by one of their drunk friends. Also, one of the first weekends I had been gone for work someone had slept in my bed and ruined my sheets and comforter as well as stole a couple things out of my room.
My roommates claim no one was in my room but obviously someone was. How can I get out of my one year lease? - newton007
36
I signed a year's lease in mid-October. I paid $1700 for first month and security deposit. From my understanding, the landlord had a company rent this for her. I received the keys a couple of days ago. At that time, I told the landlord I wanted to come back later to clean. No problem. There was a distinct odor when I was in there with her. When I came back, the odor was still there. I figured because no one had lived in it for six months. I scrubbed the kitchen and both bathrooms down with bleach, Tylex and anything else you can think of. The smell was still there. It was a little on the moldy side. I left and came back two hours later, and the smell was worse. The next morning I went over, and there it was again. I hadn't moved anything in there at all other than my bucket and cleaning items. I called the landlord and explained the problem. She was quite nice, but said she didn't have money to give me back because she was only working part time and had to give the other $850 to the rental company. They are letting me out of the lease, but no money is coming back. Shouldn't I at least get half of what I paid? What can I do? - anon50584
35
My husband and I signed a 2 year lease for our apartment. we have 3 kids and he just lost his job and we can no longer afford the rent each month. what can we do because we don't want an eviction notice on our credit but we really need to move a.s.a.p. - anon48482
34
I just signed an eighth-month lease on an apartment yesterday but am already having problems with my roommates. I called today and asked if there was anyway I could get out and the realtor said he spoke to the landlord and the landlord said no. We paid the security but nothing else yet and we haven't even gotten the keys. Is there any way that we can get out of this now without incurring any penalty or do we just have to suffer and live with each other for the next eight months? - anon48468
33
My husband and I renewed our lease for two years, but I am filing for divorce. Neither one of us can afford the rent on our own. Is there any way to get out of a lease due to divorce? - anon48022
32
i am living with someone who i don't get along with. i'm not allowed to use the fridge, or turn any lights on or take a shower. i did sign one year lease. i want to move. please help me with any suggestions. thanks - anon47907
31
my housemate and I moved into a house after sharing a terrible unit together. it was the first time i've lived in a house. i was so excited. we signed a 12-month lease in june this year. in august this year my nine-month old kitten and I were attacked in my own front yard by two dogs unknown to me and it was absolutely horrific. since the attack i can no longer handle living in the house. i already suffer depression which is now 50 million times worse. i need out desperately. please help me. - anon47899
30
We are in the third month of our lease. there was a leak in the roof, and the house had water in the walls. It took the landlord six weeks to fix, then mushrooms started growing out of the wall. My wife is 7 and a half months pregnant. We were concerned, we explained to the landlord, and he sent an e-mail, that we could get out of the lease and I have a copy. Now he is saying we can't -- it's been three to four weeks since the mushrooms were here, and an inspector came out. I called the landlord and he told me the report is fine. i asked him for a copy and he said if i pay him $500 dollars. This guy is a real piece of work. We're trapped because the deposit we put down, we would need to move, and we're expecting in december. if anyone can have some insight that would be great. - anon47701
29
I signed a one year lease but does not go into effect yet, however we have been offered military housing. can we get out of the lease since it has not gone into effect yet? - anon46954
28
please help me! I signed a one year lease with my roommate. We have gotten robbed twice and at gun point and the other they broke into the car. We are super scared and fear for our lives. However we have no idea how to get out of our lease without paying a penalty. Also maintenance is horrible. we have a serious pest infection, missing pieces of the refrigerator and a broken light bulb in the kitchen (ceiling is 22 feet high) since the day we moved inn. Please help us. Give us ideas on what to do. thanks! - anon44808
27
we have a horrible sewer smell. i have 2 children, one is an infant, and my landlord just keeps telling me to pour water in the drains which doesn't work! the smell is so bad in my daughter's room she wont even sleep in there! it is embarrassing and can in no way be safe to be breathing the smell in. what can i do to get out of my lease? - anon44482
26
Help me! My son re-signed a lease in July for 15 months, he recently lost his full time schedule and possibly his job any time now. he has no savings and cannot find another job in time to save his apartment. How can he get out of his lease without costly penalties? I am divorced with no money and dont know what to do, but i can share my small home with him till he finds a job again. - anon43640
25
My son and his friends rented a house that is set up as a duplex. My son and his girlfriend are having a baby and asked about getting out of the lease early and were told no. As of today, we just found out there are some complications with the pregnancy. Do they have any options to break their lease without penalties? - anon42371
24
I signed a one-year lease in February. I have a four-year-old and a baby on the way. My boyfriend and I are very upset because before we signed the lease I asked the landlord did they have any pest problems with rats, mice, roaches, etc. She said oh no we don't have that. I'm like O.K. A month after we moved in that's when the roaches started appearing. I can't live like this. I didn't grow up like this and I refuse to have my children deal with this. We have both talked to the landlord and she's giving us traps, powders, plugins, gel. For a building that doesn't have pests, she sure is prepared to give us things to get rid of them. None of this works either. I can't take it. I'm so unhappy is there a way to break the lease? I can't have my family living here. I don't even have company because I'm so embarrassed. Everyone else in the building deals with it but I can't. A neighbor even suggested we get a cat. I'm highly allergic to cats! - anon41952
23
I signed a 6 month lease that started in May. Three weeks ago, the power went out and our sump pump never came back on when the power did and the basement flooded. We got the property management company to get the sump pump replaced but they said that as far as the damage goes, the owner of the house needs to get in touch with his insurance company and get it repaired. Since then, the property management company said they have tried to call the owner 10 ten times and sent a letter to let him know but he doesn't answer or call them back. The basement now smells musty and moldy all the time that we have to keep the door closed. My 7 year old son is allergic to mold and dust and this is not good for his health. We have a couple months left on our lease but can we get out of it without having to pay out the rent on the rest of the lease? Only my husband works and we couldn't afford to pay rent on two places. The house we are in now is not good for my son's health. What can we do to get out of here? - anon40183
22
Our 1 year lease is up soon. We asked to go month to month for the same rate we pay now. They said yes, we will write it up but we never got anything from them. We cannot afford to move because we are getting married in October. Sunday they served us with termination effective Sept 30. They know our situation. I have also taken a pay cut due to the budget crises. I use to be the assistant manager. They let me go in June, then they fired the old manger and made her move out in three days. I have a feeling that is why they want me out. I do have a little bit of dirt on them. We cannot afford to stay there for another month. I know that in the past they have let six other tenants out of their leases. How can we get out of this without them suing us? - anon39660
21
How do you legally get out of your lease if you don't physically feel safe in your own home because of a threatening roommate? - anon39018
20
i signed a one-year lease. i've been here onr month. there's nothing wrong with the apartment, but i dont like it and i sure don't want to be here. how do i get out of the lease? Please help. - anon38640
19
I have been in my apartment for over a year, and signed on another year at the end of April. I am finding it difficult to make ends meet, and my ex husband has offered to have me move back in with him. I even went to a credit counselor, and they could not take me as a client. I do not want to file bankruptcy, I would rather work on my finances the best I can. I need to break the lease, to work on this, what can I do? I gave 60 days notice, and don't know if they will find someone in that time. I am really sick about this, but I am financially strapped. The assistant manager seems nice enough, but now I really feel in a jam.
- anon38249
18
i signed a 2 year lease, its already been 1 year and i have one more to go. my problem is that me and my partner split up and he left. i can't afford rent on my own and i cant find a roommate. how do i get out of the lease without getting evicted first. - anon37500
17
I moved in to my apartment 2-1/2 months ago. I signed a 9 month lease. There have been 2 times that somebody had to enter my apartment (once to fix the balcony door lock, which took over a week to finally get fixed and once to spray for bugs in the entire building). Both times I came home to my front door being unlocked. Will these 2 instances get me out of my lease, and if so, how do I go about it? I don't feel safe here and do not feel that my belongings are safe. I complained the first time and this second time just happened last night and I have not called the manager yet, but am going to here in a bit. But, of course, there is a new apartment manager than the first time this happened to me. I have documented everything that has happened since I moved in here such as water being shut off for hours at a time (more than 1 occasion) without any notice whatsoever, the times my front door was left unlocked, people leaving bags of dog feces by the front door of the building, birds living in the vents, bugs falling from the vents. Can I get out of my lease without paying up the you know what? - anon37022
16
I moved in to an upstairs unit in a fourplex in March of 2008 doing a month to month rent.. One of the bottom units became available and my son is 1 and loves to be outside so I moved downstairs so we could have a yard, but he made us sign a 6 month lease. The first couple nights we looked out our patio and there were cockroaches.. I called the landlord and he swears he sprayed.. but now I have found them inside and so has my neighboor. It is horrible. I have never seen so many cockroaches.. Is there anyway I can get out of my lease? - anon36607
Editor's reply: Until you find another solution, try taking a look at this article. Perhaps it can help minimize the problem temporarily, at least.
http://www.wisegeek.com/how-should-i-get-rid-of-cockroaches.htm 15
sooo.. the rule about 'roommate release forms'.. is that legal in canada too? - anon33666
14
We signed a rental agreement about 6months ago and not until we moved everything in and a month later we were told that there had been a case of bedbugs before we moved in, but apparently they got rid of them. About four months into us living here we were getting bit but found no sign of a bug. They brought someone in to check and they claimed that there was nothing and it must have been us that brought them in. Today I found one of the floor of our bedroom (which we cannot sleep in anymore because of the bites). Is there any way to get out of the agreement early? - PJgirl
12
I signed a lease. Well we didn't know about the furnace until we finally started using it a week later. I've notified the landlord I don't know how many times about the problems. I'm trying to find out about getting out of the lease. There's things going wrong all the time and nothing's being done.I have two children and I'm worried about the furnace catching fire or something. I had an inspection done and the landlord was supposed to have it done within 60 days which is the 27th of this month. Nothing's been done. She's been trying to get me to buy this house. I finally told her no not with how much needs to be done and with the price she's asking. Well she won't call me back or anything. I just put money down for another house and sent this landlord a letter letting her know I'm moving. Can she go after me once I'm outta here or can I get all my money back since she's not done one thing here. - bsweet33
11
i had signed a lease 3 months ago and no move in date was written on it. they are still living in the home and in the process of moving out. however i have no place to go and had to get an apartment and sign a lease with them. when i signed the other lease there was no move in date written on it, the landlord was all verbal with it. now they want to move it back to august! i need to get out of the lease legally. he has to let me get out of it right? since there was no set move in date on the lease agreement that i signed? - ashleypoo
10
I signed a 1 year lease in Sept 2008. I have had nothing, but problems since I moved in. My neighbors are loud. I went 10 days without hot water and a couple of those days with no water at all. I've had outrageous electric bills for the past 3 months and have talked with the electric company and they told me to have maintenance do a breaker check and check the heating element in my hot water tank. I've been reporting this for almost 3 months now and *nothing* has been done. About 2 weeks ago a new company took over the property and I've reported my problems to them several times already. Can I get out of my lease early with having all these problems? - tashat1
9
I signed a one year lease agreement in August of 2008. It is know the start of March 1st 2009. I haven't been living in the house since January but have been paying rent. My roommates have started using drugs and they party all night all the time and that is why i moved out. I'm tired of paying rent and I would like to get out of my lease agreement with as little a penalty as i can. I read something about a roommate release thing but don't know much about it. Can anyone give me advice? - blank99999
8
Hey, my friend and I just signed a lease for 5 months in a sharehouse and want out. It looked good at first but after staying a night in the apartment we discovered it was moldy and that the place hadn't been cleaned, if feels like we are breathing cotton and we want out, what do we do? - anon26459
7
My Husband my 2month old son and my 3 year old daughter signed a one year lease. He has told us several times he was going to fix underneath our house. I know it wouldn't pass inspection and our house stays freezing cold. Now he says he's not going to fix it. How do I get out of my lease? - anon25975
6
i signed a year lease about 3 months ago since then my roommate beat me up so i dont feel safe here, there is a mental kid that lives below us and he screams all night so i cant get peaceful night sleep, and when we moved in there was some damages the manager said she had to order the parts but i worked in construction and i know it does not take two months to order a mirror.how do i get out of the lease hopefully without any fees. - madrid
5
I signed a year lease. Between the time I signed the lease in March and took possession when it started in August the leasing company bought it and put on the market the day we moved in. They having been showing the house ever since (5 months) and now they are showing it to new potential lessees as well. We have no privacy and have strangers coming into our house often. Do we have any rights? I don't want anymore people coming in. I want to break lease instead of having to deal with this anymore. - painter305
4
My landlord said that I was signing a semester by semester lease. Yet now that I have tried to move out early, I find out that I signed for a year. What do I do if I feel I've been lied to? - anon21005
3
I am in a year lease that ends in the middle of March with my boyfriend, however I need to get a restraining order against him. How do I get out of the lease without ruining my credit? - bettecure
2
i moved into my house 3 months ago and now my roommates are leaving, and i cant find others. my rent is way too much for me to pay alone and i want to get out. and i have a mold problem in the house and my landlord will not come and check it out, how do i get out of my lease? and can i get my deposit back? - anon15499
1
Hi, I signed a 1 year lease about 3-4 months ago, everything was great until about 2 weeks ago the apartment is full of ants, i rang the landlord and i was told it was my problem!!!! What can i do i want to leave????? - wortho
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Last Modified: 04 November 2009
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