Anyone here ever have to break a lease?

[penelope]

DH and I are finally buying a house (!!!) and we are so excited about it.  We signed on the dotted line this past weekend and will moving in mid November (earlier if the 4-6 weeks to close turns into 4!!).

That said, we have a lease until June in the rental we are currently in. I understand that they can make us pay the rent until June, and that is what it is, if they want to do that. We have been worry free renters for 10 years, so I am hoping they will understand, but if not there is nothing we can do about it.

My question is, while we are still paying the rent, would we also be expected to pay the utilities and deal with snow removal too? It says in our lease that upon early termination that we are responsible for the remainder of the rent, but it doesn't say anything else.   All of the utilities are our responsibility right now, while we are living in it.  I am speaking with our landlord tonight, and I am just wondering what to expect, in terms of worst case scenarios. 

Any advice from ML on how to handle this?  This wasn't something we planned to happen this fall, but we saw our dream home with 12 acres of land, and we were able to negotiate it down to a price that we just couldn't pass by. 

[Muddled]

Assuming I am on the hook until June, I would work my butt off to help them fill the vacancy as quickly as possible. If someone else is paying the rent, I am not.

[gretchenindisguise]

My guess is that they'll be able to rent it out in that time, and you'll only be responsible for the time in between tenants.

During that time, yes - you'll be responsible for utilities.

[my4girls]

I broke the lease when I bought my first house. I had to pay 2 months rent as the fee. sucked but nothing I could really do about it.

[lauralala]

I've had to break a couple of leases. Both times they were able to get new renters in pretty quickly, so I was only responsible for an extra month of rent. Most people really don't want their rental property sitting empty and uncared for; they would rather have someone living there.

[april37]

Congrats on finding your dream house! We were in your same exact situation. We moved in April and our lease went through November (Ouch.) We lived in a large complex so there was no flexibility with rules... we were on the hook to pay rent (and utilities) until November.  We were not responsible for snow removal so I can't comment on that.  By some miracle, they were able to find a new renter and we only had to pay for 1.5 weeks of May (until the new people moved in). 

I would ask if they will let you make a clean break - you never know! If not, see if they will let you offer an incentive to a new renter. Our rental property would have let us offer to pay a month of rent (or whatever incentive we wanted) for a new renter to get them to pick our unit versus another unit in the complex.

Good luck!

[polarbearfans]

We got lucky and our lease ended a month after buying the house. We were able to move slowly without pressure. We were not concerned at all about "breaking" our lease  if we found a house sooner because they had a waitlist for rentals. I would offer to help find a new tenant so you are not on the hook for the rest of that lease. We were good tenants and they were kind enough not to charge us for any of the damage. I was afraid my bad cat was going to have to get a job to pay for that door he destroyed lol

Good luck and congrats on the new house!!

[livinitup]

** Check the Laws in Your State **

When you break your lease, the landlord is legally required to make a 'good faith effort' to re-rent your apartment as soon as possible. That's why most renters will work diligently to find a new tenant. The LL can't just say "oh, la-di-da, I have 7 months of rent coming in, I'll look for a new tenant in 6 1/2". No, they have to post the apartment, be available for showing, get it ready or you'll have a case to stop paying on it.

Best advice: Work with your LL to find a new tenant now.

[isabel]

This seems like a silly question until you talk to your landlord. Go tell them you're buying a house and when you're closing and ask what the expectations are. If you have a good relationship, they may find new tenants on their own or allow you to find someone to sublet. Otherwise, you should probably clarify with them the expectations for payment, but I think it would be insane for you to pay rent until next June. If you've been as good a renter as you say, they're likely to be nice about it and work with you.

[vanillacourage]

I'm a landlord. In my state I have to make an immediate good-faith effort to re-rent the property, I can't just let it sit empty and collect your money. While it's vacant though, (again in my state) you'd be responsible for utilities and maintenance.

[cheeseandcrackers]

Landlord here.. Per our contract, if you break the lease you lose your security deposit (or one month's rent).

[Waffles]

I rented from a large company. I was looking into breaking my lease versus staying the extra couple of months, and it worked out to be the same for me. If I broke my lease, I would have been required to pay two months' rent, and then there were some additional fees as well.

[EmilieMadison]

Sept 30, 2014 13:49:12 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

I'm a landlord. In my state I have to make an immediate good-faith effort to re-rent the property, I can't just let it sit empty and collect your money. While it's vacant though, (again in my state) you'd be responsible for utilities and maintenance.

Yes this is the same for both states where I manage properties. 
And I'm sure your LL will be able to find a new tenant within a month or two.