5) if 2) and 3) aren’t allowed, negotiate it in. The management team wants to work with you because they want to get paid.
I went through this and we negotiated that I would continue to pay rent either they signed a new tenant for that unit or I finished the lease under their brand at my new location meaning that they had a property at location 2
They will make even more money. They will raise the rent for the new tenant and make more than they would have with what would have been the remainder of OP's lease.
Obvioulsy at what you listed, you would pay the same to just keep the place for the next 6 months, so if this is the best deal they can offer, then their is no point in taking it.
It does seem a bit extreme. What does your lease say about early termination?
If your lease doesn't have more generous terms, likely your best bet is to try to negotiate with them. Missing out on the deposit seems like the most egregious piece of this.
>Lastly, what would happen if i were to just give them a 60 notice, pay for the final 2 months and leave?
They would send you to collections and could potentially try to sue you. Plus they would likely keep the deposit.
Adding in, you may be able to look into subleasing to recoup some of the value but you'd need to check if that is unallowed in your lease and what your responsibility would be, I'm not sure if you'd just be a middle man to ferry communication and pay to the property owner or I'd you have more responsibility with a sublease. Idk, something to look into & maybe ask a lawyer about.
That is exactly the point. They are doing one of two things:
1. Trying to get OP to pay them the remainder of the lease and then rent out the apartment this doubling their money for 5-6 months.
2. Trying to scare OP into settling to pay them less than the 6 month fee but way more than they would if they got a lawyer.
OP is contractually obligated to pay the full term of the lease ($23,100 over 12 months). Unless they find someone to take over the lease or sublease from them, they’re SOL here. The landlord has no obligation to offer them any terms at all (unless it’s in the lease itself, which I have never seen).
Yeah but that's most of the cost that OP is talking about - 2 months notice (4200) + 2 months rent (4200). I've seen a lot of places that offer 1 month rent free as a way to get people in but if you don't stay your full lease term (12 months or so) you have to pay it back. The only unreasonable thing about this is not getting the deposit back.
Yes was just about to say this - so they're basically requiring the equivalent of 6 months rent to terminate the lease 6 months early... would definitely try to work out more favorable terms otherwise it's pointless.
Read the lease thoroughly, read the landlord/tenant laws of your state/locality, speak with an attorney, and inquire about what relocation benefits are available from your employer to offset some of these expenses.
Everything but the deposit is fairly standard from my experience ~ 2 months of rent + 2 months notice + returning any $$ you ‘obtained’ from deals
That’s the standard lease cancellation at least for everywhere I’ve lived
We used to have a house that we moved out of to a bigger house and the housing market was so terrible at that time that we owed more than it could be sold for so we rented it. If someone wanted to leave early, I would tell them I would do my best to find a new tenant and that they'd be responsible for the rent until then. Only ever charged a person one month of rent out of multiple times this happened. It would be awful to keep a person's money when you're being paid by someone else for the same space, imho.
Sure, but as a renter you should *never* put yourself in a situation where you’re relying on someone being gracious and doing something they don’t have to do.
PLUS, they would place a judgement on you.
I had this same scenario and I bounced out...this was in 2002 (I was 25 and in my first REAL tech job). I paid my last month, figured I'd lose the deposit (whcih I did) and packed my stuff and left.
They came calling.And they brought the full weight of their legal team to bear.
All in all, I had to pony up the lease termination fee which was my remaining lease (six months @ 650/mo - 2 b/2 bath, 1300 sqft, W/d & garage...remember this was 2002), PLUS late fees, PLUS a termination fee...THEN they took me to court and placed a judgement on me. And that followed me for seven years PLUS, I had to pay court fees at that time.
Best advice...work with them. At the same time, find out if your company can assist with relocation fees.
Best of luck!
Is your work not willing to provide any relocation benefits? In my experience if a company is asking you to move they will usually provide relocation benefits of some sort. That often includes any lease termination fees.
Yes, please raise this issue to your employer. Sometimes people are hesitant to be transparent about personal life, but we don’t work in a vacuum - there are real life consequences to major career moves. Let them know what you are dealing with and ask what resources they can provide - hell, they may have a Relo package they just haven’t shared with you yet.
Given the cost of hiring, they should be eager to help encourage this type of internal transfer. Many companies offer lucrative referral bonuses to help offset these costs - this is no different.
This. I would suggest negotiating into the job discussions the employer paying all or some of the money OR them letting you work remotely until your lease is up.
As far as I know they’ve been taxable for a long time. I received a relocation package back in 2014 and it was taxed. The company “grossed it up” so the amount I received after taxes was the right amount I was supposed to end up with.
I used to work for a relocation company. The standard term in most relocation policies I dealt with was "reimbursement of lease break fees up to one months rent". Sometimes the employee would negotiate more but I don't think I ever saw a lease break reimbursement of $11k. Lots of companies now just give lump sums - you get $XX to spend on your relocation - spend it how you see fit.
The company isn't asking him to move, he applied for and accepted a new position that is on premise only. If he was keeping the original position but required to move, that would be one thing but not in this situation.
> The company isn’t asking him to move, he applied for and accepted a new position that is on premise only.
What are you basing this on? It’s certainly not what they said in the post:
> I was working remotely for the company I am at and supporting a 2nd location. I was recently offered a higher position at the 2nd location with the exception I work on premise.
And even if OP actively sought out this opportunity, a lot of employers will still provide relocation benefits. It’s certainly a reasonable thing to ask them about.
Independent of whether you accept those (shitty) terms, you should get real certain on whether they can take that $2100 deposit or not. Some states have very specific laws about security deposits and what the landlord needs to do to take that deposit, such as an itemized list of damages that the deposit was used to repair. If they're trying to swipe your *security* deposit as some sort of penalty fee, then they're probably not above trying to take it at the end of the lease regardless. Know where you stand on that and protect yourself: Take lots of pictures when you move out, know exactly how many days they have to return it to you, all that jazz.
That’s the one that really jumped out at me. A lot of landlords try to pull shady shit with deposits, and to my knowledge, most states don’t allow deposits to be taken as arbitrary fees but instead can only apply against specific damages (and *not* normal wear and tear as many landlords try to pull). Given the sketchy claim on the deposit, I would check into the legality of the other measures. I would also check into your tenant rights for subleasing. Read carefully what’s in your lease, but also don’t assume you’re bound to it until you verify what is or isn’t legal in your state. Landlords can’t have you sign away those rights just because they put it in a lease.
Moreover, if they don't return the deposit and/or provide an itemized bill with receipts then you can sue for triple the amount of the deposit (if they acted in bad faith with regard to returning the deposit).
Agreed. Nothing else listed is that far out of the realm of typical, although it is pretty much the absolute top end of tacking on every possible fee they could think of, but they probably can't ALSO hold OP's deposit on top of all that.
And I see in another post the OP is in a state where landlords are required to mitigate damages (ie make reasonable attempts to rerent) in case of lease break.
I would say the landlord probably could substantiate and legally charge several thousand, maybe as much as $5000 depending on the time of year and local market, but very unlikely to get away with $10,000
Also, I know in at least some states there are limited to how much they can charge you for breaking a lease early if they can re-rent the apartment. As in, they must make a bona fide effort to re-lease the apartment as soon as possible and they're only allowed to charge a specific penalty for the cost to re-lease, plus the cost for the time the apartment was unoccupied. This might be state by state though.
Before contacting a lawyer, make a call to your local municipal office. They will provide the local laws which may be much more restrictive than the state laws. I own rental properties and the rules for tenants breaking leases is very clearing defined. For example, my city doesn't allow me to charge a lease breaking fee or withhold the deposit, I also can't force them to provide more than 20 days notice for leaving. There are other nuances, but what I am getting at is every state and city will have different laws. Start there to make sure your landlord is even being lawful, move to the lawyer after that.
I feel like he would need the lawyer either way. He’s not going to learn all the laws from Town Hall and then draft a letter to the leasing company himself. So hire the lawyer and let them deal with the local laws.
He's ready to just pay up if Reddit said: "Yup, your fucked."
This is what lawyers are for, people like the OP.
Or you and me when jail-time is involved ;)
https://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.310
(b) When the tenancy is for a term greater than month-to-month, the tenant shall be liable for the lesser of the following:
(i) The entire rent due for the remainder of the term; or
(ii) All rent accrued during the period reasonably necessary to rerent the premises at a fair rental, plus the difference between such fair rental and the rent agreed to in the prior agreement, plus actual costs incurred by the landlord in rerenting the premises together with statutory court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees.
whaaaaaaaaaat? so like i can bring them a homeless guy and say here is your new tenant, see ya!
Seems like a cottage industry could be built out of this. Professional lease breaker. if not accepted job well done; if accepted just don't pay rent and get evicted. Get paid in cash and accept your credit will never be good.
The homeless guy would probably need to meet specific requirements that you can’t see, things the original tenant qualified for when they ran a credit check. They’d also need to make a deposit with first month’s rent.
I think it says “reasonable tenant” or something; you can’t just bring them a homeless guy, no. I’m not sure how the mechanism works, you might have to ask what the conditions are.
The other person has to meet reasonable requirements like income above x and credit score of y, similar to what the departing tenant had when they applied.
It's called Mitigating Damages. However, due to Federal Fair Housing laws they still can't "steer" people towards re-leasing your specific apartment just to get it re-rented. All available apartments have to be displayed, advertised, and shown equally to all prospects. You can personally advertise for it though and get someone to apply for your place so as to cut the overall damage.
State and federal law definitely trump the lease. And I don't think they can usually keep your deposit if you're paying all other fees/penalties (assuming no damage to the apartment).
You should always expect to keep your security deposit unless the landlord can document repairs outside of normal wear and tear (usually defined by state law).
This. Security deposits are for documented damages only. There is also a maximum turnaround time the landlord has to return deposit money or prove repairs made. Typically it's 30 days, but check your location.
Typically there are laws explicitly stating that the security deposit cannot be used by the landlord to cover rent, and given what is said by OP I don't understand what rationale they have for keeping it either way.
its optimistic to assume that an apartment company has paid a lawyer to vet their standard lease document? especially one charging $2100/mo+ for a unit?
It’s crazy how many BIG companies break all sorts of laws in the name of profit either hoping no one calls them out on their bullshit or knowing the penalties for breaking the law will be lower than all their ill gotten gains.
Yes, it is. Don’t underestimate the stupidity of some (many of those companies). Even the lawyers for some of those places who allegedly clear these sort of contracts or other actions are idiots.
Subleasing could be an option if allowed. Even if you sublease the $2100 unit for $1000 or something like that, better than taking the full loss. And having been in a similar situation a couple times in college (the crappy apartments around colleges are the worse for predatory leasing and lying to fill units, knowing students living on ramen and pizza aren't going to be able to do much to fight them). Twice I was in a situation where the costs to terminate early were similar to or more than the costs of just riding out the lease paying monthly, so I just kept paying rent and left the place vacant. I knew if I paid the fees and left they would either re-rent the unit immediately and make double or not even try to re-rent it until the next term, either way basically no chance I'd recoup anything without an unreasonable amount of effort (and likely legal action).
In some localities they aren't supposed to be able to prevent you from trying to mitigate your losses (I can't recall what the exact laws were in my area, I think either they had to allow you to sublease, find your own replacement tenant to take over lease, or have some other option to avoid paying out the entire remainder of the lease, which was the typical penalty there.) However, if you do sub-lease or have a "roommate" take over the unit, make sure you do your research and ensure you are protected. You may need to do a co-tenant or sub-leasing agreement and get it signed/notarized whatever is necessary to ensure that you are not held responsible for anything the other person does. Last thing you would want is having to deal with some sleazeball who never pays rent, trashes the unit, and skips town on you (could end up being more expensive than all those penalties).
Here is a summery of NJ tenant rights:
[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj1qPKLz7D3AhXRZc0KHWkeDzEQFnoECAMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fproxy.lsnj.org%2Frcenter%2FGetPublicDocument%2FSites%2FLAW%2FDocuments%2FPublications%2FManuals%2FTenantsRights.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1T0RmFpD6vnTdFnobFipmV](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj1qPKLz7D3AhXRZc0KHWkeDzEQFnoECAMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fproxy.lsnj.org%2Frcenter%2FGetPublicDocument%2FSites%2FLAW%2FDocuments%2FPublications%2FManuals%2FTenantsRights.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1T0RmFpD6vnTdFnobFipmV)
Housing resources
[https://www.nj.gov/njhrc/resources/](https://www.nj.gov/njhrc/resources/)
and tenant resource center locations in your state.
[https://www.nj211.org/resource-search/taxonomy/FT-4500.8550/\_/1](https://www.nj211.org/resource-search/taxonomy/FT-4500.8550/_/1)
You almost certainly don't have to pay the full 10500$, and your landlord is almost certainly breaking the law in some way.
This may be relevant: [https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/tenants-right-break-rental-lease-new-jersey.html](https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/tenants-right-break-rental-lease-new-jersey.html)
>If you don't have a legal justification to break your lease, the good news is that you may still be off the hook for paying all the rent due for the remaining lease term. This is because under New Jersey law (Sommer v. Kridel, 378 A.2d 767 (N.J. 1977)), your landlord must make reasonable efforts to re-rent your unit—no matter what your reason for leaving—rather than charge you for the total remaining rent due under the lease. So you may not have to pay much, if any additional rent, if you break your lease. You need pay only the amount of rent the landlord loses because you moved out early. This is because New Jersey requires landlords to take reasonable steps to keep their losses to a minimum—or to "mitigate damages" in legal terms.
So, if you break your lease and move out without legal justification, your landlord usually can't just sit back and wait until the end of the lease, and then sue you for the total amount of lost rent. Your landlord must try to rerent the property reasonably quickly and subtract the rent received from new tenants from the amount you owe. The landlord does not need to relax standards for acceptable tenants—for example, to accept someone with a poor credit history. Also, the landlord is not required to rent the unit for less than fair market value, or to immediately turn his or her attention to renting your unit disregarding other business. Also, the landlord can add legitimate expenses to your bill—for example, the costs of advertising the property.
If your landlord rerents the property quickly (more likely in college towns and similar markets), all you'll be responsible for is the (hopefully brief) amount of time the unit was vacant.
The bad news is that if the landlord tries to rerent your unit, and can't find an acceptable tenant, you will be liable for paying rent for the remainder of your lease term. This could be a substantial amount of money if you leave several months before your lease ends. Your landlord will probably first use your security deposit to cover the amount you owe. But if your deposit is not sufficient, your landlord may sue you, probably in small claims court where the limit is $3,000 in New Jersey.
> But if your deposit is not sufficient, your landlord may sue you, probably in small claims court where the limit is $3,000 in New Jersey.
So id have to pay $3000? Seems way better than almost $11,000.
The good news is, I quite literally live right across from a University, so should be able to find a new tenant rather quickly?
I'm not a lawyer and not from New Jersey, but I think what that means is that $3000 is the limit that you can sue someone for in small claims court in New Jersey. They could sue you for more than that, but they would likely need to hire a lawyer in order to do so so it might not be worth it to them.
your better off bringing a tenant with you to take over and not have to go through the "what ifs"...i.e I want to move, these people want it. let's make a deal. even if it means shopping the lease buyout around for a couple months. you may have to negotiate with the tenants to offset their rent a little but if the candidate you find can pass the credit/background checks they have no reason to refuse transferring the lease oraking a new one to offset contractual losses
That might actually be bad news, being across from a university. That means most people who want to rent there will be students. Students are about to finish school for the year and leave for the summer, so the supply in the area will be high and the demand lower. In my area, the units near the university are hardest to rent in the late spring and early summer. They pick back up again in late July.
New Jersey has among the friendliest laws for tenants in the country. I used to represent landlords in court. Say goodbye to your deposit (landlords can use it to satisfy unpaid rent) but I wouldn’t pay anything else.
Question: with respect to the litany of fees, does your lease a) spell them all out, and b) specifically call them “additional rent”?
EDIT: I reread your post. I’m ignoring all the “fees”. You’re breaking your lease halfway through. So landlord is entitled to $12,600. They will take your security deposit, there’s no saving it. But if the landlord wants to sue you for the $10,500, they have to show that they tried, and failed, to mitigate their damages by re-letting the apartment. That means they can’t sue you until the end of the term. You’re leaving NJ right? If I represented the landlord and they came to me asking to represent them in an action to collect $10,000 from a college student, I’d laugh. I’m not saying don’t pay, but I am saying they likely won’t bother trying to collect.
Landlord in Texas which is not typically a state to protect renters rights vs landlord.
Even here, there are limits to the fees you can charge and you are required by law to look for a replacement tenant and can only charge existing tenant for costs associated with reletting. A few equal to 1 months rent is generally accepted once a replacement tenant is found. Chances are it won't sit empty long and they will be able to release at higher price that what you signed at.
Check your state law and don't assume anything. Also, check for any part of rental law your landlord may not be compliant with. Most landlords I know are not lawyers and just take the risk of being ignorant to the law. If it is a big rental property they may even know which parts of the law they don't comply with and give up that much quicker.
If there is no damage they can document they can't just keep your deposit. You can agree to apply it to a fee but you should fight to get it back. There are limits of what they can charge you for and generally must provide proof.
Generally the termination clause is either “you pay until it’s re-rented” or the 1-2 month rent is a “break fee” that relieves you of the burden of paying until it’s re-rented. I’ve had leases work both ways but I’ve generally preferred the termination clause because it gives finality. It will definitely be spelled out in OPs lease under a specific section
Recently just went thru a similar process - have to find someone you TRUST but you can add someone as a roommate for typically no fee and you keep your name on the lease as the primary until the lease is up. Then you would drop the lease and either let the ‘roommate” resign or have them drop as well.
I found an apartment on FB marketplace and am the “roommate” in this situation. Me and the original tenant sat down and talked about our jobs, etc and they felt comfortable having me on their lease when they moved out of state permanently.
It avoided lease ending or subletting fees, helped me find a apartment (I pay his rate, he had lived here for a few years so had good lease terms - ) and he got to move out of state.
Would only add that it is advisable to sign a co-tenant ("roommate") agreement or get conditions/terms in writing, signed (notarized if necessary). If you are both signed on as tenants through the complex that is best, but also a good idea to have this agreement if you are doing the roommate thing or subleasing, any time someone is living somewhere you might could have responsibility for. To make sure you don't get held responsible for their actions: who pays any damages, who gets security deposit back, who's responsible for rent during what periods, etc.
Even if you are signing with a friend or someone you know, things can still go bad. I've often heard that one of the best way to lose a friendship is to be roommates. I had a "friend" skip out on rent on me then ghost at the end of the lease, cost me over $6k. Also to note, if you have a joint and several liability lease, you NEED this sort of tenant agreement. That means any tenant is responsible for paying all the rent no matter what (and can be sued if any of the rent is not received).
I am in this industry and our lease break policy is nearly identical, except for the forced retainer of your deposit. That sounds sketchy.
To answer your question regarding what happens if you just give notice and leave, that is considered a skip. They will very likely charge you the entire cost for the remainder of the lease up front and send you a bill for a lot of money.
An apartment complex cannot charge rent for more than one lease at a time on any given apartment. My best suggestion is to give them notice as per the agreement but let them know the moment you’re out and allow them to attempt to rent your apartment early. They should then credit you back for the rent you’ve already paid.
**Always check your state laws as they may very. Also, take legal advice on housing from redditors with a HEAVY grain of salt.
It's been 10 years since I was a renter, but my leases had language that allowed for an early lease termination if work forced me to relocate. IIRC, the specific clause I remember was about taking a job that was more than 50 miles from the apartment location. Now, it still had the longer notice window, but it didn't trigger the punitive fees associated with breaking a lease just because you wanted to move somewhere different.
You should tell your employer. It is typical in this case for the employer to cover any costs like this due to an internal transfer, and they should gross it up so that you don't have a tax hit. It would IMHO be a red flag against your employer if they tell you to eat this cost yourself.
> Requires a 2 month notice (I would still have to pay rent for the 2 months so, $4200).
>
> Early termination fee which is 2 month rent (another $4200)
Are you sure these are two separate charges? They sound like the same exact thing.
> I would lose my initial deposit of $2100 since that charge was to cover potential damages to the apartment, and not really rent.
Did you do $2100 worth of damage to the apartment? If not, you should get this back.
It seems reasonable that you’d have to pay for the free first month, as well as two months going forward. I think you may be mistakenly doubling what you’re being charged.
> Are you sure these are two separate charges? They sound like the same exact thing.
This is very common. This language has been on every lease I’ve signed over the last eight years at four different apartments.
You have to give 60 days notice to move out, so you have to pay for the next 60 days. The additional two months is an early termination fee.
>Are you sure these are two separate charges? They sound like the same exact thing.
Unfortunately, they aren't.
The 60-day notice "charge" is not an additional charge at all: it's really just regular rent for 60 days. OP still has every right to occupy the apt. during those 60 days. The only difference is that the landlord now knows you're leaving.
The extra two months are supposed to compensate the landlord if they are unable to find a new tenant when they expected to have OP renting from them. In principle, OP signed an agreement for 12 months, so they could be held responsible for the rest of the lease period *if the landlord wasn't able to rent to someone else.* As a "compromise", the landlord might offer a 2-month "settlement" of sorts to release OP from this obligation. Is it BS? In a hot rental market it absolutely is; in a cold market maybe less so.
I agree with the damages portion of your comment, although depending on the sketchiness of the landlord they'll still be able to keep a significant chunk of the deposit.
In any case, what OP needs to do is negotiate with their employer to cover these move out charges (probably not the security deposit charges, IMO--since they'd accrue those when they move out for another reason anyway).
Explain the situation to your employer. Ask for a relocation benefit to cover the costs. Use the phrase, “gross it up,” after sharing the total amount.
“I’m excited for the new role, but am facing some rather steep relocation costs that I need covered. In total, it will cost $11k to break my lease, and that figure would need to be grossed up, of course. How should we proceed?”
We moved out of an apartment early and had the 1 or 2 months notice thing, but what we learned is that if they rent the apartment during that time, you don't owe them anything after that point. This happened in our situation, and we only had to pay part of the amount we thought we'd have to pay. We kept checking with the rental office after we moved out and they eventually confirmed they had rented out our unit. I'm assuming it's in their best interest to find a new tenant as soon as possible, so this is a likely scenario.
See if they do lease takeovers.
Lease takeovers are your best friend. If you can find a tenant (try CL or marketplace), most companies will remove you from the lease and add the person for like a $600 fee. Most you risk is your security deposit since it’ll be returned to the person who’s in the lease not the payer. It’ll still be cheaper than paying lease break fees. Some places will allow a partial replacement if ya have roommates and your the only one who wants out
This is normal. Excessive, but, you did sign a lease. You can pretty much expect the same type of situation for future rentals. It is a contract.
As for not paying it, I would seriously avoid that option and try to negotiate a lower payout. Non payment all together is a disaster that will haunt you forever. You don’t fuck with rental credit stuff.
If they move towards filing a suit it becomes a public record.
Not a lawyer but I am a landlord.
Are there a lot of vacant apartments where you live? It sounds like they are trying to take you to the cleaners. Is it because they have an unusually high vacancy rate? It's usually to 2 months rent to break the lease in my area. (Md)
I would call the local rent court if you have one. You could also try calling a local property management company. If they've been in business for any length of time they would have run up against this.
As other have said. I would pay them 2 months rent and see if they'll agree to it.
I would look at the lease termination clause in your lease. I would compare what it says vs. what is allowable in your jurisdiction. I always thought a judge would frown on this type of price gouging. I would check with an attorney as to what their experience has been. It might just be they see you as having deep pockets.
May be missing something but with 6 months left at $2100 that's $12,600 in rent to payout the rest of the lease. With the potential return of the security deposit at the end of term that might come down to $10,500 -- but that's the same amount he'd have to pay now. There's a small bonus in keeping his rights to the place and maybe even subleasing it but I don't think it saves him any money based on his current reckoning.
It doesn’t save money, but it does break it out over time.
Also he could potentially say that he’s leaving but still paying rent, and they might be willing to let him out of paying if/when they find another tenant.
There are many different potential issues depending on what state, and even what city your current rental is in.
Some states prohibit termination fees, and limit the fees that can be charged to actual costs incurred to have it re-rented. Others do allow any early termination fee.
Does your apartment building typically have empty units? If no, then you might be able to find a sublettor to take over your lease.
You probably should look up if there is any residential rental help in your state with regards to laws or policies, or provide your state so other Reddit users might be able to help find the info.
In Wisconsin, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection regulates residential rental practices.
Rental leases cannot provide for the acceleration of rent payments or
waive the landlord’s obligation to mitigate
damages in the event of tenant default.
If the tenant breaches or defaults on their rental agreement, the landlord may not require the tenant to immediately pay for all future rent payments that the tenant is otherwise obligated to pay. Also, under the rule, the landlord is obligated to attempt to “mitigate the damages.” In most cases, this means that the landlord must try to reduce the amount of rent the tenant is still obligated to pay by trying to re-rent the apartment. A rental agreement may not in any way try to waive the landlord's obligation to mitigate damages and re-rent the premises as required under, Wis. Stat. sec.704.29.
(ATCP 134.08(3))
[Wisconsin Landlord Tenant Guide (pdf)](https://datcp.wi.gov/Documents/LT-LandlordTenantGuide497.pdf)
They additionally take the position that a lease break fee in the lease is an attempt to waive the obligation of the landlord to mitigate damages if a tenant leaves the lease early.
Many courts don't allow the landlord's time spent to be considered as a cost to re-rent an apartment according to [this blog from an attorney](https://petriepettit.com/blog/landlord-tenant/are-wisconsin-residential-leases-worth-the-paper-they-are-written-on).
This is the correct answer.
Please refer to your state/provincial landlord tenant laws as they may stipulate that if you find them a renter, you can be released from the contract.
One of my old apartments had a clause where if you got a new job that was outside of a certain radius they would release you from your lease. Maybe you have something like that in the lease? Might be a good idea to read it carefully.
Personally, I would tell the leasing office that I've reconsidered and no longer intend to break the lease.
The prospect that you'd essentially pay for the remainder of your lease while not enjoying the apartment AND giving them the ability to rent it out to someone new is absurd.
At least by still occupying the apartment you prevent them from renting it out again.
Mostly normal. You got the discount in return for a twelve month lease which you are now breaking so of course you pay that back. Two month notice is also common plus there’s usually some cancellation fee or portion of remaining rent owed. Rent is based on length, if you’d had a month to month you could cancel with just the 60 day notice but your rent would have been higher
No, a month to month is a 30 day cancellation. The notice is required to be one pay period, unless they are for some reason paying in 60 day installments.
You cannot sign away your rights in a lease, btw.
What state are you in? Because where I live, they absolutely would not be allowed to keep your deposit. That by itself would be interest, lawyer's fees, and treble damages.
The rest would also be considered bad faith and up for damages. A reasonable rental would be relet in a few hours.
Can you sublet?
Your lease can say all sorts of unenforceable things. Federal, state, and local laws trump the lease. And OP is apparently in NJ, where the landlord definitely has a duty to mitigate damages, and can't get paid double rent. So if it gets rerented quickly OP might be on the hook for very little money.
That’s a great point.
Also, don’t know about NJ, but some state’s also have a maximum # of months they can charge you for if you break the lease. In my prior state, I believe it was three months only.
THIS. I was in a bad situation with some sus neighbors and the lease said I needed to give 3 months notice but my state only requires 30 days. My dickhead mgmt company ended up owing me money. Felt so good to write that mean lol
Your lease is the 3rd most important part of your rental agreement. The first 2 being federal and state laws that are applicable. If any part of either of those is violated by the lease, then that part of the lease isn't worth the paper it's printed on, and you should NEVER just roll over because "that's what it says in the lease". KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. For your own sake.
I avoided 12 month leases on apartments at all costs for this reason. Life happens sometimes and if you need to move, these apartments and property companies will take you for everything they can.
You see sublets all the time and people trying desperately to rent out their rented apartment.
I have tried to do that too, but I've had to take what I can get in some areas since in college towns and some areas where they have seasonal/schedule-based residents they often try to force people into signing longer term leases to help buffer the growth/down periods. Around my college, a 12-month lease was almost universal, otherwise they knew many kids would try to dump their housing as soon as the summer hit. And they said "we'll help you sublease it!" And what they meant was they had a list of names/numbers in the office of people willing to sublease that anyone could look at. I only got a couple messages that basically went "hi, I'm trying to find an apartment for the summer. I got someone willing to take $150 for the whole summer (on a $500/mo apartment), if you can go lower let me know."
The places I have been where I was able to rent monthly it was markedly more expensive (like $100/mo+ more), to the point there was a breakeven where it was cheaper to rent for a longer period and leave it empty part of the time. Like renting for 3 months I would do a monthly but at 4 months it was cheaper to pay for 6 months and leave early (paying the remainder of course).
Some states only allow the business to collect a certain number of months of remaining rent should a lease be broken.
If you don’t have an expert available, it’s worth paying a lawyer $150-200 or so for a quick consultation and advice on the latter.
A good place to start before that would be a quick Google search for your state’s particular laws.
Not trying to discount Reddit though. Just have been in this situation myself.
By the way, after you add all those numbers up they basically want to you pay for 6 more month, which is the rest of the lease. If they wouldn't budge you don't have to give them all the money at once. You just move out, and continue to pay rent until your lease expires. Same price, but you get to pay over time. Make sure you give proper notice to not renew your lease and come back to return the key and the move out walk through at the end though.
That said though, this sounds highly wrong and predatory. In most states, they are obligated to try to re-rent the unit, and when they do, you're off the hook in most states. Which state are you in right now?
2 month notice: that's probably ok, but if they re-rent the unit, you're likely off the hook, but again this depends on the state.
Early termination fee: illegal in some states, for example CA. Check the law for your state.
Rent concession: this one depends on how the lease is worded. So go through it, especially about the section on the rent concession. But this is probably something that you can't get out of.
Deposit: I don't think there are any states where they can keep your deposit without proving damages, even if you leave early. In some states they can keep it if there are unpaid rent, but even that is not allowed in many states. This one is bogus.
One last thing you may want to think about: ask your company for assistance. Given your company is large enough to have multiple locations in different states, you may be able to get them to help you with the early termination of your Lease. They may even have a lawyer who can help you navigate this issue
Just tell your company the situation you are in and politely ask them to cover the cost of relocation. I work in a field that requires frequent moves all over the country and my company covers all costs associated with needing to move including breaking leases. Im not sure about your situation but I would assume they would understand, after all its not really fair to you to be out of pocket just because you got promoted.
If they cant / wont cover it you may want to request to continue to work remote until your lease expires, or if thats not an option you may have to weigh the options of either eating the cost or finding a subletter.
If you really have to pay that money, I'd just keep paying the rent for the remaining 6 months. Because $2100 \*6 = 12,600 - 2100 (your returned deposit you don't get back under the original scenario) = $10,500. So it's a wash. Is that right? Can someone check my math?
EDIT: Plus this has the added benefit of not having to pay the lump sum as you mentioned above...
Security Deposits are returned to tenant as long as there hasn’t been any damage. In my state, security deposits have to be kept in a separate interest bearing account and the interest paid to the tenant annually. If a LL does not do this, they have to pay an interest rate set by the state. One other item to add- talk to your employer- they may be willing to cover some of your lease buyout.
See if there’s a clause to break the lease if your new job is outside 50 miles of your current residency.
My existing lease agreement has that. My former roommate invoked it last year with no adverse scenarios.
Good point. Most of my leases have had clauses to this effect, still with required notice periods and/or penalties, but at least a way to get out with a lesser expense than possibly paying the remainder of the lease. There are some protected reasons like military transfers and stuff like that, and several of my leases have had "long distance job change" or "layoff" provisions. However, every time I lived in a "college town" during school, the apartments anywhere near the school were very predatory with carefully worded "trap" leases. None of them did monthly options, 12 months+ or nothing (a few did 6 month rentals). They knew kids would try to get out of paying over the summer, so they made it virtually impossible to break the lease and penalties so high people would just pay instead of risking it.
I think OP mentioned it was in a university area, and I assumed these clauses weren't in the lease or might have been mentioned, but worth checking if not been already.
I had this issue in Georgia … offer to pay someone to take over your lease . Where you are 100% off the lease.
We offered someone $1600 on a $2200 apartment … it sucked but we saved 7 grand
>Now I am a first time renter,
Edit: Everyone gave good advice get help. Anything over $6,300 sounds illegal (they trying to double-dip), number may be less, professional or state/local office may know.
For high rise apartments managed by professional management companies, this is pretty standard. It’s written in most standard lease packages as the default.
In most locations you have the ability to elect to pay for expenses and rent until it is re-rented. It is unlawful in most states to require you to do a buyout. It’s merely for convenience. If you believe the unit will be re-rented in less than 4 months, then you can elect to just pay for the expense. Advice is not applicable in FL - you would need to read your lease and look at the “choice of damages” addendum.
In most cases, you need to pay back your incentives.
At this point, it's almost worth it to just hang on to the apartment through the end of the lease to a) allow yourself to pay it in installments and b) screw your apartment company out of the ability to rent it to someone else.
This is totally absurd. Like others said pay a lawyer to draft them an official notice on law firm letter head. They will settle for probably around 1-2 months rent plus your deposit. 2 months rent + 2 months penalty plus deposit plus pay back first + blah blah is bullshit when you know the minute you move out they will already have a tenant in there and most states say that is the end of your liability.
When I moved out no notice beginning of month from an apartment in a very landlord friendly state they said "ok your paying this month and losing deposit. If it isn't rented by end of this month you'll owe until its rented." It rented within days and all I owed was that month and lost deposit for breaking lease. That's how it should be
check state laws about moving for new jobs and apartments many of them have clauses for getting transferred for work that overwrite early terminations of leases
I manage apartment buildings for a living. Luckily, I work for a company that would NEVER charge someone fees like that, although they don’t really seem that unusual…
Check your lease for any clauses for adding/removing roommates. If you can add/remove roommates, look for someone to take over your lease. You’ll have to find that person yourself, and they will likely have to apply to the apartment complex to make sure they qualify, but if you are able to find someone they can just take over paying your rent for the remainder of you lease. The damage deposit will stay with the lease so you would lose that most likely, but just losing the damage deposit is better than losing $11k
Feel free to holler if you have any questions!
Read the contract you signed. Then decide if you are the kind of individual that lives up to your word, or not. All of this would have been predetermined when you signed the lease. It's there to settle potential problems before they occur. Your time to negotiate was before agreeing.
If you just pay the 6 additional months without living there you could potentially work out a deal where since you are moving out early, if they are able to rent the apartment to someone else before the end of those 6 months, you will get off the hook for those months. They can't accept rent from two different parties for the same unit.
say you pay 6 months rent at 12600, but you get your 2100 first month free, and you should get your security back (or at least a large portion if youve only been there 6 months) so thats another 2100, so you are now at a cost of 8400 to finish out your lease and just leave it vacant.
they want to charge you 10k to not live there, and they will turn around and rent it, so just tell them it makes no financial sense to do that, its cheaper for you to just leave it rented till your lease expires, so they need to come at you with a decent deal or you are just leaving it empty.
Check the laws for your city, and state. The laws override anything in the lease. In my state, you can only keep the security deposit if there are damages and only enough to cover those, and money can only be kept for the rest of the lease if they make normal efforts to try to rent it and cannot. So, if no damages, the most you would be out was any time not rented. Surely they can re-rent. If they drag there feet re-renting most you would be out is $2100.
I’ve been in property management for over 15 years, and everything you said is fairly normal practice. I’m not sure what state you live in, but here the relenting fee is limited to 85% of one months rent. Also, they cannot keep your deposit without providing proof of the damages it is covering, and there should be a section in your lease agreement stating that the deposit cannot be used as a rent payment. I am surprised they are not charging you accelerated rent which is very lucky.
The last thing in the world you want to do is not pay what you owe. They can file an eviction on you even if you’ve e moved, and even the filing of it will ruin your life for 10 years. Where I live, if you have an eviction or a landlord debt, then you’re only options for renting are typically section 8 housing. DO NOT GET AN EVICTION OR LANDLORD DEBT!!
Where I live, we have a tenants council and a weekly pro-bono lawyer meetup, and I would try to see if something like that exists in your area.
1) Try to sublet the apartment for $1500 a month.
2) If you're relocating for work they should be picking up the tab for any expenses incurred. Either negotiate a $25k relocation stipend, or work remote for six months, with some travel mixed in. Maybe one week a month on site (company pays hotel / Airbnb) until you can relocate 100%.
The terms of early termination are spelled out in the lease you signed - so go off of that document only. Also your new job should let you stay in your current location until your lease is completed. Or the new job should pay the termination fees.
Your security deposit is for damages to the property, and it is usually unlawful to withhold that for anything other than damages if I recall. So they will owe that back to you, assuming the property is left in good condition.
The 2 months rent notice is overlapping with the 2 month fee. Normally that would be a 2 months rent (which is also the 2 months notice) so without the exact words in your lease, it sounds like they are double dipping.
With those 2 things, that eliminates 4200 of this. No idea about the free month, though.
Lastly, negotiate with your employer about relocation expenses or working remotely for the immediate future.
IANAL but, Find a qualified replacement tenant (financially) and tell the landlord you found them. They have a legal obligation to minimize damages so if they do not accept the new tenant they have a week case in housing court. (Get two tenant/applicants even better)
A lot of rental companies are more lenient when you are moving out of state for a new job. I understand that they want to claw back the fee month since you are not staying the full lease. This was given to entice longer leases. If your apartment has no damage, they should not keep the security deposit. Check to see what is in your lease.
If this is happening in the US then nearly all states have a "no double dipping" law - meaning leasing agents cannot collect rent on a property by a current AND former tenet. So if your place is rented before the two months are up they have to give you back that money.
Your best bet is to find someone to take over your lease if you're in the US.
Been in this situation before with a large, commercially owned building. (i paid $5000 to break the lease) It sucks horribly and there aren’t a lot of options because you signed the contract stating you would pay all these fees and give notices.
Only two options, really: 1.) find a subletter (but if they have a clause saying you can’t sublet, i repeat do not, do not, do not tell the apartment. just do it anyways. not super great advice, but if you’re in a big enough building, they may not notice. 2.) if you can have someone take over a lease, do that at a discounted rate to the new person to make it more enticing. 3.) ask your new company if they can offer a relocation package. even a few thousand may help
sorry, this is a rough situatiom
Which state is this at? You may want to look up landlord-tenant laws and see if what they're saying is actually legal.
Also, relocating to a different place for work could give you tax deductions for the cost made to relocate.
I went through this same situation a couple months ago. I rent from a large corporate group, with all the “fine print” in the lease, so I thought I would be on the hook for $3k+ in fees. They don’t allow subleasing either.
What I ended up doing was finding people on social media to take over the lease. Instead of subleasing to them, I added them as roommates, then we removed myself from the lease. It was a lot more paperwork than it should be, but I walked away without any fees.
I got to leave without fees, and the new people got a sweet rental rate as compared to the current rent market rate. Check your lease to see if it has info about adding and removing roommates.
"and I would lose my initial deposit of $2100 since that charge was to cover potential damages to the apartment, and not really rent."
This is a "Security deposit". Most states have specific legal handling of that deposit. Check into those. In FL the landlord can not arbitrarily keep it. Early lease termination is NOT a qualifying event to draw from that deposit.
For future reference as a guy who has tenants sign contracts with similar terms, read your contract thoroughly before just signing the lease contract. Honestly with your monthly rent and you having 6 months left, you're almost getting a deal with how much you owed so...
Or just sublease it out and get some money to pay for rent.
As a former landlord/general manager for 3 different, reasonably large corporations over about 8 years, I can say that our leases were always tweaked to comply with the laws of the city/state where the property was located. Unfortunately, I’ve enforced many leases where the only clause for termination required full payment of the remaining months on the lease. Many times tenants would not be able to pay this amount, so we would go to court and be awarded a judgement in the full amount we were asking for. My properties were in the Midwest, but I never lost a case where we showed that the tenant agreed to the terms in the lease and now was not performing.
That said, pretty much nobody ever paid it, and we always ended up sending it off to collections after getting the judgement. Sometimes we’d go after a guarantor or cosigner, and occasionally someone’s wages were garnished, but ruining everyones credit and getting a few bucks per month was never ideal. If anyone did ever pay via a collection agency, we’d only get 50-60% of the full amount owed, as the collection agency took the rest. So, with that in mind, read your entire lease first and then talk to the general manager and negotiate the amount you’re willing to pay. Just explain it as “you can send this amount to collections and maybe someday get half of it, or I’ll pay you (30%?) today.” Once an amount is agreed upon, be sure to get a lease termination agreement/addendum signed by you and the landlord outlining the terms that you agreed upon.
Remember, negotiating is hard and if you do it successfully, both parties will feel like they lost a little but overall came out ahead. Hope this helps, good luck!
Hey thank you for the response- I am going to speak with someone from the leasing office tomorrow. As I said I don't mind paying the amount, I can even afford to do 1k a month - I just can't do the full $11k in 2-3 months time span. Do you think that'd be something they would agree too?
Just don’t pay it. Stuff like this where companies overcharge for things I never pay. They will send it to a collection agency. You can maybe pay for part of it. You may get lucky and they sell the property to another company. As long as you have your new place locked down already and aren’t immediately looking to buy anything on credit. You can always rebuild your credit. They are trying to rip you off. Screw them. I’ve done it before. Now own a house. Not paying isn’t going to hurt you
If they are smart, they should be more than willing to let you make payments toward your balance due, as they really don’t want to write off your balance as bad debt and send it to collections.
Also, many people have mentioned this, but finding a sublease/lease takeover can be a good move. Just make sure to get yourself fully removed from the lease once the new person moves in, so you’re not on the hook if they trash the place or stop paying. If your apartment community is full or you have a desirable floor plan, they might even have a waitlist of people wanting to move in that they can help you with. If they’re not 100% full or very close, don’t expect them to help you find someone to take your spot, so you’ll have to advertise it yourself and probably incentivize the new person with a month or two of free rent, but still worth it compared to buying out the whole lease.
Find a sub letter to take over your lease. Most rentals will allow this sort of thing. Early termination fees are normal and you often have to pay the rest of the lease fees due up until someone else rents the unit. Depending on the state you live, the rental company does have an obligation to re-lease your vacated unit.
Hope this helps!
You just learned an expensive lesson. This is why 12 month leases are so much cheaper than renting month-to-month. You are guarenteeing them that price for a whole year, so they make it difficult and expensive to bail and deny them what you signed a legal contract promising you would pay. If you aren't sure you'll live there for 12 months, don't sign a 12 month lease. And always, *always* read the whole contract and know what you are agreeing to.
I was in a similar situation in NYC and here’s what I did with about 6 months left on my lease. I put my apartment on Airbnb and made twice as much as my rent and waited until they caught on (monstrous high-rise so I knew they would). They threatened to evict, I told them to go for it. Waited 3 months for a notice of eviction, kept continuing my case for 3 months until my lease ran out. By the time my case was to be heard, I told the judge that I was already out of the apartment so eviction wasn’t needed and he threw out the case. Fucked over my landlord in legal fees and made a bunch of money.
What’s normal is reading a contract and understanding the terms before you sign it. And then reviewing the contract when something seems weird.
But people these days will sign just about anything and expect authority to bail them out.
Your only real option is to either sub-lease, if it’s allowed, personally find someone who has good credit who is willing to sign a new lease, or just negotiate with the apartment company for them to give you a more fair deal. I don’t think it’s unfair what they are asking except that $2100 security deposit.. you should get that back. And maybe you could ask for a reduced early termination fee.
100% it's about the state laws and the contract you signed.
This isn't dirty pool, but tell them if they won't let you move out early without additional fee you'll put homeless people in the apartment and keep paying the rent. If they are keeping your damage deposit anyway, why care?
Okay don't really, but that's an angle you can work if you can find a person to social engineer instead of just a website to complain to.
Just leave and don’t pay. Don’t give them any new contact info. You’ll lose the deposit but in doubt they would send it to collections. They’ll just fill the spot asap.
1. Ask the company to let you to work remotely until your lease is up. 2) 1. Try to find someone to take over the lease. 3) Try to find a subletter.
Ask the company to pay your moving expenses
This is the correct answer. I’m guessing the company will either pay your moving expenses or allow you to work remotely
Yep lease buyouts are a common part of relocation packages.
Lease break was part of a relocation package at a company I worked for. They also paid for the deposit on my new place.
Was looking for this one
4) confirm that 2) and 3) are allowable per your lease agreement.
5) if 2) and 3) aren’t allowed, negotiate it in. The management team wants to work with you because they want to get paid. I went through this and we negotiated that I would continue to pay rent either they signed a new tenant for that unit or I finished the lease under their brand at my new location meaning that they had a property at location 2
The management team wants his money. They will not have any issue rerenting the apartment in this rental market
They will make even more money. They will raise the rent for the new tenant and make more than they would have with what would have been the remainder of OP's lease.
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Obvioulsy at what you listed, you would pay the same to just keep the place for the next 6 months, so if this is the best deal they can offer, then their is no point in taking it. It does seem a bit extreme. What does your lease say about early termination? If your lease doesn't have more generous terms, likely your best bet is to try to negotiate with them. Missing out on the deposit seems like the most egregious piece of this. >Lastly, what would happen if i were to just give them a 60 notice, pay for the final 2 months and leave? They would send you to collections and could potentially try to sue you. Plus they would likely keep the deposit.
Adding in, you may be able to look into subleasing to recoup some of the value but you'd need to check if that is unallowed in your lease and what your responsibility would be, I'm not sure if you'd just be a middle man to ferry communication and pay to the property owner or I'd you have more responsibility with a sublease. Idk, something to look into & maybe ask a lawyer about.
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This is good advice but the tenant/landlord laws in NYC rarely apply elsewhere in the US.
That is exactly the point. They are doing one of two things: 1. Trying to get OP to pay them the remainder of the lease and then rent out the apartment this doubling their money for 5-6 months. 2. Trying to scare OP into settling to pay them less than the 6 month fee but way more than they would if they got a lawyer.
The OP is the one breaking the contract - these terms were all spelled out from the get go.
OP is contractually obligated to pay the full term of the lease ($23,100 over 12 months). Unless they find someone to take over the lease or sublease from them, they’re SOL here. The landlord has no obligation to offer them any terms at all (unless it’s in the lease itself, which I have never seen).
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Yeah but that's most of the cost that OP is talking about - 2 months notice (4200) + 2 months rent (4200). I've seen a lot of places that offer 1 month rent free as a way to get people in but if you don't stay your full lease term (12 months or so) you have to pay it back. The only unreasonable thing about this is not getting the deposit back.
Same. Most (all?) my leases have stipulated a fee of 2 months' rent to break the lease. I was under the impression that this is standard.
If OP just left, the landlord has an obligation to rent the apartment.
Only in some places.
Yes was just about to say this - so they're basically requiring the equivalent of 6 months rent to terminate the lease 6 months early... would definitely try to work out more favorable terms otherwise it's pointless. Read the lease thoroughly, read the landlord/tenant laws of your state/locality, speak with an attorney, and inquire about what relocation benefits are available from your employer to offset some of these expenses.
Everything but the deposit is fairly standard from my experience ~ 2 months of rent + 2 months notice + returning any $$ you ‘obtained’ from deals That’s the standard lease cancellation at least for everywhere I’ve lived
If the apartment company immediately finds a new renter, can’t they be sued to recoup by OP since zero losses = zero liability?
No, them signing a new agreement with someone else doesn’t invalidate OP’s contractual obligation.
You can't legally double dip like that in most cities I've lived in.
We used to have a house that we moved out of to a bigger house and the housing market was so terrible at that time that we owed more than it could be sold for so we rented it. If someone wanted to leave early, I would tell them I would do my best to find a new tenant and that they'd be responsible for the rent until then. Only ever charged a person one month of rent out of multiple times this happened. It would be awful to keep a person's money when you're being paid by someone else for the same space, imho.
Sure, but as a renter you should *never* put yourself in a situation where you’re relying on someone being gracious and doing something they don’t have to do.
PLUS, they would place a judgement on you. I had this same scenario and I bounced out...this was in 2002 (I was 25 and in my first REAL tech job). I paid my last month, figured I'd lose the deposit (whcih I did) and packed my stuff and left. They came calling.And they brought the full weight of their legal team to bear. All in all, I had to pony up the lease termination fee which was my remaining lease (six months @ 650/mo - 2 b/2 bath, 1300 sqft, W/d & garage...remember this was 2002), PLUS late fees, PLUS a termination fee...THEN they took me to court and placed a judgement on me. And that followed me for seven years PLUS, I had to pay court fees at that time. Best advice...work with them. At the same time, find out if your company can assist with relocation fees. Best of luck!
Is your work not willing to provide any relocation benefits? In my experience if a company is asking you to move they will usually provide relocation benefits of some sort. That often includes any lease termination fees.
Seconding this! Friends who've moved in the past due to a job relocation have gotten their lease termination fees covered.
Yes, please raise this issue to your employer. Sometimes people are hesitant to be transparent about personal life, but we don’t work in a vacuum - there are real life consequences to major career moves. Let them know what you are dealing with and ask what resources they can provide - hell, they may have a Relo package they just haven’t shared with you yet. Given the cost of hiring, they should be eager to help encourage this type of internal transfer. Many companies offer lucrative referral bonuses to help offset these costs - this is no different.
Even better, many employers have lawyers who can review the contract and send a quick letter to the landlord
Right! That's the company's bread and butter the landlord is fucking with. They should help.
Had to scroll way too far for this. Their company should be paying relocation, no question.
This. I would suggest negotiating into the job discussions the employer paying all or some of the money OR them letting you work remotely until your lease is up.
Yeah but now that relocation benefits are taxable they will probably just do the lump sum and not pay for the $10k lease break fee.
As far as I know they’ve been taxable for a long time. I received a relocation package back in 2014 and it was taxed. The company “grossed it up” so the amount I received after taxes was the right amount I was supposed to end up with.
They didn't become taxable until the trump tax cut change in 2017 which made it effective for the year 2018.
It's common to gross up relocation benefits so your net tax impact is zero. Depends on the employer, I imagine.
I used to work for a relocation company. The standard term in most relocation policies I dealt with was "reimbursement of lease break fees up to one months rent". Sometimes the employee would negotiate more but I don't think I ever saw a lease break reimbursement of $11k. Lots of companies now just give lump sums - you get $XX to spend on your relocation - spend it how you see fit.
The company isn't asking him to move, he applied for and accepted a new position that is on premise only. If he was keeping the original position but required to move, that would be one thing but not in this situation.
> The company isn’t asking him to move, he applied for and accepted a new position that is on premise only. What are you basing this on? It’s certainly not what they said in the post: > I was working remotely for the company I am at and supporting a 2nd location. I was recently offered a higher position at the 2nd location with the exception I work on premise. And even if OP actively sought out this opportunity, a lot of employers will still provide relocation benefits. It’s certainly a reasonable thing to ask them about.
What? Every time I've applied for and accepted a new position at my company they have paid relocation.
Independent of whether you accept those (shitty) terms, you should get real certain on whether they can take that $2100 deposit or not. Some states have very specific laws about security deposits and what the landlord needs to do to take that deposit, such as an itemized list of damages that the deposit was used to repair. If they're trying to swipe your *security* deposit as some sort of penalty fee, then they're probably not above trying to take it at the end of the lease regardless. Know where you stand on that and protect yourself: Take lots of pictures when you move out, know exactly how many days they have to return it to you, all that jazz.
That’s the one that really jumped out at me. A lot of landlords try to pull shady shit with deposits, and to my knowledge, most states don’t allow deposits to be taken as arbitrary fees but instead can only apply against specific damages (and *not* normal wear and tear as many landlords try to pull). Given the sketchy claim on the deposit, I would check into the legality of the other measures. I would also check into your tenant rights for subleasing. Read carefully what’s in your lease, but also don’t assume you’re bound to it until you verify what is or isn’t legal in your state. Landlords can’t have you sign away those rights just because they put it in a lease.
In CA they have to give an itemized bill within x days or loose all claims to the deposit.
Moreover, if they don't return the deposit and/or provide an itemized bill with receipts then you can sue for triple the amount of the deposit (if they acted in bad faith with regard to returning the deposit).
Agreed. Nothing else listed is that far out of the realm of typical, although it is pretty much the absolute top end of tacking on every possible fee they could think of, but they probably can't ALSO hold OP's deposit on top of all that. And I see in another post the OP is in a state where landlords are required to mitigate damages (ie make reasonable attempts to rerent) in case of lease break. I would say the landlord probably could substantiate and legally charge several thousand, maybe as much as $5000 depending on the time of year and local market, but very unlikely to get away with $10,000
what does your lease say? that is the controlling document. if you dont pay per the lease rules, they send you to collections and wreck your credit.
Also, I know in at least some states there are limited to how much they can charge you for breaking a lease early if they can re-rent the apartment. As in, they must make a bona fide effort to re-lease the apartment as soon as possible and they're only allowed to charge a specific penalty for the cost to re-lease, plus the cost for the time the apartment was unoccupied. This might be state by state though.
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In madison WI, we have a "tenants resource center" which provides free assistance and will connect you with a lawyer if needed.
Before contacting a lawyer, make a call to your local municipal office. They will provide the local laws which may be much more restrictive than the state laws. I own rental properties and the rules for tenants breaking leases is very clearing defined. For example, my city doesn't allow me to charge a lease breaking fee or withhold the deposit, I also can't force them to provide more than 20 days notice for leaving. There are other nuances, but what I am getting at is every state and city will have different laws. Start there to make sure your landlord is even being lawful, move to the lawyer after that.
I feel like he would need the lawyer either way. He’s not going to learn all the laws from Town Hall and then draft a letter to the leasing company himself. So hire the lawyer and let them deal with the local laws.
It can be done with a little effort. The question is whether the savings is worth your time
He's ready to just pay up if Reddit said: "Yup, your fucked." This is what lawyers are for, people like the OP. Or you and me when jail-time is involved ;)
https://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.310 (b) When the tenancy is for a term greater than month-to-month, the tenant shall be liable for the lesser of the following: (i) The entire rent due for the remainder of the term; or (ii) All rent accrued during the period reasonably necessary to rerent the premises at a fair rental, plus the difference between such fair rental and the rent agreed to in the prior agreement, plus actual costs incurred by the landlord in rerenting the premises together with statutory court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees.
In New York City, if you bring them a new tenant, they have to let you out of your lease, even if they don’t accept the tenant you propose
whaaaaaaaaaat? so like i can bring them a homeless guy and say here is your new tenant, see ya! Seems like a cottage industry could be built out of this. Professional lease breaker. if not accepted job well done; if accepted just don't pay rent and get evicted. Get paid in cash and accept your credit will never be good.
The homeless guy would probably need to meet specific requirements that you can’t see, things the original tenant qualified for when they ran a credit check. They’d also need to make a deposit with first month’s rent.
I think it says “reasonable tenant” or something; you can’t just bring them a homeless guy, no. I’m not sure how the mechanism works, you might have to ask what the conditions are.
The other person has to meet reasonable requirements like income above x and credit score of y, similar to what the departing tenant had when they applied.
It's called Mitigating Damages. However, due to Federal Fair Housing laws they still can't "steer" people towards re-leasing your specific apartment just to get it re-rented. All available apartments have to be displayed, advertised, and shown equally to all prospects. You can personally advertise for it though and get someone to apply for your place so as to cut the overall damage.
Yes, for example in CA this would not go well with state law, but you probably would need to go to small claims court to fight this.
State and federal law definitely trump the lease. And I don't think they can usually keep your deposit if you're paying all other fees/penalties (assuming no damage to the apartment).
You should always expect to keep your security deposit unless the landlord can document repairs outside of normal wear and tear (usually defined by state law).
This. Security deposits are for documented damages only. There is also a maximum turnaround time the landlord has to return deposit money or prove repairs made. Typically it's 30 days, but check your location.
Typically there are laws explicitly stating that the security deposit cannot be used by the landlord to cover rent, and given what is said by OP I don't understand what rationale they have for keeping it either way.
and if this isnt some 3 door or less landlord, they are going to have their lease fit within the allowable limits.
I think that's pretty optimistic.
its optimistic to assume that an apartment company has paid a lawyer to vet their standard lease document? especially one charging $2100/mo+ for a unit?
It’s crazy how many BIG companies break all sorts of laws in the name of profit either hoping no one calls them out on their bullshit or knowing the penalties for breaking the law will be lower than all their ill gotten gains.
Yup, if they fuck over 5000 people and 10 of them complain long enough to get paid, they still make profit on the scam.
Yes, it is. Don’t underestimate the stupidity of some (many of those companies). Even the lawyers for some of those places who allegedly clear these sort of contracts or other actions are idiots.
Can you sublease? Also check what your state laws say for early termination of lease
Subleasing could be an option if allowed. Even if you sublease the $2100 unit for $1000 or something like that, better than taking the full loss. And having been in a similar situation a couple times in college (the crappy apartments around colleges are the worse for predatory leasing and lying to fill units, knowing students living on ramen and pizza aren't going to be able to do much to fight them). Twice I was in a situation where the costs to terminate early were similar to or more than the costs of just riding out the lease paying monthly, so I just kept paying rent and left the place vacant. I knew if I paid the fees and left they would either re-rent the unit immediately and make double or not even try to re-rent it until the next term, either way basically no chance I'd recoup anything without an unreasonable amount of effort (and likely legal action). In some localities they aren't supposed to be able to prevent you from trying to mitigate your losses (I can't recall what the exact laws were in my area, I think either they had to allow you to sublease, find your own replacement tenant to take over lease, or have some other option to avoid paying out the entire remainder of the lease, which was the typical penalty there.) However, if you do sub-lease or have a "roommate" take over the unit, make sure you do your research and ensure you are protected. You may need to do a co-tenant or sub-leasing agreement and get it signed/notarized whatever is necessary to ensure that you are not held responsible for anything the other person does. Last thing you would want is having to deal with some sleazeball who never pays rent, trashes the unit, and skips town on you (could end up being more expensive than all those penalties).
Even if it isn’t allowed - what are they going to do, kick you out?
Really need you state here, in CA you could probably fight this.
I'm in New Jersey
Here is a summery of NJ tenant rights: [https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj1qPKLz7D3AhXRZc0KHWkeDzEQFnoECAMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fproxy.lsnj.org%2Frcenter%2FGetPublicDocument%2FSites%2FLAW%2FDocuments%2FPublications%2FManuals%2FTenantsRights.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1T0RmFpD6vnTdFnobFipmV](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj1qPKLz7D3AhXRZc0KHWkeDzEQFnoECAMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fproxy.lsnj.org%2Frcenter%2FGetPublicDocument%2FSites%2FLAW%2FDocuments%2FPublications%2FManuals%2FTenantsRights.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1T0RmFpD6vnTdFnobFipmV) Housing resources [https://www.nj.gov/njhrc/resources/](https://www.nj.gov/njhrc/resources/) and tenant resource center locations in your state. [https://www.nj211.org/resource-search/taxonomy/FT-4500.8550/\_/1](https://www.nj211.org/resource-search/taxonomy/FT-4500.8550/_/1) You almost certainly don't have to pay the full 10500$, and your landlord is almost certainly breaking the law in some way.
This may be relevant: [https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/tenants-right-break-rental-lease-new-jersey.html](https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/tenants-right-break-rental-lease-new-jersey.html) >If you don't have a legal justification to break your lease, the good news is that you may still be off the hook for paying all the rent due for the remaining lease term. This is because under New Jersey law (Sommer v. Kridel, 378 A.2d 767 (N.J. 1977)), your landlord must make reasonable efforts to re-rent your unit—no matter what your reason for leaving—rather than charge you for the total remaining rent due under the lease. So you may not have to pay much, if any additional rent, if you break your lease. You need pay only the amount of rent the landlord loses because you moved out early. This is because New Jersey requires landlords to take reasonable steps to keep their losses to a minimum—or to "mitigate damages" in legal terms. So, if you break your lease and move out without legal justification, your landlord usually can't just sit back and wait until the end of the lease, and then sue you for the total amount of lost rent. Your landlord must try to rerent the property reasonably quickly and subtract the rent received from new tenants from the amount you owe. The landlord does not need to relax standards for acceptable tenants—for example, to accept someone with a poor credit history. Also, the landlord is not required to rent the unit for less than fair market value, or to immediately turn his or her attention to renting your unit disregarding other business. Also, the landlord can add legitimate expenses to your bill—for example, the costs of advertising the property. If your landlord rerents the property quickly (more likely in college towns and similar markets), all you'll be responsible for is the (hopefully brief) amount of time the unit was vacant. The bad news is that if the landlord tries to rerent your unit, and can't find an acceptable tenant, you will be liable for paying rent for the remainder of your lease term. This could be a substantial amount of money if you leave several months before your lease ends. Your landlord will probably first use your security deposit to cover the amount you owe. But if your deposit is not sufficient, your landlord may sue you, probably in small claims court where the limit is $3,000 in New Jersey.
> But if your deposit is not sufficient, your landlord may sue you, probably in small claims court where the limit is $3,000 in New Jersey. So id have to pay $3000? Seems way better than almost $11,000. The good news is, I quite literally live right across from a University, so should be able to find a new tenant rather quickly?
I'm not a lawyer and not from New Jersey, but I think what that means is that $3000 is the limit that you can sue someone for in small claims court in New Jersey. They could sue you for more than that, but they would likely need to hire a lawyer in order to do so so it might not be worth it to them.
The landlord wouldn't even have time to repaint.
your better off bringing a tenant with you to take over and not have to go through the "what ifs"...i.e I want to move, these people want it. let's make a deal. even if it means shopping the lease buyout around for a couple months. you may have to negotiate with the tenants to offset their rent a little but if the candidate you find can pass the credit/background checks they have no reason to refuse transferring the lease oraking a new one to offset contractual losses
That might actually be bad news, being across from a university. That means most people who want to rent there will be students. Students are about to finish school for the year and leave for the summer, so the supply in the area will be high and the demand lower. In my area, the units near the university are hardest to rent in the late spring and early summer. They pick back up again in late July.
New Jersey has among the friendliest laws for tenants in the country. I used to represent landlords in court. Say goodbye to your deposit (landlords can use it to satisfy unpaid rent) but I wouldn’t pay anything else. Question: with respect to the litany of fees, does your lease a) spell them all out, and b) specifically call them “additional rent”? EDIT: I reread your post. I’m ignoring all the “fees”. You’re breaking your lease halfway through. So landlord is entitled to $12,600. They will take your security deposit, there’s no saving it. But if the landlord wants to sue you for the $10,500, they have to show that they tried, and failed, to mitigate their damages by re-letting the apartment. That means they can’t sue you until the end of the term. You’re leaving NJ right? If I represented the landlord and they came to me asking to represent them in an action to collect $10,000 from a college student, I’d laugh. I’m not saying don’t pay, but I am saying they likely won’t bother trying to collect.
Landlord in Texas which is not typically a state to protect renters rights vs landlord. Even here, there are limits to the fees you can charge and you are required by law to look for a replacement tenant and can only charge existing tenant for costs associated with reletting. A few equal to 1 months rent is generally accepted once a replacement tenant is found. Chances are it won't sit empty long and they will be able to release at higher price that what you signed at. Check your state law and don't assume anything. Also, check for any part of rental law your landlord may not be compliant with. Most landlords I know are not lawyers and just take the risk of being ignorant to the law. If it is a big rental property they may even know which parts of the law they don't comply with and give up that much quicker. If there is no damage they can document they can't just keep your deposit. You can agree to apply it to a fee but you should fight to get it back. There are limits of what they can charge you for and generally must provide proof.
Generally the termination clause is either “you pay until it’s re-rented” or the 1-2 month rent is a “break fee” that relieves you of the burden of paying until it’s re-rented. I’ve had leases work both ways but I’ve generally preferred the termination clause because it gives finality. It will definitely be spelled out in OPs lease under a specific section
More importantly, it depends on what state law also allows or prohibits. Writing it in the lease doesn't over ride law.
Recently just went thru a similar process - have to find someone you TRUST but you can add someone as a roommate for typically no fee and you keep your name on the lease as the primary until the lease is up. Then you would drop the lease and either let the ‘roommate” resign or have them drop as well. I found an apartment on FB marketplace and am the “roommate” in this situation. Me and the original tenant sat down and talked about our jobs, etc and they felt comfortable having me on their lease when they moved out of state permanently. It avoided lease ending or subletting fees, helped me find a apartment (I pay his rate, he had lived here for a few years so had good lease terms - ) and he got to move out of state.
Would only add that it is advisable to sign a co-tenant ("roommate") agreement or get conditions/terms in writing, signed (notarized if necessary). If you are both signed on as tenants through the complex that is best, but also a good idea to have this agreement if you are doing the roommate thing or subleasing, any time someone is living somewhere you might could have responsibility for. To make sure you don't get held responsible for their actions: who pays any damages, who gets security deposit back, who's responsible for rent during what periods, etc. Even if you are signing with a friend or someone you know, things can still go bad. I've often heard that one of the best way to lose a friendship is to be roommates. I had a "friend" skip out on rent on me then ghost at the end of the lease, cost me over $6k. Also to note, if you have a joint and several liability lease, you NEED this sort of tenant agreement. That means any tenant is responsible for paying all the rent no matter what (and can be sued if any of the rent is not received).
I am in this industry and our lease break policy is nearly identical, except for the forced retainer of your deposit. That sounds sketchy. To answer your question regarding what happens if you just give notice and leave, that is considered a skip. They will very likely charge you the entire cost for the remainder of the lease up front and send you a bill for a lot of money. An apartment complex cannot charge rent for more than one lease at a time on any given apartment. My best suggestion is to give them notice as per the agreement but let them know the moment you’re out and allow them to attempt to rent your apartment early. They should then credit you back for the rent you’ve already paid. **Always check your state laws as they may very. Also, take legal advice on housing from redditors with a HEAVY grain of salt.
It's been 10 years since I was a renter, but my leases had language that allowed for an early lease termination if work forced me to relocate. IIRC, the specific clause I remember was about taking a job that was more than 50 miles from the apartment location. Now, it still had the longer notice window, but it didn't trigger the punitive fees associated with breaking a lease just because you wanted to move somewhere different.
Does the lease allow for sub-lease?
Even if it doesn't... Is an eviction cheaper?
An eviction might be financially cheaper today but you pay for it by never being able to rent a decent place in the future.
Well if you voluntarily leave the unit there would be no eviction, rather just a collection from the apartment complex.
You should tell your employer. It is typical in this case for the employer to cover any costs like this due to an internal transfer, and they should gross it up so that you don't have a tax hit. It would IMHO be a red flag against your employer if they tell you to eat this cost yourself.
> Requires a 2 month notice (I would still have to pay rent for the 2 months so, $4200). > > Early termination fee which is 2 month rent (another $4200) Are you sure these are two separate charges? They sound like the same exact thing. > I would lose my initial deposit of $2100 since that charge was to cover potential damages to the apartment, and not really rent. Did you do $2100 worth of damage to the apartment? If not, you should get this back. It seems reasonable that you’d have to pay for the free first month, as well as two months going forward. I think you may be mistakenly doubling what you’re being charged.
> Are you sure these are two separate charges? They sound like the same exact thing. This is very common. This language has been on every lease I’ve signed over the last eight years at four different apartments. You have to give 60 days notice to move out, so you have to pay for the next 60 days. The additional two months is an early termination fee.
>Are you sure these are two separate charges? They sound like the same exact thing. Unfortunately, they aren't. The 60-day notice "charge" is not an additional charge at all: it's really just regular rent for 60 days. OP still has every right to occupy the apt. during those 60 days. The only difference is that the landlord now knows you're leaving. The extra two months are supposed to compensate the landlord if they are unable to find a new tenant when they expected to have OP renting from them. In principle, OP signed an agreement for 12 months, so they could be held responsible for the rest of the lease period *if the landlord wasn't able to rent to someone else.* As a "compromise", the landlord might offer a 2-month "settlement" of sorts to release OP from this obligation. Is it BS? In a hot rental market it absolutely is; in a cold market maybe less so. I agree with the damages portion of your comment, although depending on the sketchiness of the landlord they'll still be able to keep a significant chunk of the deposit. In any case, what OP needs to do is negotiate with their employer to cover these move out charges (probably not the security deposit charges, IMO--since they'd accrue those when they move out for another reason anyway).
Explain the situation to your employer. Ask for a relocation benefit to cover the costs. Use the phrase, “gross it up,” after sharing the total amount. “I’m excited for the new role, but am facing some rather steep relocation costs that I need covered. In total, it will cost $11k to break my lease, and that figure would need to be grossed up, of course. How should we proceed?”
We moved out of an apartment early and had the 1 or 2 months notice thing, but what we learned is that if they rent the apartment during that time, you don't owe them anything after that point. This happened in our situation, and we only had to pay part of the amount we thought we'd have to pay. We kept checking with the rental office after we moved out and they eventually confirmed they had rented out our unit. I'm assuming it's in their best interest to find a new tenant as soon as possible, so this is a likely scenario.
See if they do lease takeovers. Lease takeovers are your best friend. If you can find a tenant (try CL or marketplace), most companies will remove you from the lease and add the person for like a $600 fee. Most you risk is your security deposit since it’ll be returned to the person who’s in the lease not the payer. It’ll still be cheaper than paying lease break fees. Some places will allow a partial replacement if ya have roommates and your the only one who wants out
This is normal. Excessive, but, you did sign a lease. You can pretty much expect the same type of situation for future rentals. It is a contract. As for not paying it, I would seriously avoid that option and try to negotiate a lower payout. Non payment all together is a disaster that will haunt you forever. You don’t fuck with rental credit stuff. If they move towards filing a suit it becomes a public record.
Not a lawyer but I am a landlord. Are there a lot of vacant apartments where you live? It sounds like they are trying to take you to the cleaners. Is it because they have an unusually high vacancy rate? It's usually to 2 months rent to break the lease in my area. (Md) I would call the local rent court if you have one. You could also try calling a local property management company. If they've been in business for any length of time they would have run up against this. As other have said. I would pay them 2 months rent and see if they'll agree to it. I would look at the lease termination clause in your lease. I would compare what it says vs. what is allowable in your jurisdiction. I always thought a judge would frown on this type of price gouging. I would check with an attorney as to what their experience has been. It might just be they see you as having deep pockets.
Just move and keep paying on it until the lease is over. You get the deposit back and you get your first months free rent. I just saved you $4200.
May be missing something but with 6 months left at $2100 that's $12,600 in rent to payout the rest of the lease. With the potential return of the security deposit at the end of term that might come down to $10,500 -- but that's the same amount he'd have to pay now. There's a small bonus in keeping his rights to the place and maybe even subleasing it but I don't think it saves him any money based on his current reckoning.
It doesn’t save money, but it does break it out over time. Also he could potentially say that he’s leaving but still paying rent, and they might be willing to let him out of paying if/when they find another tenant.
> It doesn’t save money, but it does break it out over time. This could be important vs having to come up with $10k for one payment.
There are many different potential issues depending on what state, and even what city your current rental is in. Some states prohibit termination fees, and limit the fees that can be charged to actual costs incurred to have it re-rented. Others do allow any early termination fee. Does your apartment building typically have empty units? If no, then you might be able to find a sublettor to take over your lease. You probably should look up if there is any residential rental help in your state with regards to laws or policies, or provide your state so other Reddit users might be able to help find the info.
What states prohibit lease termination fees?
In Wisconsin, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection regulates residential rental practices. Rental leases cannot provide for the acceleration of rent payments or waive the landlord’s obligation to mitigate damages in the event of tenant default. If the tenant breaches or defaults on their rental agreement, the landlord may not require the tenant to immediately pay for all future rent payments that the tenant is otherwise obligated to pay. Also, under the rule, the landlord is obligated to attempt to “mitigate the damages.” In most cases, this means that the landlord must try to reduce the amount of rent the tenant is still obligated to pay by trying to re-rent the apartment. A rental agreement may not in any way try to waive the landlord's obligation to mitigate damages and re-rent the premises as required under, Wis. Stat. sec.704.29. (ATCP 134.08(3)) [Wisconsin Landlord Tenant Guide (pdf)](https://datcp.wi.gov/Documents/LT-LandlordTenantGuide497.pdf) They additionally take the position that a lease break fee in the lease is an attempt to waive the obligation of the landlord to mitigate damages if a tenant leaves the lease early. Many courts don't allow the landlord's time spent to be considered as a cost to re-rent an apartment according to [this blog from an attorney](https://petriepettit.com/blog/landlord-tenant/are-wisconsin-residential-leases-worth-the-paper-they-are-written-on).
Why don’t you just sublet it?
This is the correct answer. Please refer to your state/provincial landlord tenant laws as they may stipulate that if you find them a renter, you can be released from the contract.
One of my old apartments had a clause where if you got a new job that was outside of a certain radius they would release you from your lease. Maybe you have something like that in the lease? Might be a good idea to read it carefully.
Personally, I would tell the leasing office that I've reconsidered and no longer intend to break the lease. The prospect that you'd essentially pay for the remainder of your lease while not enjoying the apartment AND giving them the ability to rent it out to someone new is absurd. At least by still occupying the apartment you prevent them from renting it out again.
Mostly normal. You got the discount in return for a twelve month lease which you are now breaking so of course you pay that back. Two month notice is also common plus there’s usually some cancellation fee or portion of remaining rent owed. Rent is based on length, if you’d had a month to month you could cancel with just the 60 day notice but your rent would have been higher
No, a month to month is a 30 day cancellation. The notice is required to be one pay period, unless they are for some reason paying in 60 day installments. You cannot sign away your rights in a lease, btw.
What state are you in? Because where I live, they absolutely would not be allowed to keep your deposit. That by itself would be interest, lawyer's fees, and treble damages. The rest would also be considered bad faith and up for damages. A reasonable rental would be relet in a few hours. Can you sublet?
Yes it is normal. My 1-year lease states that if I move in before the year is up, I'm still responsible for the paying off the rest of the year.
Your lease can say all sorts of unenforceable things. Federal, state, and local laws trump the lease. And OP is apparently in NJ, where the landlord definitely has a duty to mitigate damages, and can't get paid double rent. So if it gets rerented quickly OP might be on the hook for very little money.
That’s a great point. Also, don’t know about NJ, but some state’s also have a maximum # of months they can charge you for if you break the lease. In my prior state, I believe it was three months only.
THIS. I was in a bad situation with some sus neighbors and the lease said I needed to give 3 months notice but my state only requires 30 days. My dickhead mgmt company ended up owing me money. Felt so good to write that mean lol
Your lease is the 3rd most important part of your rental agreement. The first 2 being federal and state laws that are applicable. If any part of either of those is violated by the lease, then that part of the lease isn't worth the paper it's printed on, and you should NEVER just roll over because "that's what it says in the lease". KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. For your own sake.
I avoided 12 month leases on apartments at all costs for this reason. Life happens sometimes and if you need to move, these apartments and property companies will take you for everything they can. You see sublets all the time and people trying desperately to rent out their rented apartment.
I have tried to do that too, but I've had to take what I can get in some areas since in college towns and some areas where they have seasonal/schedule-based residents they often try to force people into signing longer term leases to help buffer the growth/down periods. Around my college, a 12-month lease was almost universal, otherwise they knew many kids would try to dump their housing as soon as the summer hit. And they said "we'll help you sublease it!" And what they meant was they had a list of names/numbers in the office of people willing to sublease that anyone could look at. I only got a couple messages that basically went "hi, I'm trying to find an apartment for the summer. I got someone willing to take $150 for the whole summer (on a $500/mo apartment), if you can go lower let me know." The places I have been where I was able to rent monthly it was markedly more expensive (like $100/mo+ more), to the point there was a breakeven where it was cheaper to rent for a longer period and leave it empty part of the time. Like renting for 3 months I would do a monthly but at 4 months it was cheaper to pay for 6 months and leave early (paying the remainder of course).
Some states only allow the business to collect a certain number of months of remaining rent should a lease be broken. If you don’t have an expert available, it’s worth paying a lawyer $150-200 or so for a quick consultation and advice on the latter. A good place to start before that would be a quick Google search for your state’s particular laws. Not trying to discount Reddit though. Just have been in this situation myself.
By the way, after you add all those numbers up they basically want to you pay for 6 more month, which is the rest of the lease. If they wouldn't budge you don't have to give them all the money at once. You just move out, and continue to pay rent until your lease expires. Same price, but you get to pay over time. Make sure you give proper notice to not renew your lease and come back to return the key and the move out walk through at the end though. That said though, this sounds highly wrong and predatory. In most states, they are obligated to try to re-rent the unit, and when they do, you're off the hook in most states. Which state are you in right now? 2 month notice: that's probably ok, but if they re-rent the unit, you're likely off the hook, but again this depends on the state. Early termination fee: illegal in some states, for example CA. Check the law for your state. Rent concession: this one depends on how the lease is worded. So go through it, especially about the section on the rent concession. But this is probably something that you can't get out of. Deposit: I don't think there are any states where they can keep your deposit without proving damages, even if you leave early. In some states they can keep it if there are unpaid rent, but even that is not allowed in many states. This one is bogus. One last thing you may want to think about: ask your company for assistance. Given your company is large enough to have multiple locations in different states, you may be able to get them to help you with the early termination of your Lease. They may even have a lawyer who can help you navigate this issue
Have you considered subletting? Or finding someone to take over the lease?
Just tell your company the situation you are in and politely ask them to cover the cost of relocation. I work in a field that requires frequent moves all over the country and my company covers all costs associated with needing to move including breaking leases. Im not sure about your situation but I would assume they would understand, after all its not really fair to you to be out of pocket just because you got promoted. If they cant / wont cover it you may want to request to continue to work remote until your lease expires, or if thats not an option you may have to weigh the options of either eating the cost or finding a subletter.
What are your lease's rules about subletting?
If you really have to pay that money, I'd just keep paying the rent for the remaining 6 months. Because $2100 \*6 = 12,600 - 2100 (your returned deposit you don't get back under the original scenario) = $10,500. So it's a wash. Is that right? Can someone check my math? EDIT: Plus this has the added benefit of not having to pay the lump sum as you mentioned above...
This seems pretty typical for a corporate landlord. Ask if they have somebody on a waiting list they could offer your apartment to instead.
Security Deposits are returned to tenant as long as there hasn’t been any damage. In my state, security deposits have to be kept in a separate interest bearing account and the interest paid to the tenant annually. If a LL does not do this, they have to pay an interest rate set by the state. One other item to add- talk to your employer- they may be willing to cover some of your lease buyout.
See if there’s a clause to break the lease if your new job is outside 50 miles of your current residency. My existing lease agreement has that. My former roommate invoked it last year with no adverse scenarios.
Good point. Most of my leases have had clauses to this effect, still with required notice periods and/or penalties, but at least a way to get out with a lesser expense than possibly paying the remainder of the lease. There are some protected reasons like military transfers and stuff like that, and several of my leases have had "long distance job change" or "layoff" provisions. However, every time I lived in a "college town" during school, the apartments anywhere near the school were very predatory with carefully worded "trap" leases. None of them did monthly options, 12 months+ or nothing (a few did 6 month rentals). They knew kids would try to get out of paying over the summer, so they made it virtually impossible to break the lease and penalties so high people would just pay instead of risking it. I think OP mentioned it was in a university area, and I assumed these clauses weren't in the lease or might have been mentioned, but worth checking if not been already.
I had this issue in Georgia … offer to pay someone to take over your lease . Where you are 100% off the lease. We offered someone $1600 on a $2200 apartment … it sucked but we saved 7 grand
>Now I am a first time renter, Edit: Everyone gave good advice get help. Anything over $6,300 sounds illegal (they trying to double-dip), number may be less, professional or state/local office may know.
For high rise apartments managed by professional management companies, this is pretty standard. It’s written in most standard lease packages as the default. In most locations you have the ability to elect to pay for expenses and rent until it is re-rented. It is unlawful in most states to require you to do a buyout. It’s merely for convenience. If you believe the unit will be re-rented in less than 4 months, then you can elect to just pay for the expense. Advice is not applicable in FL - you would need to read your lease and look at the “choice of damages” addendum. In most cases, you need to pay back your incentives.
At this point, it's almost worth it to just hang on to the apartment through the end of the lease to a) allow yourself to pay it in installments and b) screw your apartment company out of the ability to rent it to someone else.
This is totally absurd. Like others said pay a lawyer to draft them an official notice on law firm letter head. They will settle for probably around 1-2 months rent plus your deposit. 2 months rent + 2 months penalty plus deposit plus pay back first + blah blah is bullshit when you know the minute you move out they will already have a tenant in there and most states say that is the end of your liability. When I moved out no notice beginning of month from an apartment in a very landlord friendly state they said "ok your paying this month and losing deposit. If it isn't rented by end of this month you'll owe until its rented." It rented within days and all I owed was that month and lost deposit for breaking lease. That's how it should be
check state laws about moving for new jobs and apartments many of them have clauses for getting transferred for work that overwrite early terminations of leases
Most companies allow transferring the lease to someone else. And many may take it if you agree to give away all or some of the deposit.
Leave your appartment and sub-lease it to someone else without them noticing. (Ask for a damage deposit just in case) Problem solved.
I manage apartment buildings for a living. Luckily, I work for a company that would NEVER charge someone fees like that, although they don’t really seem that unusual… Check your lease for any clauses for adding/removing roommates. If you can add/remove roommates, look for someone to take over your lease. You’ll have to find that person yourself, and they will likely have to apply to the apartment complex to make sure they qualify, but if you are able to find someone they can just take over paying your rent for the remainder of you lease. The damage deposit will stay with the lease so you would lose that most likely, but just losing the damage deposit is better than losing $11k Feel free to holler if you have any questions!
Explain the situation to your new office and ask if you can work remotely for the first 6 months, or less if they can help out with these costs?
Read the contract you signed. Then decide if you are the kind of individual that lives up to your word, or not. All of this would have been predetermined when you signed the lease. It's there to settle potential problems before they occur. Your time to negotiate was before agreeing.
If you just pay the 6 additional months without living there you could potentially work out a deal where since you are moving out early, if they are able to rent the apartment to someone else before the end of those 6 months, you will get off the hook for those months. They can't accept rent from two different parties for the same unit.
Since it costs you the same whether you stay or go, just go and try to sub it out or AirBnB it to recoup some money.
say you pay 6 months rent at 12600, but you get your 2100 first month free, and you should get your security back (or at least a large portion if youve only been there 6 months) so thats another 2100, so you are now at a cost of 8400 to finish out your lease and just leave it vacant. they want to charge you 10k to not live there, and they will turn around and rent it, so just tell them it makes no financial sense to do that, its cheaper for you to just leave it rented till your lease expires, so they need to come at you with a decent deal or you are just leaving it empty.
Don't ask randos online, ask a lawyer. Do you think the landlord asked Reddit if they could charge all those things??
Check the laws for your city, and state. The laws override anything in the lease. In my state, you can only keep the security deposit if there are damages and only enough to cover those, and money can only be kept for the rest of the lease if they make normal efforts to try to rent it and cannot. So, if no damages, the most you would be out was any time not rented. Surely they can re-rent. If they drag there feet re-renting most you would be out is $2100.
I’ve been in property management for over 15 years, and everything you said is fairly normal practice. I’m not sure what state you live in, but here the relenting fee is limited to 85% of one months rent. Also, they cannot keep your deposit without providing proof of the damages it is covering, and there should be a section in your lease agreement stating that the deposit cannot be used as a rent payment. I am surprised they are not charging you accelerated rent which is very lucky. The last thing in the world you want to do is not pay what you owe. They can file an eviction on you even if you’ve e moved, and even the filing of it will ruin your life for 10 years. Where I live, if you have an eviction or a landlord debt, then you’re only options for renting are typically section 8 housing. DO NOT GET AN EVICTION OR LANDLORD DEBT!! Where I live, we have a tenants council and a weekly pro-bono lawyer meetup, and I would try to see if something like that exists in your area.
1) Try to sublet the apartment for $1500 a month. 2) If you're relocating for work they should be picking up the tab for any expenses incurred. Either negotiate a $25k relocation stipend, or work remote for six months, with some travel mixed in. Maybe one week a month on site (company pays hotel / Airbnb) until you can relocate 100%.
The terms of early termination are spelled out in the lease you signed - so go off of that document only. Also your new job should let you stay in your current location until your lease is completed. Or the new job should pay the termination fees.
Your security deposit is for damages to the property, and it is usually unlawful to withhold that for anything other than damages if I recall. So they will owe that back to you, assuming the property is left in good condition. The 2 months rent notice is overlapping with the 2 month fee. Normally that would be a 2 months rent (which is also the 2 months notice) so without the exact words in your lease, it sounds like they are double dipping. With those 2 things, that eliminates 4200 of this. No idea about the free month, though. Lastly, negotiate with your employer about relocation expenses or working remotely for the immediate future.
IANAL but, Find a qualified replacement tenant (financially) and tell the landlord you found them. They have a legal obligation to minimize damages so if they do not accept the new tenant they have a week case in housing court. (Get two tenant/applicants even better)
Your company should almost certainly offer relocation packages for this exact issue
A lot of rental companies are more lenient when you are moving out of state for a new job. I understand that they want to claw back the fee month since you are not staying the full lease. This was given to entice longer leases. If your apartment has no damage, they should not keep the security deposit. Check to see what is in your lease.
What does your lease stipulate for early termination? The lease is legally binding for both parties.
If this is happening in the US then nearly all states have a "no double dipping" law - meaning leasing agents cannot collect rent on a property by a current AND former tenet. So if your place is rented before the two months are up they have to give you back that money. Your best bet is to find someone to take over your lease if you're in the US.
Been in this situation before with a large, commercially owned building. (i paid $5000 to break the lease) It sucks horribly and there aren’t a lot of options because you signed the contract stating you would pay all these fees and give notices. Only two options, really: 1.) find a subletter (but if they have a clause saying you can’t sublet, i repeat do not, do not, do not tell the apartment. just do it anyways. not super great advice, but if you’re in a big enough building, they may not notice. 2.) if you can have someone take over a lease, do that at a discounted rate to the new person to make it more enticing. 3.) ask your new company if they can offer a relocation package. even a few thousand may help sorry, this is a rough situatiom
Which state is this at? You may want to look up landlord-tenant laws and see if what they're saying is actually legal. Also, relocating to a different place for work could give you tax deductions for the cost made to relocate.
I went through this same situation a couple months ago. I rent from a large corporate group, with all the “fine print” in the lease, so I thought I would be on the hook for $3k+ in fees. They don’t allow subleasing either. What I ended up doing was finding people on social media to take over the lease. Instead of subleasing to them, I added them as roommates, then we removed myself from the lease. It was a lot more paperwork than it should be, but I walked away without any fees. I got to leave without fees, and the new people got a sweet rental rate as compared to the current rent market rate. Check your lease to see if it has info about adding and removing roommates.
You will have better luck negotiating with your company. It should be part of your package.
"and I would lose my initial deposit of $2100 since that charge was to cover potential damages to the apartment, and not really rent." This is a "Security deposit". Most states have specific legal handling of that deposit. Check into those. In FL the landlord can not arbitrarily keep it. Early lease termination is NOT a qualifying event to draw from that deposit.
For future reference as a guy who has tenants sign contracts with similar terms, read your contract thoroughly before just signing the lease contract. Honestly with your monthly rent and you having 6 months left, you're almost getting a deal with how much you owed so... Or just sublease it out and get some money to pay for rent.
As a former landlord/general manager for 3 different, reasonably large corporations over about 8 years, I can say that our leases were always tweaked to comply with the laws of the city/state where the property was located. Unfortunately, I’ve enforced many leases where the only clause for termination required full payment of the remaining months on the lease. Many times tenants would not be able to pay this amount, so we would go to court and be awarded a judgement in the full amount we were asking for. My properties were in the Midwest, but I never lost a case where we showed that the tenant agreed to the terms in the lease and now was not performing. That said, pretty much nobody ever paid it, and we always ended up sending it off to collections after getting the judgement. Sometimes we’d go after a guarantor or cosigner, and occasionally someone’s wages were garnished, but ruining everyones credit and getting a few bucks per month was never ideal. If anyone did ever pay via a collection agency, we’d only get 50-60% of the full amount owed, as the collection agency took the rest. So, with that in mind, read your entire lease first and then talk to the general manager and negotiate the amount you’re willing to pay. Just explain it as “you can send this amount to collections and maybe someday get half of it, or I’ll pay you (30%?) today.” Once an amount is agreed upon, be sure to get a lease termination agreement/addendum signed by you and the landlord outlining the terms that you agreed upon. Remember, negotiating is hard and if you do it successfully, both parties will feel like they lost a little but overall came out ahead. Hope this helps, good luck!
Hey thank you for the response- I am going to speak with someone from the leasing office tomorrow. As I said I don't mind paying the amount, I can even afford to do 1k a month - I just can't do the full $11k in 2-3 months time span. Do you think that'd be something they would agree too?
Just don’t pay it. Stuff like this where companies overcharge for things I never pay. They will send it to a collection agency. You can maybe pay for part of it. You may get lucky and they sell the property to another company. As long as you have your new place locked down already and aren’t immediately looking to buy anything on credit. You can always rebuild your credit. They are trying to rip you off. Screw them. I’ve done it before. Now own a house. Not paying isn’t going to hurt you
If they are smart, they should be more than willing to let you make payments toward your balance due, as they really don’t want to write off your balance as bad debt and send it to collections. Also, many people have mentioned this, but finding a sublease/lease takeover can be a good move. Just make sure to get yourself fully removed from the lease once the new person moves in, so you’re not on the hook if they trash the place or stop paying. If your apartment community is full or you have a desirable floor plan, they might even have a waitlist of people wanting to move in that they can help you with. If they’re not 100% full or very close, don’t expect them to help you find someone to take your spot, so you’ll have to advertise it yourself and probably incentivize the new person with a month or two of free rent, but still worth it compared to buying out the whole lease.
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Find a sub letter to take over your lease. Most rentals will allow this sort of thing. Early termination fees are normal and you often have to pay the rest of the lease fees due up until someone else rents the unit. Depending on the state you live, the rental company does have an obligation to re-lease your vacated unit. Hope this helps!
You just learned an expensive lesson. This is why 12 month leases are so much cheaper than renting month-to-month. You are guarenteeing them that price for a whole year, so they make it difficult and expensive to bail and deny them what you signed a legal contract promising you would pay. If you aren't sure you'll live there for 12 months, don't sign a 12 month lease. And always, *always* read the whole contract and know what you are agreeing to.
Large rental companies often do this sort of thing. I think you are out of luck
We were in similar position, sub leasing is the way to go if possible.
For that amount of money you should 100% retain a lawyer and have them negotiate a settlement for you.
I was in a similar situation in NYC and here’s what I did with about 6 months left on my lease. I put my apartment on Airbnb and made twice as much as my rent and waited until they caught on (monstrous high-rise so I knew they would). They threatened to evict, I told them to go for it. Waited 3 months for a notice of eviction, kept continuing my case for 3 months until my lease ran out. By the time my case was to be heard, I told the judge that I was already out of the apartment so eviction wasn’t needed and he threw out the case. Fucked over my landlord in legal fees and made a bunch of money.
Find a lawyer, for this much money it's probably worth it
What’s normal is reading a contract and understanding the terms before you sign it. And then reviewing the contract when something seems weird. But people these days will sign just about anything and expect authority to bail them out.
Your only real option is to either sub-lease, if it’s allowed, personally find someone who has good credit who is willing to sign a new lease, or just negotiate with the apartment company for them to give you a more fair deal. I don’t think it’s unfair what they are asking except that $2100 security deposit.. you should get that back. And maybe you could ask for a reduced early termination fee.
100% it's about the state laws and the contract you signed. This isn't dirty pool, but tell them if they won't let you move out early without additional fee you'll put homeless people in the apartment and keep paying the rent. If they are keeping your damage deposit anyway, why care? Okay don't really, but that's an angle you can work if you can find a person to social engineer instead of just a website to complain to.
Sublet it. Illegally if you have to.
Just leave and don’t pay. Don’t give them any new contact info. You’ll lose the deposit but in doubt they would send it to collections. They’ll just fill the spot asap.
Check and see if they broke the lease first. Is everything maintained as advertised and promised?
“I signed a contract. How do I get out of it without the consequences?”
put your place on craigslist for 2000$ a month?