STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

member · Hermes

Apartment Question - What Would You Do?

luckylily · Gucci

What is the consequence if you move out in the middle of your lease? Do you just lose your deposit or are you committed to pay rent through the lease?

I'd probably just take my chances and sign the lease. If you decide to move in the middle, you will most likely be able to find someone to take over the lease.

nunzi182 · Kate Spade

DH and I just went through something similar. We're not moving out of state, but we are looking for a house. Our lease was up this February and we had the same concerns you did. Our landlord would make us pay rent for each month the apartment goes unrented if we broke our lease. This was not an option for us because the apartment complex is HUGE and there are always empty apartments meaning they would have no incentive to lease our apartment because they'd be reaping the benefits of our broken lease. The OTHER option they have is that if we paid an upfront fee of $500 when we resign our lease this would allow us to get out of the lease with no strings attached. The down side is that if we happen to go through the whole year without finding a house we have to pay the $500 again at next year's resigning of the lease. For us it was worth it to have the peace of mind (although I never like giving up money for nothing.) I would suggest talking to your landlord to see if they offer any such option.

LA Gal · Kenneth Cole

i would sign the lease and wait and see what happens in early fall - if you want to move, you'll hopefully be able to relet the apt or, worst case scenario, you'll just stay a few more months. this would be my decision, mostly because i HATE moving and think that it would be especially pointless to move if you're going to be there for less than a year.

i know you said your landlord won't sign a 6 month lease, but is there some additional amount of money per month that you'd be willing to pay that will make a 6 month lease more attractive to her?

just something to consider - when a tenant moves out early, the landlord doesn't have much incentive to relet the apartment quickly, since the tenant is still legally on the hook until a new tenant comes along. my brother-in-law is facing this problem right now - he's trying to get out of his lease 4 months early and the landlord is not making any effort to relet the apartment (and really, they don't have to). he's very frustrated but there isn't much he can really do and will probably end up staying for the last 4 months even though it's the last thing he wants to do.

JoceyBaby23 · Gucci

I agree. Renew the lease.. Take your chances.

When the timing is perfect.. everything will fall into place.

I'm sure you could find someone to take your place if you are ready before 2007.

honey · Gucci

building on what nunzi & lagal said...would it be possible for your landlord to revise your lease so that it gives you the option to relet the apt. in the event you move. iirc didn't you have problems with the landlord b/f with your windows (or was that shopgirl82?). anyway i would just try to cover my butt as much as possible.

member · Hermes

I just spoke to my landlord, and this is what I found out:

We cannot break our apartment lease. Our option is to try to relet it. She is willing to help with that process too. But we can't just up and break it and leave - it'd go to a lawyer, collections and all that.

She told me she's sorry but she just can't offer a short term lease. She did this before for a lot of people and she's having issues w/it I think. I do understand where she's coming from.

I do have to say, I think we'll just have to sign and take our chances. Moving out to another apt. in Chicago is stupid - we'd have to sign a lease there too.

I should also mention that apt. bldg only has about 47 units and it's a popular bldg. My BF used to show apts for them and he never had a problem renting empty ones. Another thing - we live in a corner unit and those usually rent first.

shopgirl82 · Chanel

my only concern when reading that, is that your landlord is responsible for finding someone if you decide to leave. my bf did a similar thing, where he moved into a cheaper apartment right before he bought his condo (to save a couple extra bucks a month for furniture, what have you..) and he was the one who found someone to sublet. looking back on it, his landlord would have no incentive to work hard to find somone to sublet the place (he'd still be getting paid, and no one would be living in the apartment if he didn't find someone, why bother, right?).

you would have a lot more motivation to find someone to sublet than your landlord would, so i would just make sure that if you back out of the lease, and find someone to sublet (and they got approved from the landlord) everything would be ok.

i would sign it.

ETA: we were posting at the same time, you said she would help you...so it sounds like you are responsible for renting it. gotcha.

-- Edited by shopgirl82 at 12:30, 2006-02-02

member · Hermes

shopgirl82 wrote:

my only concern when reading that, is that your landlord is responsible for finding someone if you decide to leave. my bf did a similar thing, where he moved into a cheaper apartment right before he bought his condo (to save a couple extra bucks a month for furniture, what have you..) and he was the one who found someone to sublet. looking back on it, his landlord would have no incentive to work hard to find somone to sublet the place (he'd still be getting paid, and no one would be living in the apartment if he didn't find someone, why bother, right?). you would have a lot more motivation to find someone to sublet than your landlord would, so i would just make sure that if you back out of the lease, and find someone to sublet (and they got approved from the landlord) everything would be ok. i would sign it. ETA: we were posting at the same time, you said she would help you...so it sounds like you are responsible for renting it. gotcha.-- Edited by shopgirl82 at 12:30, 2006-02-02

Yeah, sorry - let me clarify. We would not move without finding someone to rent our apartment. We would not just leave and turn it over to our landlord. We would be responsible for finding someone to relet, not sublet. There's a difference. Reletting means, you find someone and you are no longer tied to the place or responsible. If you sublet, you act as that new person's landlord - we wouldn't do that.

Our landlord said she'd help out w/reletting. I know when we got this apartment, it was a relet.

I don't know why I'm so stressed..I guess I just worry that if we were ready to move and couldn't find someone we are stuck.

Thanks girls.

I don't think we have a choice other than to sign.