NEED TO GET OUT OF RENTAL LEASE ONE MONTH EARLY

[Anonymous]

I'm addicted to Vegas. Not for the town but for the canyons and mountains and the lake. I live here because I hike and climb and ride motorcycles.

My rent for a 2 bed 2 bath apartment started at $900. Now it is at $770. It's a nice place but nothing like the new house.

I've been pre-qualified or pre-aproved by several lenders if I could only get the sellers bank to answer the stinking offer. This has been going on since December.

[LondonMassey]

I'm wondering how this short sale will turn out and how long it could take.  The bank already approved the selling price and I offered more than that, but who knows what will happen.  I kind of hope they drag their feet if the seller approves my offer to buy time with my lease, but if not... I'd be happy enough just to own a home.

[BreezyWe]

London- seller will drag hs feet because he is living rent free haha! Im on month 18 out of a 24month lease. We pay $1200 a month, but it's also in a master planned community. I emailed our landlord and she said she will let us out of our lease as long as I help her find new tenants. she also offered for us to buy this home, but it's not the house we are looking for

[Anonymous]

I made my offer Decemeber 27th. I'm still waiting to hear back from the sellers bank. I'm starting to look at other houses this weekend. Anything but a short sale. And Wells Fargo is supposed to be faster than the others.  HAH!

[MBOhio2]

I'm not totally clear on what communications you've already had with your landlord, but this is what I would do.... Reach out to your landlord and explain that you would like to end your lease 1 month early and ask if she will agree. If she agrees, sign a written agreement with her to officially end your lease one month early (this document could be pretty brief and straighforward and I bet you could find templates online - it just needs to basically say that it supercedes your original lease agreement and that you are ending the lease early on X date).

If your landlord won't agree to end the lease early that simply, suggest helping her find a new tenant and ask if she will agree to the early termination if you find a new tenant for her - Craigslist is your friend and makes renting a properry super easy for free.

The key here is, once she agrees to let you end your lease early, get it in writing with both of your signatures!

[germaine47]

I will give it a try, I think she is a little offended that I didn't want to buy the rental I am in now.  This is not my idea of what I want to live in for the rest of my life and if I am going to pay money to live some where it might as well be my own.  I will make sure that I square everything away before I move because I have worked to hard in getting my credit to where it is to let this haunt me.  If all else fails I will pay the remainder of the lease and be done with it.

[Jazzzy]

I don't know the regulations in your state, but where I live when one of my tenants wants to break a lease, as the landlord,I have the obligation to try to find a suitable tenant to lease the property. In other words, I have to try to mitigate the monetary damages caused by the broken lease. That doesn't mean I have to take anyone who comes along, but I DO have to try to find an acceptable replacement to fill the unit. (I always recommend that the tenant help in this search, as it is to his benefit to help me find a new tenant as well.)

The tenant, on the other hand, is still obligated if I am not able to find a replacement. The last tenant I had who wanted to buy a house in the middle of his lease decided to wait.

I don't know about other landlords, but I have to tell you that I always go to small claims on a broken lease. Most times the tenant doesn't even show up. Even if the tenant does show up, it's an easy win because they've broken a written contract. I get my judgment. I usually don't even go through the effort of trying to collect. My money comes when they try to buy a house (or motorcycle one time), etc.

I guess it all comes down to how much you are willing to gamble with your credit. A judgment is a Public Record. That does some damage. Good luck on whatever you decide.

[germaine47]

My landlord tried to sell me a home that has a long time renter and displace someone with probably  no place to go. I have also discussed with her about the electrical issues in the kitchen in which she has not fixed.   I am well aware of what she is capable of make no mistake that I am willing  to  take care of my obligations before my departure.   She has promised to place a sign up outside but as of yet, nothing. Do I go buy a sign and place it outside the residence with her phone number. I am willing to pay the one-two months of rent and leave the residence in pristine condition and as a favor I will take pictures of every room so there is no question..  Now what happens if she doesn't return my deposit, do I get to take her to small claims court.

[JM-AM]

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@germaine47 wrote:

My landlord tried to sell me a home that has a long time renter and displace someone with probably  no place to go. I have also discussed with her about the electrical issues in the kitchen in which she has not fixed.   I am well aware of what she is capable of make no mistake that I am willing  to  take care of my obligations before my departure.   She has promised to place a sign up outside but as of yet, nothing. Do I go buy a sign and place it outside the residence with her phone number. I am willing to pay the one-two months of rent and leave the residence in pristine condition and as a favor I will take pictures of every room so there is no question..  Now what happens if she doesn't return my deposit, do I get to take her to small claims court.

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Yes you would be able to take her to small claims court as long as everything is the way it should be.

IMO it is always best to move your belongings out, make sure you clean it up according to your lease agreement, paint if necessary (if allowed). Replace all light bulbs that are not working, replace all air filters and anything else that is affiliated with the use of the premises.

Do this with plenty of time to have the landlord or representative for landlord meet you at the premises to go over the entire place before your lease agreement is up. This way if there are any discrepences about it being dirty or needs to be repaired and or replaced it gives you time to complete it before the lease agreement is over. The reason you want to be able to resolve this before your lease agreement is up is because some landlords will actually charge you a per day rental fee until it is completed, while others will just say they will take care of it and charge you all kinds of fee's.

If everything is good and agreed upon with landlord and or representative then have them sign off on your personal agreement that everything is satisfactory to them. More then likely you will have to wait on your deposit for a little while but it shouldn't be more then 30 days.

Cover your a**!!!!!!!

Being a landlord myself I still allow any tenant to break a lease with a 45 day advance notice in writing. Deposits are returned as long as no major damages. Im a rare breed landlord and deal with my tenants daily on a sociable level. We go to dinner's together, participate in kids things together (sports, dancing, etc etc). 

Good luck with everything and I hope it all goes smoothly.

[llecs]

OP, DW and I rented and our lease wasn't set to end until two months after our closing date on our new home. I continued the lease to our advantage by taking our time to move. Insteading of spending thousands on a mover, I did it myself and took 2-3 dozen trips between the old place and the new casa. That gave us plenty of time to unpack after each trip and didn't have to worry about valuables missing or delicates broken. We did hire a mover for the last furniture items which took a better part of 2-3 people to carry them, but I certainly know I saved more $$$ by paying rent vs. paying a mover for our family of 6. Of course we only moved 30 minutes away which helped. In the end, our landlord ended up finding a new tenant early and that tenant wanted to move in early so he didn't charge us the last month.