Can this damage our credit?

[beccalou79]

Hey all, I'm clueless on this and would love some info.

My family and I moved into a townhome in June, and, for myriad reasons, we really don't like it here. We have a 12-month lease, and I'm wondering what the repercussions would be if we moved out before the lease is up. We've never done that before, so my questions are:

~Can this damage our credit?

~The lease agreement says, "If Resident should default under this agreement, Management shall have the right to accelerate payment of rent for the balance of the lease term and declare said amount due forthwith." Is this a fancy way of saying we would need to buy our way out of the lease, i.e. pay eight more months of rent at once, because that's how much of our lease term is left?

~Do the rules for this thing vary from state to state?


TIA!

[Daisie125]

I don't know about your credit, but yes, you will need to pay that 8 months of rent to get out of your lease. They WILL go after you for it. HOWEVER, in most states, they have to show proof of trying to rent out the apartment, and you will pay the difference (so if the apartment is vacant for 3 months, you would pay 3 months rent instead of 8)

Personally, I would talk to the landlord and try to work something out. They may be willing to look for a new tenant and let you leave your lease when they move in, etc.

[beachmouse]

The rules really do vary from state to state, and in some cases from municipality to municipality.

Is there a local tennants' rights group where you live? They're generally pretty good about explaining your rights and responsibilites in this case. And don't be afraid to ask your landlord about what they would do if you wanted out of the lease. Sometimes they're jerks; sometimes they just use a specific stock contract with that language because their lawyer told them it's a nice blanket contract that covers their hineys.

If the landlord's not part of the problem, he/she might also be willing to take some steps to correct problems while you're still there.

[normajean]

Usually you can legally get out of your contract as soon as they rent it to someone else. So you may only be responsible for the rent while they look for a new renter, and who knows, they may have a waiting list, so check with the office. You could still lose your security deposit, even if they are able to rerent your apartment.

Another option is subletting. You would advertise the apartment yourself (with your landlord's approval) and find a new tenant to take the apartment & take over the remainder of your contract. In college, DH & I bought out a rental contract for part of a year. But if your subletters default on you, you could still end up responsible for the rest of the contract, as well as in another lawsuit with your subletters for breaking the sublease with you.

It will only damage your credit if you default & don't pay the rent for the rest of your contract, but yes, if they don't rent the townhome out again, and you don't pay the rent, it will damage your credit.

I don't think they can demand the rent in full all at once for the remaining 8 months. It sounds to me like its saying that if you move out AND they don't rent the apartment, AND you aren't paying, then they can collect all the $ for the rest of the lease. So you need to cover your buns and make sure you don't just ditch it, but go through the proper venues of letting your landlord know you want to move, and possibly helping to look for a sublease tenant or a replacement tenant.

[StormySar]

i dont know about where you live, but here we can legally break a lease if we move from renting to owning a home. not sure if you'll br buying.

anyway, we were going to break our lease last year but decided to stay - if we found someone to rent the place our landlord woudl let us out of th elease without owing the rest of the months. He said we were welcome to advertise (post flyers) and do whatever we had to to get a tenant to sign the lease.

So its an idea... if you want to put the legwork in, you can probably get out of the lease when you find someone to movein.

[annekevdbroek]

I have a rental home - I've had several tenants ask to end the lease early (usually because they bought another house - never for any problems with the house or me or whatever). Anyhow, I've always allowed the tenants to pay the cost of finding a new tenant (which now is $0 with craigslist) and help with showing the property - and then tenant is out of the lease once the new tenants take over. I have final approval on who I'll rent to.

Anyhow - talk to your landlord first. I don't know if you are renting from an individual or a large company - but it can really mess someone up if they are without tenants unexpectedly. From the sounds of it at minimum you'd be responsible for rent until the landlord found new tenants - and probably lose your security deposit, etc. and dig up your credit, plus face small claims court or something.

[beccalou79]

Well, dang it. I guess we're stuck here for another eight months, then; neither my husband nor I have the energy or time to find a replacement tenant, and we sure don't want to get into a big legal/financial battle with the landlords. But thank you all for your replies... I do appreciate it!