How to Get Out of an Apartment Lease

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Is there a secret on how to get out of an apartment lease without any consequences or out-of-pocket expenses? Does anyone know that and simply not releasing it to the general public? Unfortunately, there’s no absolute easy way, but there’s always a solution.

Many of us sign a leasing agreement for the duration of six to twelve months at a time. We all understand the circumstances that will follow, if we decide to breach the signed agreement and get out of the lease for any of the reasons below:

• Buying a house
• Due to safety
• Roommate situation
• Relationship breakup
• Due to noise

Does My Landlord Care About My Feelings?

Your landlord cares about every single tenant on their property and must abide by every policy written and provided. However, if you come up to your landlord and say that your dog is allergic to the carpet in your unit and threaten of a lease break if carpets aren’t replaced, well, it won’t get you anywhere and your request will not hold any legal ground. Why? Because this is or any other reason stated above will not legally get you out of your responsibility from paying your landlord. 

Know Potential Consequences of Breaking a Lease

You ask yourself a question, well, ‘what’s the worst that can happen if I break my lease?’. Your landlord can cause some serious damage to your rental credit history by taking legal action via civil lawsuit against you in order to try and recover unpaid rent. If it goes to civil court and a judge rule in favor of your landlord and issues you a judgement – this blemish can affect your credit report for 7 years. This will cause you to have issues renting from other landlords in the future, due to the fact that landlord references play a huge part in getting your application approved.

Best Way on How to Get Out of an Apartment Lease with Minimal Losses

First, you need to grab your leasing agreement and look for terms, such as, ‘early termination clause’. Depending on your situation, of course, you may even find an easy way out. Sometimes, landlords are lenient towards tenants who can legitimately prove that they need to terminate a lease due to a family/health or personal issue, divorce or a job loss. These are rare occasions and more often than not, landlords won’t budge towards such reasons, as harsh as they may be.

Crying a river to your landlord won’t do you any good either. Landlords follow their own policies, and they will stick to them, no matter what. Best suggestion is to ask your landlord if you can transfer, assign or relet your apartment to another prospective tenant. In most cases, it is totally accepted, provided that the new tenant taking over your lease is qualified based on income, acceptable credit and clean background checks.

It is not recommended to ask your landlord if you can ‘sublet your apartment’. In 95% chances, subletting is not allowed, because it’s a completely different process than a lease assignment / lease transfer.