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Step 1
Read your lease agreement carefully, looking for loopholes or early release policies. Pay special attention to "notice of intention to vacate," "sublease," "sublet" and "relet" provisions.
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Step 2
Research your state and local laws and ordinances governing lease agreements. In general, you must pay the rent remaining on the full term of your lease or incur penalties if you end it early. Reasons such as military service, purchasing a home (for dwelling leases), relocation due to medical treatments (also for dwelling leases) and others may be considered valid and excuse you from some or all lease termination payments.
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Step 3
Seek legal advice, if necessary, through a private lawyer, your local legal aid society or your area's tenants rights organization.
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Step 4
Document your reasons for breaking or terminating your lease. Include relevant letters (for example, military orders, employment transfers or requests for repairs), photos of unresolved repairs (for dwellings), or receipts/estimates of repairs (for vehicles and equipment) to support a lemon-law claim.
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Step 5
Determine your desired outcome, and outline your supporting details. One common agreement includes paying one month's rent plus any deposit.
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Step 6
Contact the owner of the property you are leasing. Inform the owner of the reason(s) you wish to terminate your lease and any offer you are willing to make. Start with your dream settlement, then negotiate from there to your bottom-line position.
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Step 7
Get any changes in writing; avoid oral agreements, which are difficult to prove and enforce. Leases can be altered, but any modifications to the contract must be signed by both parties.
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Step 8
Prepare for the negative consequences: payment to the owner, legal action, or a hit to your credit report if you walk away from the lease.
Comments
mzluan84 said
on 8/17/2008 AFTER we signed the lease and started having problems.
What I'm wondering now is...is there any legal way for us to break our lease without having to pay the early termination fee? I've already read the renters rights from the State of Utah and it says that as renters we have the right to privacy, safety, security, and to be able to live in peace and quiet. Is there some way I can find a way out of this lease?
Sorry for all the comments, just wanted to give as much info as I can...
mzluan84 said
on 8/17/2008 are allowed to stay in an apartment?
The second day of being here we witnessed our first gang fight. We were coming back from shopping with the 3 year old and saw groups of males running back and forth the front of our actual apartment building with bats, table legs, and other projectiles used for hitting. When I went to the front office about it, they decide to let me know that our complex happens to be in the middle of 2 complexes where rival gangs happen to live. And the only way for them to get to each other is through ours. Then I find out that our complex has been on the news plenty of times for gang fights and other types of violence, and that the city we lived in is essentially the ghetto. Granted it was our fault for not looking into this, but coming from California it's hard to know what's what. On top of that, the management never mentioned any of this until AFTER we
mzluan84 said
on 8/17/2008 The next night I called the courtesy patrol to try and tell them to be quiet AGAIN (this time they were being even louder). Not only did it NOT get quieter, but the dad decided to come downstairs and let us know that he doesn't like cops and that if we had a problem with the noise, we should've come up and said something. And of course, once he goes upstairs, the stomping continues...and ever since there's just constant noise. Just yesterday these kids were hanging out on their balcony and eating all kinds of candy, and throwing the wrappers and whatever's left of their candy off the balcony...and onto the front of our patio. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that after all the attempts we've made, we obviously have a problem with the noise...and yet it doesn't stop. Oh...and on more than one occasion I've seen no less than 3-5 kids up there. Isn't there a limit on how many ar
mzluan84 said
on 8/17/2008 other things to be fixed.
On top of that, that same day we were welcomed to our new home by the wonderful stomping and basketball bouncing of our upstairs neighbors (we're on the ground level, with 2 levels above us). I immediately called our front office to let them know that the kids upstairs were being loud and they said they would send a note. Next day the kids are stomping up and down the stairs, yelling in the breezeways (resulting in LOTS of echoing), and the stomping/basketball bouncing continued. Everyday they are doing this and I have called the management to complain and still nothing's happened. The other night, at around 10-10:30 the stomping and yelling did not stop, so I finally called the cops to file a noise complaint. They came, it stopped for the night, and by the next day the noise continued. The next night I called the courtesy patrol to try and tell them to
mzluan84 said
on 8/17/2008 My fiance and I recently moved from Southern Cali into an apartment in West Valley, UT with his 3 yr old daughter. When we first came to look at the complex, we were told that this area was the safest, that there we were 5 minutes away from 2 different police departments.
We moved in Aug 6th to a horrible apartment--there were holes in the walls, our dishwasher wouldn't open, the carpet wasn't just damp it was wet, we killed about 20 flies on our first day, and the entire apartment was definitely not in "move-in" condition. I found out a few days later that the reason for it was because the previous tenants ended up leaving on the 4th, instead of the 1st when they were supposed to. Did we get a call to let us know that this was happening? Of course not. It's been almost 2 weeks since we sent in LARGE amounts of work orders, and we are still waiting on our dishwasher and other th