Breaking apartment leases?

[joshuar9476]

Re: Breaking apartment leases?

i once talked to a complex and told them i wanted an appt that allowed dogs. when i moved in and got the dog they told us that me that i was in a no dog building. they only had a couple of animal friendly rooms and they were taken. needless to say, i was not happy. so i talked to a lawyer and he said just move, don't let them know where you are going, and most big complexes won't bother fighting it when they can just as easily rent it out again. so i gave up the deposit, moved, and never looked back.

[Chaos81]

Re: Breaking apartment leases?

so i talked to a lawyer and he said just move, don't let them know where you are going, and most big complexes won't bother fighting it when they can just as easily rent it out again. so i gave up the deposit, moved, and never looked back.

I wish I was that lucky. I moved out right after Thanksgiving, and had a letter show up at work telling me to be in court by the middle of January.

Maybe they just didn't like us.

[p_rushing]

Re: Breaking apartment leases?

Well to start, you have already broken the lease by having your girlfriend live there. If you are all on the same lease, then you will have to pay them or they can sue you for breaking the lease, they can already sue you for your girlfriend living there. Unless each lease was separate, you can't do a thing.

[e0820]

Re: Breaking apartment leases?

If 3 people are on a lease then legally - 3 people are responsible for the lease. I would say you pay your share and let the landlord go after the other two. I lived in a townhouse with 4 other guys in college and had a roommate with the same first name as mine and he kinda stopped paying his share of the rent. Of course they called me even though my first and last name was printed neatly on every check I turned in. Of course I explained to them that they were calling the wrong person (morons) So instead of asking us to pay his share they just went after him since he was responsible for his share of the rent.

I would say keep paying your share and enjoy the place to yourself. However Im sure your landlord will sublease to someone else sooner or later. Just out of cusiosity, is your girlfriend the reason your roommates are skipping out?

[cjb1514]

Re: Breaking apartment leases?

Well to start, you have already broken the lease by having your girlfriend live there. If you are all on the same lease, then you will have to pay them or they can sue you for breaking the lease, they can already sue you for your girlfriend living there. Unless each lease was separate, you can't do a thing.

Err. You misunderstood what I said. There can only be 3 people on lease. There cannot be 4. But that 4 person can be left off the lease and still live there pending on an agreement with the roommates. We had to choose so we choose my girlfriend to be off the lease. We split the rent four ways. We sat down together with apartment complex management and agreed with this. She helped and did her part even though she was not signed on the lease. They cannot sue my girlfriend. It was agreed that she could move in and live their and help pay rent she just couldn't get her name on the lease because only 3 people can be signed to a lease.

[cjb1514]

Re: Breaking apartment leases?

Obviously I don't know your roommates, but I seriously doubt they are gonna be okay with paying your part of the rent for the rest of the lease.

I rather have it be them then us. And they were gonna screw us. They were alread planning on moving and not tell us until the lease was up. And why should I pay rent for the month of february if I am not living there?

We found a place and they aren't waiting for us to move in, we need to jump on it before someone else gets it. I don't want to wait later when the lease is up and be screwed with nowhere to go. We found a place and we need to move in by this weekend.

[p_rushing]

Re: Breaking apartment leases?

Err. You misunderstood what I said. There can only be 3 people on lease. There cannot be 4. But that 4 person can be left off the lease and still live there pending on an agreement with the roommates. We had to choose so we choose my girlfriend to be off the lease. We split the rent four ways. We sat down together with apartment complex management and agreed with this. She helped and did her part even though she was not signed on the lease. They cannot sue my girlfriend. It was agreed that she could move in and live their and help pay rent she just couldn't get her name on the lease because only 3 people can be signed to a lease.

Ok, all my leases have stated that if anyone staying there was there more than like 7-14 days, they were considered to be living there and they must be on the lease. It was because of laws were they didn't want a bunch of people living in a apartment or house and bringing down property values.


If you are set on moving, go to the apartment office and tell them. You are going to lose your security deposit and probably last month's rent if you paid it at the beginning of the lease. Usually in the lease it says that you will have to pay rent until they rent it out. Right now because of the economy, I don't think it will be hard to find renters, so it should take them one month at most to find someone.

[ghm125]

Re: Breaking apartment leases?

this is all that came to mind after reading this.....good luck!!!!!



I had a situation years ago where we came to an agreement to with all parties on the lease to pay like a month up front,and made sure the apartment was spotless when we left,plus we had an deposit of I think a month or 2...and they kept that ,and we walked away unscaved with a year to go on the lease....but this was in the early 90's before the economy was "jacked" up....anyways goodluck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISmgOrhELXs&feature=related

[rsnomar05]

Re: Breaking apartment leases?

I rather have it be them then us. And they were gonna screw us. They were alread planning on moving and not tell us until the lease was up. And why should I pay rent for the month of february if I am not living there?

We found a place and they aren't waiting for us to move in, we need to jump on it before someone else gets it. I don't want to wait later when the lease is up and be screwed with nowhere to go. We found a place and we need to move in by this weekend.

They can't screw you. And you can't screw them. Whoever ducks out and doesn't pay rent will have legal action against them. Once you sign a lease you can't get out of it unless the landlord lets you.

[TimmeH]

Re: Breaking apartment leases?

I rather have it be them then us. And they were gonna screw us. They were alread planning on moving and not tell us until the lease was up. And why should I pay rent for the month of february if I am not living there?

We found a place and they aren't waiting for us to move in, we need to jump on it before someone else gets it. I don't want to wait later when the lease is up and be screwed with nowhere to go. We found a place and we need to move in by this weekend.

I don't understand. You keep saying they are moving when the lease is up. Doesn't that mean that they're no longer contractually obligated to live there after that? If I'm understanding that right, I don't see what the big deal is. And...if their lease is up and everyone signed the lease at the same time, shouldn't you be free to move then too?

Chances are, whoever breaks the lease is going to end up in court. Even with a month-to-month lease, most places still want two months notice of you moving out. Chances are, they'll at least want two months rent, if not rent up until they can find someone to rent the place.

My old boss told me a story once of how she broke the lease without telling anyone where she went. She thought she was off the hook, and then months later someone came into her workplace to let her know that if she didn't pay the money she owed, it would be deducted from her paychecks automatically. Dunno how that's even possible, but it was enough to scare me into following the lease.