Date Posted: 2012-08-30 10:38:24
Site Posted: Myproperty.ph
If you live in a rental home, chances are one of your reasons for doing so is that you find yourself needing to move around a lot, making the transient nature of renting an ideal set-up. You can’t always determine when your next move is scheduled, though; if a sudden job transfer or illness occurs, you most likely have no choice but to go with the flow.
The problem with this is that a sudden relocation would require you to break your lease. The legally binding nature of a lease agreement means that you can get into a tussle with the landlord if you try to leave before your term is up. On the other hand, you wouldn’t want to pass up on a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity or sacrifice your or someone’s health because of it. If you find yourself in the tricky position of having to relocate before the end of your lease, here are the things you can do to ensure that you encounter as little trouble with your landlord as possible.
1. Read your lease. Find out if your lease contains a clause that will let you get out before your term is over. Some agreements contain early-release statements that let tenants leave after a two-month notice in the event of an emergency.
2. Be honest. If the reason behind your decision has something to do with your unhappiness with your apartment or condo, approach your landlord and talk to him about it. You’re paying good money to live in the rental, so you have the right to bring up important concerns as long as they’re within reason.
3. Offer to sublease. Check the lease to see if the landlord allows subleasing agreements. If you don’t find one, ask the landlord about it. He may be nice enough to let you leave if your reason is valid, but he also wouldn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to keep the rental occupied so he might consider it. If he says yes, offer to find the sublessor yourself; if you’ve been a great tenant, he might find some comfort in the idea that you will try your best to find a renter as responsible as you’ve been.
4. Note your dissatisfaction. Your lease stipulates that your landlord is responsible for keeping the rental property up and running. If he hasn’t been keeping up his end of the bargain (for instance, if your repeated requests to have the air conditioning fixed or a foundation crack patched up has gone unheeded for a long time), you can use this as a reason for wanting to move out. However, make sure that your complaint is valid according to the lease; if prior to your signing the landlord mentioned in passing that he might get some new gym equipment and he still hasn’t gotten around to it, this is not a legitimate excuse.
5. Pay for the remainder of the lease. If you only have a few months left on the lease and you’re not exactly short on funds, you can offer to pay for the remaining months of your term even if you’re not living in the rental house, apartment or condo anymore. To most (if not all) landlords, it’s about making money so it would be in your best interest to just pay to get out of the lease as soon as you can.
Whatever you do, don’t just disappear into the night; you can land in serious trouble if you don’t properly inform your landlord of your intent to leave. Your willingness to communicate and compromise is your key to leaving the rental while still remaining in good terms with the landlord.
Jillian Cariola, Writer
(cover image by keyseeker)
Recently Posted Properties from Around the Web:
