How to Terminate a Lease Early Without Penalty

Terminating a lease early can be a bit tricky, especially when you’re dealing with an apartment complex. Landlords want to protect their property at the rate they agreed to with you in advance. They don’t want you to use it as an easy way out of your lease. But sometimes circumstances change, and you have no choice but to move out; whether it’s relocating for work, a new love interest moving in, or just wanting a fresh start elsewhere, a lease break is sometimes the only option. In those cases, there are ways to end your lease early without getting penalised for breaking the contract. Let’s explore the possibilities of how to terminate the lease early and safely without penalty.

Provide Written Notice to the Landlord

The first step is providing written termination notices to the landlord or estate agent, which should be delivered in person or via certified mail. Giving notice that you wish to terminate your lease early and when you plan on moving out gives both parties a chance to come up with a plan for the future. You can also discuss any potential issues that might arise such as another tenant moving into your unit.

Keep in mind that landlords can refuse an early termination, particularly if they have someone lined up who’s ready to move in when the lease ends. If you still want out early, talk to them about ways you could help facilitate the move-in for the new tenant, such as providing keys or cleaning the unit yourself.

Also, make sure to notify your landlord of any maintenance issues or concerns during this time so things don’t come up later and create problems for anyone involved.

Pay the Reletting Fees or Lease Break Fee

If you want to get out of your lease early for whatever reason, the best thing to do is to talk to your landlord about reasonable steps to facilitate you moving out early. They may be understanding of your situation and allow you to end the lease early without penalty if you mitigate their loss. These costs can include reletting fees, rent advertising, and advertising the property on the appropriate real estate websites. Some states allow you to pay a simple break fee, whereas other states will need you are liable to pay rent until another tenant is found, no mater the amount of compensation you offer upfront.

Negotiate With Your Landlord To Terminate A Lease

If they don’t want to let you out of the fixed term agreements, then at least you know that you can’t simply walk away from it without any repercussions. If your landlord isn’t interested in negotiating, consider offering incentives like paying rent for the entire fixed term or paying money for each month that remains on the lease.

An intention to vacate provided to the landlord or real estate agent with specified reasons can sometimes help your case. A notice to vacate based on factors such as family violence, undue hardship, or financial hardship may be be taken into consideration and can give you a justified reason for breaking your lease. Sometime people in these situations can apply for social housing in the meantime, until their personal circumstances improve.

Find a New Tenant to Terminate a Lease Early

Another option to terminate a lease early without penalty is finding someone else to fill the remainder of your lease. This can mean either subletting or assigning your lease so the property is relet. This will please landlords generally, provided their references and rental history is good and can help with breaking your lease early and minimising lease break fees.

Subletting means that you would continue to pay the rent and be liable for any damages while another person lives in the apartment while assigning means that they would take over the lease completely and become responsible for all payments and damages during their time in the unit as per tenancy agreements.

The person who moves into your rental property will have to pay rent every month until the end of the tenancy fixed term. If rent is not continued to be paid as agreed upon, this is considered a breach of agreement. Finding prospective tenants to take over your lease can be done on noticeboards or social media. Be sure to inform the landlords or agents that you wish to find new tenants so they are aware of your intentions of breaking the agreement set out at the start of your lease.

Compensate the Landlord for Costs and Lost Rent

If you’ve only given notice of one week, offer to pay any costs associated with screening potential renters such as reletting and re-advertising fees. It’s good to think about the minimum notice periods you should give when considering to break the lease too. This can help the agent or landlord find tenants to relet the property before you move out, to make the break lease situation smoother for all concerned.

Doing so will help ensure that you’ll be able to move out without paying extra fees or rent so long as they agree. You might also consider offering them a one-time payment equal to half of what it would cost them over the next month.

Hold Back Rent in Case of a Landlord Dispute

In other instances, you might be able to provide proof that the landlord has violated your rights as outlined by the tenants union and is thus allowing you to terminate your lease early without penalty.

For example, if your landlord refuses to make repairs that are necessary for habitability, then you may be able to argue that the premises cannot be legally inhabited and therefore the rental agreement should be terminated.

Hold back rent in case of landlord dispute. If you plan on negotiating with your landlord about how much you owe him or her upon leaving the premises, it’s wise to keep a portion of monthly rent in reserve until an agreement is reached.

In the case where your rental bonds have been held for loss of rent or legal reason, you can refer to the residential tenancies act in your state or territory and see whether there is a break fee clause which may apply to your situation. Each state or territory will have an organisation you can reach out to for tenants advice. They will have record of your contract in the tenancy database. You can apply to the tribunal or tenants and advice advocacy service to see if you can reach an agreement with your landlord. Residential tenancy disputes occur frequently and are usually resolved quickly if you have followed the correct consumer affairs protocol.

Hire a Lease Buyout Firm

Another option is to hire a lease buyout company. These firms offer cash to take over the lease early. In some cases, it’s enough to cover your remaining payments, so you owe nothing at all.

Other times, it might be just enough to cover any early termination fees. Either way, hiring one of these companies will likely save you from having to dig into your own pockets.

There are only a handful of companies that specialise in this type of transaction, but they’re worth checking out if you need help getting out of a lease.

Claim Constructive Eviction or Abandonment

Constructive eviction means that something was done to your apartment by the landlord, or on a building-wide basis, that made it impossible for you to continue living there. If you do need to move out in a hurry and decide to stay with family or friends, you may want to consider placing you belongings into an affordable storage unit for a short while until you find your feet again.

You will need to give your landlord written notice that you are leaving because of these things, and you should also write down everything that happened to help prove your claim. If you can prove constructive eviction, then the landlord cannot make you pay rent after you leave.

In addition, if you were forced out of your home by these conditions, they could be considered retaliatory conduct and could allow you to file an illegal detainer lawsuit against the landlord seeking damages.

To file a lawsuit against the landlord, however, you must make sure that the lease violation was not fixed within 14 days from when the landlord knew or should have known about it. Taking note of the notice periods in which the rental provider has not taken action of the faults of negligence may further back up your reasons for termination of the lease agreement you initially signed. If this is the case, it may be possible to terminate your lease early without penalty.

Should I Break My Lease?

When the time comes to terminate a lease or tenancy agreements early for any reason, the first step is to contact the landlord or property manager. Do this in writing and allow at least 10 days for a response. In some cases, your written request may be all it takes to become released from the lease. Review the lease and see what options might be available to you. Before you sign a new apartment lease, look for clauses in the agreement that will allow you to terminate your lease early without penalty, or what it will mean if you do end things early. At a minimum, this pre-searching will allow you to negotiate out early termination fees with your landlord.