While there are many motives to break a lease, not all of them are legal. There’s a reason you signed that document stating that you’d pay rent for a particular period of time, after all. If your desire to leave your living situation is nothing more than primadonna flip-flopping (“I’m just bored of the view!”), you’ll probably be liable to pay your landlord for the remainder of your lease, or at least until she can find a new tenant. In some instances, however, you are legally justified to leave early without financial penalty:
Your apartment is uninhabitable
…and, no, not because your neighbors are ugly. Although “habitable” is subject to interpretation, it generally means that appliances function and the unit is safe. Hazardous, or uninhabitable, situations include broken locks, rank smells (okay, this is where your neighbors might come in), issues with noise, mold, broken windows, and pest infestations.
You have a “profound change of life”
Interestingly, this does not include divorce or changing jobs. It may include death (well, especially your own), serious illness and hospitalization, prison, insanity, or moving to an assisted living facility. We hope none of these is the case for you. Some states also allow lease breaking after call to active duty. Bankruptcy—whether your own or your landlord’s—may also release you from your lease.
Your apartment isn’t up to code
Maybe you didn’t notice when you moved in, but your “apartment” is actually a backyard shed without its own bathroom; when you do notice, and realize your unit doesn’t qualify as legal, you should move out.
The property manager fails to fulfill promises
If your landlord made promises (e.g. new carpet, My Little Pony wallpaper) in writing and has failed to make good on them despite you raising the issue, you’re justified in packing your bags.
Additionally, some leases have an automatic renewal policy; read the document carefully and know what you’re signing up for—and how you can get out of it.
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This information is good to know, however, it doesn’t seem to apply to all states. We moved out due to mold issues, AND had code enforcement involved. They gave the apartment complex 30 days in which to get rid of this problem. On the 30th day, after witnessing them fixing up other units and renting them out, we moved. Result: they claimed we didn’t give them enough time to “clean up” their act, even though we gave them the same exact amount of time Code Enforcement gave them, it was sent to collections and remains on our credit report to this day! This is what happens when you live in Jacksonville, Fl where there are no landlord tenant courts, or landlord tenant lawyers.
Normally I do not read post on blogs, but I would like to say that this write-up very forced me to check out and do it! Your writing style has been amazed me. Thanks, very great post.
I live in a apartment, that has soft spots under the carpet, scared of falling through the floor. I had told the manager about the problem, but they only fixed one area, and there are other areas, that need repairing also, what should I do, and they say this is luxury.
Oh! Thanks! I’ve been playing with HeeksCAD CNC but it was immediately clear that I need a little G code knowledge before I could generate tool paths. So I got the Smid book and have spent the weekend immersed in tool offsets, compensated cutting, and circular interpolation. Getting there.