Lease ?

[Scales]

Anyone know what the rules are for getting out of a lease in an apartment if we're buying a house? My lease here comes up for renewal at the end of February. I don't know if I should renew it again since we are starting to shop for a house. And I don't really wanna drop it to a month to month lease because of the price increase. I heard that if you buy a house, you can get out of your lease with few problems. Any truth to that?

[DirtyMax]

Most resedential apartment leases are pretty iron clad unless the landlord isn't upholding their end of the bargain (i.e. furnace/hot water heater doesn't work, mold, etc.). They'll make you pay the rent until they either a. rerent it or b.until your lease is up. February/March is not a good time for people to want to move. It might be worth the extra $50 or so a month to go M2M. Could save you thousands in the long run.

[RCN4HIM]

Without seeing the terms of the lease, here are a few things from a property owners prospective:

1) The occupancy/desirabilty of the residence most likely will be a
determining factor in a attempted "opt out" of a lease.

2) Most property owners will make the tenant continue the scheduled rent
payments until the unit/building is rented out.

3) The cash flow of the building owner will also come into play on his/her
flexability with the lease terms, most property owners have mortgage's on
thier properties and the rental income is paramount to thier finances.

4) Most property owners will keep your security deposit.

5) Your timely or untimely rent payments will probably part of the determining
factor.

6) Finally, if the property owner is out of town/state and you can't look them
in the eye - good luck because to them, your just a number.

Hopefully you have some rapport with the property owner!

[SSDude]

If your serious about buying then you should go mtm. Or move to a place that will give you mtm until you find a place to buy. Whatever you do don't tie yourself to a year lease that can be hard and expensive to get out of.:thumbsup

[Scales]

Crap!! Not what I was hoping for. Guess I'll have to have a meeting with the ol landlord. All of my rent was either paid early, or on the 1st, so I guess that will help. Plus I've lived here for over 5 years without complaints about me, so that should help to. Thanks guys. I have a lot to think about now. Maybe I'll even call my lawyer and see what he can do...

[ThatWhiteCivic]

Goodluck on the house search; I'm in a simlar situation as well

[SSDude]

Talking to the landlord is a great place to start. You've been a great tenant and never been a problem. See if he will do a mtm for you at your current rate. Can't hurt to ask. If you are in one of these big apartment complexes i don't think they will make any exceptions. good luck

[u_say_go]

Mike, my cousin is going thru this exact same thing. He signed a one year lease at his apartment 2 months ago, found a house and closed on it last week, now he's stuck with the mortgage payment AND his rent until they find someone to rent his apartment to. Go month to month, the few extra bucks per month is a lot easier to handle than rent and mortgage.

[Yooformula]

Depends on your lease. You can sign a clause that allows you to get out of it if you are buying a home. My last lease had a similar clause so we were able to get out of it. Otherwise they may just charge you a few months penalty to get out unless you can find a renter for the aprtmnt.

[Scales]

Yeah, I'll have to talk to the manager here to see what we can do. Thanks for the tips guys!