breaking a rental lease
 

Hi,

Somethings came up w/ my work, and I'm going to have to break my lease w/ my landlord.

What is standard protocol?

I have 1yr and 4 month left on the lease.

Thanks
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if i remember correctly you have to continue to pay the rent until they find someone new? im not sure beyond that point

What does "something came up" mean? If you're fired/terminated/laid off, I doubt most would take that as an excuse... if you're being transferred out of the area, that MAY be a different matter.

You are responsible for any loss of rental revenue.

First: talk to your landlord....make friends....kiss his ass....give him as much notice as possible. at the end of the day, he will have the say on how hard you are fucked.

Second: clean the shit out of your place and be as flexible as possible in regards to showings.

Third: understand that what ever amount of money your landlord is out between for the next 1 year and 4 months is YOUR responsibility. this could mean 1 month's rent or $100 for 16 months.

Fourth: read the residential tenancy agreement to confirm what I am telling you is true (it is) and realize that if your landlord has to take you to court, he will win.

Don't make him take you to court. Take responsibility for the lease you signed and risk you took. Be a man and pay what you owe. Walk away with a good reference and a life lesson (never sign a lease for more than 12 months).

Transfered away for work
Work will pay for all lease break cost
They just want to know how much they need to shell out.
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So what I'm getting at is worst case scenario
Is they need to "buy out the lease"
Which is monthly rent X 16?
But the chance of that happening is pretty low right?
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Wow what is your employer paying you to do? :troll: All those questions have been answered...

VERY low.

You landlord can not sit there and say, "sucks to be you....give me 16 months of rent".

They MUST show that they did their best to re-rent the unit at the same rate you were paying. They can reduce the price as the month goes on in an attempt to attract a renter (ex: Advertised June 1-20th $1000....June 20th-26th $900...June 26th-30th $850....or something like that). If the landlord gets a good applicant on the 3rd of the month for $100 less than what you are paying, he has the right to take it. At that point, you owe $100 x 16 months for loss of rental revenue.

You should also expect to lose you security deposit as a penalty fee unless otherwise stipulated.

A landlord\owner can not double dip...it is against the law. He can't charge you rent for 16 months if he has rented the place for 14 months.

Loss of revenue is the key term you need to familiarize yourself with.

You won't have that number until he re-rents it.

you could try posting ads for viewing of the place yourself, at least get the place on the market, get some people interested and hand it over to the landlord from there?

Would I be able to negotiate a buy out term?
say 5 month rent and we call it even?

now would I need some sort of official document stating the buyout amount + after that I will be off the hook?

I haven't told my landlord yet, I need to wait till a few things finalize with work first, but likely I will be giving him 3 month notice before I move out.

Of course a custom negotiation / buyout option is something you can explore. But at the end of the day, it is entirely up to your landlord whether he accepts or not.

If you do come to a buyout agreement, make sure everything is in black and white, indicating that you are free from any of the rental / loss of revenue liabilities as a result of the buyout.

decent idea....but wouldn't recommend it. this could lead to a lot of confusion and it won't be worth it.

just let your landlord do his\her job.

I spoke with my landlord today, and he agreed to let me break the least w/ a penalty of 1 month rent.
So that is not bad at all, and he will have everything for me on paper.

I would be safe w/ that document right, in terms of future potential civil disputes?

Get everything in writing!

Paper trail for the payments made as well.

As T4 said, having it in writing is always best. Make sure everything is signed and dated.

That is a pretty good deal and I am sure the landlord thinks there should not be a problem re-renting the unit. However, the landlord's mind may change if he/she can't....so document it all.

Happy it worked out for you :)

He is actually putting the unit up for sale.
He will have his real estate agent contact me in regards to showing the homes for potential buyer etc.

As for the letter, it is written on the letter head for the company in which he works for and signed by him.

It states

I paid the 1 year's rent in 1 lump sum payment at the beginning of my lease term, so that he is what he means by retaining the last month of the prepaid rent.

Ball hard paying one year lump sum

That letter is adequate, but can be better with more details. Include dates of your current signed Lease. so something like this

"Please accept this letter as a confirmation of the mutual agreement between 'land lord's full name and this wife's name' and 'my name' to terminate the condo lease agreement signed January 1, 2013. As compensation for early termination, the remaining one month's rent of $1100 for Sept 1st 2013 to Oct 1st 2013 will be retained as a lease break cost. The Premises will be surrendered August 31, 2013 at 5pm at which time the Lease will be officially terminated"

the negotiation was $1200/month
or $1100/month if I pay 1 year lump sum

I had the $ on hand so thought I'd save myself $100/month.

Thanks, I will see if the land lord will include the details into a revised letter.

Thanks!

FYI

Tenancy agreements end on the last day of the month, ie: 28th, 30th, or 31st at 1pm unless otherwise agreed upon in writing.

It is written in the BC Provincial Tenancy laws as this, so should there ever be a problem and you case goes to court, everyone needs to know this. If you or your tenant stays past 1pm on the last day of the month, there is a case for addition fees for used of the rental suite.

Agreements are not 1st to 1st.

With my buildings, everyone is out by 1pm on the last day and in at noon on the 1st. Gives me 24 hours with the suite to ensure its good.