Here in Ontario the law says that Landlords can't unreasonably deny permission to sublet. If you need to break your lease here, finding someone to sublet for the remainder of the term is usually fairly easy, especially if you offer to reduce the rent by a little bit. The responsibility of rent still lies with the original renter, so finding someone who is responsible is key to making this work.

Goodness, this post makes me appreciate how accommodating our former landlord was when we needed to move. Our rent was rent-stabilized and below market-value, so he couldn't wait to get us out. We didn't get our deposit back, but we didn't have to pay for the time beyond the last month that we did stay until we could move. He didn't even gripe about the substantial work done on the apartment over the past two decades of tenancy, but instead took the measurements of what had been done so he could replicate it in other units. He may have unlawfully filed eviction papers to us every month even though our rent was paid on time, but he was suddenly a great fan when he could charge more from someone else.

Landlords would make it a lot easier on themselves and everyone else if they just offered leases for less than 12 months. Recently we had to move, but my husband will be out of the military in less than a year and we know we will be moving again. And it became practically impossible to find anywhere to live without promising to stay for 12 full months that we know we will not be around, nor could we afford to cover the few extra months after we are gone. So when no one will accept shorter leases, that leaves us with the option of 1) being homeless or 2) signing a full year lease, then leaving the landlord hanging and refusing to pay after that. I'd rather be up front and honest, but not a single landlord would accept our 10-month lease offer. You'd think it would be better for the landlord to know that to have the apartment sit empty for months when you're looking for a tenant and not being paid, but what do I know.

The problem is that housing law in many parts of the U.S., (but especially NYC) is very much in favor of the occupant, whether its a person on the lease *or* a sublet. If your friend stops paying the rent then the landlord has to go through a lengthy and expensive legal process to get them evicted--and that can take up to a year. That's way most smart landlords insist they go through the vetting process and get added to a lease. Not all landlords are millionaires and most have mortgages and their own bills to pay.

I'm not sure how it is in Canada, but what applies in your country most certainly doesn't apply everywhere.

You want a lease for less than a year? Then just ask for a month to month agreement. You'll pay more for the freedom you'll have with a thirty-day notice.

The Landlord is mostly likely paying a mortgage and has hefty taxes to pay, as well as meaningful insurance, and stability in income streams is important to the lender as well as the Landlord.

People should always offer to pay mo-to-mo even on apartments with year leases: you never know if the Landlord will take it on that unit on that day. More likely if the view is poor, it's a garden unit, or looks out at the parking lot.

"So when no one will accept shorter leases, that leaves us with the option of 1) being homeless or 2) signing a full year lease, then leaving the landlord hanging and refusing to pay after that."

This makes no sense. Instead, you could have been up front with your landlord and told him that you would only stay 10 months and that you would help him rent the property in your last couple of months. You know, exactly what the article said. You would still be on the hook for the last two months' rent, but the landlord would probably have found a new tenant when you were ready to leave and saved you that sum.

@Particleman, I didn't say it was the law everywhere. In fact, I specifically said it was in Ontario. The laws vary even within our provinces. But, I'm sure there are other jurisdictions where the laws are similar.

The laws in Ontario are very well thought out, in my mind. They neither favour the landlord or tenant too hevaily and the resolutions are reasonable. It's nice to live somewhere that I don't have to fear my landlord jacking my rent by 50% on a whim because she wants to effectively kick me out. She has to have reasonable grounds to do so, which only makes sense when you're dealing with someone's residence.

Month to month leases are not a smart choice for a landlord, but you can always plead your case. Offer a 60-day notice and try to be accommodating when showing the apartment should you need to move out quickly. The 60-day lead time will help the landlord find a good tenant. For a landlord, it's all about the certainty of cash flow and month to month leases are the most risky.

Wow...I am so thankful my landlords were so easy going. I gave them 2 months notice that I was in the process of buying a house, really due to plumbing problems I was having there. After being there almost 7 years and with only 6 months left on my lease I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pretty sure I wasn't getting the deposit back. Amazingly, they gave me the deposit in full and even gave me a few extra weeks to move without charging me the next months rent (I think they just didn't want to deal with the apartment right then). When we did final walk through they told me I was their longest renter they had ever had...it made me really sad, I just hope the next tenant hasn't torn up the place. :-(

TDIZZLE, you do know that a lease is a legally binding agreement for both parties, right? If you sign a 12 month lease, you are responsible to pay rent for 12 months. You don't have the option of simply refusing to pay for the last two months.

I rented from my landlord for almost 6 years and then needed to break my lease when my boyfriend and I bought a house together. I was very upfront from the beginning and let him know immediately when we started looking at houses so he knew I might need to move out early. My landlord lived out of the country at the time, so I offered to take care of the craigslist posting, showed the apartment, and screened all potential tenants and then just let him know which ones seemed best and then he took care of the paperwork. When we moved out, we took care of all of the cleaning. The landlord was extremely accommodating and gave us our full security deposit back. I think the situation worked out so well because I had taken care to be a good tenant the entire time I lived there, so that when I needed to break the lease, the landlord was willing to work with me.

Besides which, on-base housing would avoid these issues.

@Lixabethsvintage, If you have been a good tenant for 6 years than generally a landlord will be more flexible with you breaking the lease. Finding a new tenant costs a lot of money and time and the apartment often sits vacant during that process. However, since they haven't had to find a new tenant in 6 years I personally would eat the cost happily. :)

The problem is when a first time tenant expects to break the lease without a financial consequence after 5 months. Life happens, but you can't expect to transfer the financial consequences of your decisions to someone else.

ummm...leases actually protect tenants more than landlords.

take the month to month agreement, and you are in danger of taking it if your landlord wants to raise the rent, change terms, or decides he/she simply doesn't like you and gives you the boot (or whatever the case may be), also with 30 days notice.

I am a landlord, and my last tenants broke their lease in the most unfavorable of ways: they asked if they could break the lease less than a month before they wanted to leave. The reasoning was that they wanted to buy a house (which in fact they had already signed off on, and set the closing....there was no mention to me *at all* until they knew their dates were "safe"). I said I was not inclined in that direction, especially as they only had another month left on the lease, and I honestly didn't think I could find a replacement earlier than their original end date. This is not to mention insurance issues and tax issues of having a "less than 12 month lease" in effect. Then I never heard another word about it from until after they actually moved out WITH NO NOTICE. Then they threatened to sue me because I didn't do more to rent the house immediately, as somehow I was responsible for minimizing THEIR losses.

I'm sorry but you know what? A lease is a lease. Deal with it. I am more than willing to work with tenants who are reasonable and who understand that it's not my responsibility to deal with THEIR choices. Negotiate or mention any reservations up front, and deal with it when a landlord doesn't want to meet your terms. There is no way in hell I'd offer a month to month lease, or a less than one year lease, when I have to pay an agent to find new tenants. And of course, don't sign the lease if you don't intend to live with the terms. If in the course of living in the house, something comes up, I think a tenants should show even a smidge of understanding or initiative to help minimize the losses of the landlord, too. It's a two way street and it's shocking how entitled some tenants seem to think they are.

If my last tenants had taken the tack that Lizbethsvintage did, I would have been more than happy to try to work things out with them - instead they covered their own asses before even considering mine, and then acted like I should have done more. NO. Screw that!

These all seem to be scenarios where renters are working with landlords over houses or units within a house (or brownstone/townhouse). What makes me really mad is when big box apartment complexes aren't the least bit accommodating or flexible, even after you've been up front and accommodating to THEM. I actually called our leasing office to find out if any units were available that fit my description- "No, there is a waitlist." But when I inquire about leaving my lease two months early (WITH the required 30 day notice)? "No, it will still cost you $1,500 to break your lease." Seriously?! I even offered to let them keep my $700 deposit. No dice.

I'd never skip out on rent, so we are indeed stuck here. I wish we'd paid the extra 50 bucks each month and gone month-to-month once my first lease was up in this complex. Life is pretty unpredictable sometimes, but this place (and other complexes in the area that I looked at while scouting) don't even offer a clause in the lease that lets you break it if you have a job transfer. It sounds like it'd be MUCH easier to deal with a landlord than with a corporate/management company that is based out of a completely different state.

I recently realized that this is a good thing to ask about when you see the unit. It came up when I was looking at my current place because the tenants who were moving out were hoping to break the lease early. I chatted with the landlord about this policies on it, and now I know exactly what would be expected of me if I was in that situation.

Our complex has a standard clause in the lease agreement that after the first year, the tenant can move out with one month notice. They are allowed to show the place during the month you are still living there with reasonable notice. So, every year we renegotiate the rent and sign another addendum rather than a new lease. This seems very fair to me, and I will push for it in any future leases.

So, TDizzle, you can't afford to pay two extra months rent, but you can afford to pay for the legal costs of being sued for the unpaid rent? Also, way to fly the "military family" flag and then demonstrate your complete lack of ethics.

I don't know why everybody is piling on TDizzle, who is making a completely reasonable point. The military family thing is relevant, because you have to move CONSTANTLY and don't have any flexibility about it - it is out of your control. And it's not like you have all this money to compensate. Nor is living on base always an option. Bringing it up is not some showboat about being better than thou.

If somebody wants to explain why 1-year leases are so superior to 10-month leases and let me know why that's legally preferable for a landlord, beyond a stubborn "no! 12!", THAT would be useful.

@romie I'll chime in on this. I'm can't speak for other landlords, but we have all 12 month leases that end in august. we prefer this because: a) september is the best month, for us, to find renters. the chances of finding someone in, say, january are much slimmer. b) since we are out of town, it reduces the number of times we have to travel to boston. since they all come up for rent at the same time, we can take care of showing the units and meeting prospective tenants all at once.

if we did shorter terms, we would have to either pay a realtor each time there was turnover, or travel to the east coast ourselves. either way, the cost adds up quickly.

as it is, we've never had a problem renting after a lease break. typically, the next tenants sign a slightly longer lease, which keeps us all on the same schedule. boston's rental market is hopping though - i'm sure it's very different in areas with a higher vacancy rate.

all this to say, we structure it this way because it makes logistical and financial sense for us.

"Tenant rights and responsibilities vary per state, so if you are unsure of anything, or suspect your landlord is doing something fishy, then consult a lawyer."

First I'd look for the Tenant-Landlord Act (or whatever it might be called) in effect. If there is one, read it carefully and if the landlord is doing something incorrectly either try to work it out with him/her (quoting the law) or report the problem to the proper panel (if there is one). It might be you do not need a lawyer. Also read the lease. I have rented several apartments in Nashville over the years and I also used to work for a large property management company and almost always there was a lease-break fee (usually a month's rent) and a 30-day notice fee (payable only if the 30-days wasn't given) and after that you were then free to go (also there could be cleaning fees or others related to damages).

Regarding month-to-month. There is a premium, but if you think you're moving within a year or six-month period if that is offered as a lease renewal, then it is worth the cost. If at the end of the time you have not moved, then it would have been cheaper to have re-uped on the lease. I have never seen a landlord who will sign a month-to-month up front (could happen maybe, but I've never seen it). Instead most of the time month-to-month is an option ONLY after the original lease (six months or twelve months--and the rent is higher on the shorter time period) has been signed.

I understand where landlords are coming from. There is a high cost in rerenting a space in dollars for advertising and in preparing it (cleaning, repainting, etc) again in a short period of time. Also, they have costs, too, and they need the income sometimes to meet that cost.

The lessee-lessor relationship works best if both sides see the positive in it and do not go into it adversarial. Yes, there are bad landlords. Yes, there are bad renters--my gosh, the shocking damages and pictures I saw on move-outs! And the collections of rent owed, talking rents here, not any fees for leaving early. Plus it can take months to get a non-paying renter out the door. Both sides need things to go well. The landlord needs it financially. The renter needs a safe and clean place to live.

Echoing @Dabney here. I have to pay a realtor's fee everytime I sign a new lease with a tenant (it is 1 month's rent at $3250). I have to do this every time I sign a new lease through them, if I went through that realtor, even if it's a lease extension of the same tenant. If I had to do this every 6 months or even every 10, it's just subtracting from my bottom line. Plus, most tenants I encounter want the 12 month lease. I can't say that I would turn someone away automatically if they asked for a shorter period, but it's not something that I'm going to offer off the bat.

Wow. This makes me appreciate my current landlord so much! I initially signed a 12-month lease. As my year was drawing to a close, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I was 5 months from finishing a certificate program to facilitate a career change, so I planned on starting a job hunt as soon as I was done. I talked to my landlord about it, thinking that I would ask for a 6-month renewal. He offered to let me go month-to-month at the end of the lease and only asked that I give him "as much notice as possible" once I knew if I was going to move or not. No extra rent, no drop in the level of service I've received.

That looks like a cute South End Brown Stone...Any chance your looking for a new tenant?

As landlords (we have a basement apartment in our home), we have run into this issue a few times. For some reason, no matter how much you stress when the tenant is signing the lease that they must give sixty days, they often don't listen.

I don't mind if they don't stay the full year as long as they give at least sixty days notice.

What we've done that seems to work for everyone is told the tenant if they want to leave a bit early (hey, I understand, tenants' lives change - sometimes they meet someone, their job changes etc.) then they simply have to help us find a new tenant to take over. If we can't find someone then they're on the hook for the money.

We post the ad on Craigslist (we have a version that we used the first time) but add their number on it and it's up to them to manage the incoming calls and book viewings.

Once they find someone they like, it's up to us to meet and approve them. It can't just be a warm body. We need someone who we think will be a good fit for the space. Assuming we like the new prospective tenant and they pay up and their references check out then we go ahead and let them break the lease.

This lets them off the hook and frees us up from having to do all the legwork involved in taking phone calls and managing viewings.

So far it's happened twice and it's worked out.

I would like some more info on landlords regarding life changes like a job loss. How do you handle leases when the person it truly unable to pay?

"Hopefully you have a close friend who practices contract law." Most people don't. The vast majority. That was a weird thing to say.

JJ1News: I'm an apartment manager and if someone loses a job or are just unable to pay rent, they leave or in one case, they get evicted. When you need a helping hand, that's the time to turn to friends and family, who may pay your rent or offer you a room or a couch... Being your safety net is not the job of a landlord. If you owned an apartment building or a duplex, you'd either be counting on that income as income, or you'd have a mortgage to pay. If someone does not pay rent, the bank isn't going to give a pass to the landlord, is it? The landlord still has to pay their mortgage amount.. and would need to find that extra money somewhere... so, don't count on that happening.

Wow this post makes me really glad I live in Australia!

It's very uncommon to have a year long lease. Most landlords offer a 3 or 6 month lease & if everyone is happy after 3/6 months then you go into a 'continueing lease' in which you need to provide 3 weeks notice if you want to leave & the landlord has to give 1 month notice if they want you to leave.

Also, you are not on the hook for any rent that the landlord cant get once you are out of the space & paid your last 3 weeks - the theory being that it's the landlords investment property so its their responsibility to get tennants or take on the financial burden.

Also, the line "Hopefully you have a close friend who practices contract law" seems like a strange thing to say - who on earth has one of those??

Dunno what part of Australia you're from sunny bunny, but in Melbourne and Canberra I've never been offered anything other than an initial 12 month lease. You do get a continuing lease after that though - and landlords can't put up rent unreasonably. We're quite well protected here generally but rules and practices vary from state to state.

I've broken leases twice: to move to another state for grad school, then to move closer to a boyfriend who ultimately wasn't worth the effort. When my last full-time length lease ended, the landlord was furious I wasn't staying, so he refused to return my deposit, which prompted me to save for a home downpayment so I'd never have to deal with an asshat again. (Yes, keeping the deposit was illegal, but the deposit was small enough not to merit legal action.)

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if your husband is in the military, make sure that there is a military clause in the lease agreement, most properties around military posts have them and before you sign the lease have him take it to the housing rep or jag to go over everything in it and make sure there is a military clause in it...the military clause allows you to break your lease if your husbands orders change and you give them one months notice before breaking the lease...and it protects you from having to pay for the remaining months on the lease do to order changes...and getting out of the military is a type of changing order.

I'm in PA and am in a situation where I need to move on Jan 1. I looked in my lease and realized that my current landlord didn't include any sort of termination clause or penalty for breaking a lease. I used to be a landlord and always included a clause that said that if a tenant breaks the lease, then they will be responsible for any monies throughout the duration of the lease agreement. There is nothing like that in the lease I signed. I spoke with our landlord (before I looked at our lease) and he said we could try to sublet but he would hold us responsible. Because there is no clause to cover termination, can he actually legally pursue us for balance of rent through our lease term?

@Laura I am in the same boat as you, in my lease there was nothing about my early termination fee or anything, but now they sent me an email saying I have to pay but it wasn't in my contract so do I have to pay it?

I moved into a new place and realized after one week that my upstairs neighbor would be waking me up every morning (between 2am-4am) due to her job as a "club worker". Her shift ends and she comes home, tossing down her heels and doing whatever "club workers" do to unwind after work. It was too much. The lack of sleep was turning me psycho. I introduced myself, asked her to be kinder on the floors during early morning hours, nothing changed. I emailed/spoke to landlord, suggested sound proofing, mediation, etc, nothing changed. They said they spoke to her about it but after two months I was done. I offered to find someone to take over my lease or asked if there was another apt I could transfer to. The landlord said I just needed to give apt access to their brokers, who would find a replacement tenant. They let me break the lease the following month and returned my full deposit 30 days after that. Relatively little hassle was involved, which was surprising, but apartments are at a premium in NYC, so maybe it's not that surprising. Basically, I think if you keep things civilized, offer suggestions to the landlord and really try to work things out, landlords may work with you. Sometimes, you just pick the wrong apartment.

As a single woman, I find these comments about talking to the offending neighbor and working things out that way a bit unreal. You may live in a place like I do where that is not the protocal. You're told to bring all complaints to the management, it's their job they deal with. Secondly, if you have a neighbor blaring a stereo or TV or whatever at night, possibly drunk or on drugs, do you really want to go over there in the dead of night and try talkng reasonably to them? Sounds a little dangerous to me. So you might have to start keeping tabs on them as to when would be a good time to trot on up/down/over there and what a project that could be. You're better off getting professional help than making yourself or friends and family a target of a possibly abusive neighbor. And we'd all be better off it there was more relialbe professional help for these matters. The police want it to be blasting out into the neighborhood for them to do act on your behalf and the management may only make it look like they care while you suffer and get nowhere with the whole thing

"Don't expect to run out and get a random person to take over your lease for the last couple of months. Many landlords (ourselves included) don't allow subletting."

I don't understand this one, myself. If we are willing to save you the work of looking for a tenant, show the place, put in the time to find a tenant who is interested, then assuming they pass a credit check, why would you not be OK with a sublet? Why would you rather the property sit empty? Why not show a little kindness to your tenants and understanding that life does not always happen in tidy pre-planned 12-month increments?

Hi this has been very interesting to me. My family and I recently purchased a new house, but the house will be completed sooner than expected and it will force us to break our lease. I have talk with the landlord and they told me that I have to pay 3 months of rent as a penalty. I have offered my help and found a family that is willing to take the apartment. The management company told me that there are more apartments that needs filling up first before they can fill ours so its no help. I've read the lease renewal that they have provided me and there is nothing there that say I have to pay 3 months of rent if I terminate the lease early. What should I do? Can you guys help me please. I'm from Las Vegas, NV. Thanks in advance.

CHUCKCHUCK-
They can't choose to take your family and put it in a different apartment. All reasonable efforts must be made to re-rent the apartment, so that family should be fine! They can only have what you would have paid until the new tenant moves in. So long as that family is willing to testify that they wanted to rent your unit in court, you will have no problem. Make sure the family is willing to testify! Fight for it in court, and know your rights! Do be sure to check this law with a lawyer, as this is the law in CA. I would think it would be pretty universal.