Whenever you rent a property it is always advised to go through a lease which will help you in clearly recording the initial terms and conditions and thus any problems in future can be avoided but what happens when you want to break the lease? Breaking a lease means that you want to vacate the property before the stipulated time and in the process the landlord might suffer financial loss because of vacant house.
No one wants to leave a house and still pay rent hence it is important that before breaking the lease or doing something that will cause the lease to break it is better to discuss the circumstances with the landlord. Most of the cases refer to the tenant wanting to leave the property. In such a situation it is always better to give a notice about the same to landlord and state the reason you want to leave. You may also want to give notice to your agent so that they can start finding another property for you. Maintaining a good relation with your real estate agent is important as they are the ones who are going to get you another property.
If you are going to break the lease, read the lease document first and understand if there are any penalties that you will be required to pay on doing this. The penalties can be like paying rent till the landlord can find another tenant, taking care of expenses that are otherwise required to be paid by landlord such as advertising fees, letting fees and lease preparation fees. Also make sure to determine the vacancy date and inform that to the landlord correctly as this will be taken in consideration while calculating the mentioned charges.
Apart from what the lease document states, make sure you understand the rules of tenancy that applies to your state. There are residential tribunals that allow for exceptional circumstances. These circumstances are like having a difficult time financially, medical issues, and breach of contract or conditions of living by the landlord himself among many others. If on breaking of lease you are not in agreement with the penalties put on you, you can always approach the tribunal with your case. It is then the tribunal’s decision to allow for the penalty or not. If a tribunal decides in favour of the tenant, the reletting fees may be waived or the fixed-term of the lease may be reduced.
