There are many reasons why someone may need to “break” their apartment lease. Generally, it is a stressful situation for everyone involved – the tenant usually would not be leaving their apartment were it not for the unforeseen circumstances, and the landlord is concerned about being able to pay their mortgage, real estate taxes and other operating expenses.
It typically becomes important to find a suitable replacement tenant as soon as possible. Here are some tips for tenants needing to break their lease:
- Give the landlord a firm date, in writing, that you will be moving out. This allows the landlord (and their rental agent) to market the apartment with an available move in date.
- The apartment should be clean and tidy.
- Offer to take updated pictures and a video tour of the apartment, and allow agents to do so too. This is particularly important in the current environment. Having pictures and video can help maximize advertising efficiency and limit the number of in-person tours that are required.
- Make the apartment easily accessible for agents and their clients to view. Generally, a prospective tenant will NEED to see an apartment in-person before signing a lease. The easier it is for access, the quicker it generally is to complete a deal with a replacement tenant (which will then eliminate the need for continued disruptions).
- Consider offering incentives to any incoming prospects. This may include offering to pay the incoming broker fee. The inventory of available apartments is high right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so we do see situations where the lease-breaking tenant will offer incentives to help get a deal done with a replacement tenant in order to get “off the hook” since it can be cheaper in the long run depending on how much time is left on the lease.
We understand that lease break situations can be stressful for all parties involved. Please feel free to reach out to us and we will do our best to help you navigate through it.