Discard Lease For Free

A landlord and tenant can mutually agree to end a lease arrangement at any time. If you have a written lease, the termination of that lease must also be in writing. Even if you do not have a written lease agreement, putting the termination in writing will protect both parties.

If you want to leave right away and don't want to pay a breakage fee, you can forfeit your security deposit and leave without notice. The legal term for this is abandonment. The difference between abandoning your lease and breaking your lease comes down to your landlord's involvement.

How Breaking a Lease Can Hurt Your Credit. If you pay all outstanding charges before moving, including any back rent and fees, breaking a lease won't hurt your credit score. However, breaking a lease can damage your credit if it results in unpaid debt.Landlords generally don't report unpaid rent to credit bureaus.

Negotiate with the Landlord A lease is a binding contract, and if you breach that contract, you're responsible, even if you have a good reason. You can, however, negotiate removal of your name from the lease with your landlord as long as your co-tenants agree to the revision to the lease.

Many leases have early-release clauses. A majority of clauses make two stipulations: You can pay a given sum to dissolve the agreement; or in the event of agreement termination, you will owe one or two months of extra rent, or must make payments until a new tenant is found, whichever occurs first.

Lease abandonment is exactly what it sounds like, a tenant voluntarily abandoning its obligations under a lease by leaving the premises before the lease period has ended.

Abandonment occurs when the tenant simply vacates the property and no longer occupies it. Eviction occurs when the landlord takes a court action against the tenant for removal.In an abandonment, the landlord may not dispose of the tenant's possessions until 28 days after the abandonment.