- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
March 2012 Moms
Help! Need reasons for getting out of lease early
Hi ladies! I posted this on the June board as well. However, since you have all had your babies and are going through the stage I'll be in when my lease is up I'm hoping you might have some helpful suggestions.
I live in a small studio apartment (400 sq ft)
and the lease is up at the end of the summer. The baby is due in June. The apartment size will pose two problems that I can
think of:
1. I'll need to breast feed & start storing milk in the freezer (eventually). The apartment currently has a mini fridge (the kind some of us may have used in college) and no freezer.
2. The rental company will have to show the place prior to leasing it to someone else. I'll have a newborn in a 400 sq ft apartment with family stuffed in there somehow to help me out. I don't think its appropriate to keep taking a newborn out of the apartment each time people come by to look at the place or wake the baby up each time for this reason. I will most likely NOT be in the spirit to do so either when the baby will be waking up to feed quite often and on so little sleep. On the other side I doubt it would benefit the leasing company to come into a pretty stuffed apartment (wouldn't show well in my opinion)!
I just found a 3 bedroom home to move into but I need to try to pose this situation by the leasing company in order to terminate my lease early. I think they'll be understanding (from my experience so far) but I want to be prepared. Can anyone think of other reasons I'm not thinking of that would help me when I speak to them tomorrow? I'm going to offer to find someone for them and to do it now before June comes around. It would work out perfectly since I can move into the new place in May.
Any insight from you ladies would be greatly appreciated!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Help! Need reasons for getting out of lease early
What does the lease say in regards to early termination?
I was able to end a lease early in 2005. My landlord didn't care as long as she was able to rent the apartment. So, if you know someone who might want a small apt, you might be able to help yourself out.
I'm going to be blunt here - I'm a landlord and none of your " reasons" would be important to me. A lease is a business agreement, and your deciding to have a baby has nothing to do with me (and there's no reason I should lose money while the apartment sits empty because of it). If your lease allows subletting I would try to do that, or just be honest with your landlord without a lot of extra details - "we want to move out early. If either you or we are able to find someone to take our place before the lease is up, what would be involved in that?".
Also, look up tenant law in your state- in some states the landlord is legally obligated to show your apartment and let you out of your lease with no penalty if they find someone else to move in, so you may have more power in the situation than you know. Go into the meeting armed with all the facts and just see what they say. But I know personally that if you started in on me about how hard showings with a newborn were going to be for you, etc etc it would turn me off and get the conversation started on the wrong foot because that's just not your landlord's problem (sorry!).
DS1 born June 2008 | m/c at 9w March 2011 | DS2 born April 2012
Thanks but I wasn't trying to make it complicated for the landlord. I just wanted to know what else I wasn't thinking of that would make it difficult towards the end of the lease. I also mentioned that I'd be going in willing to find someone to replace me as well rather than just leave them dry. I know its not the landlord's fault that I got pregnant but the reason why the showings will be difficult are because its a small open 400 sq ft space. The bathroom and tiny kitchenette are technically right in the same room. There isn't an exhaust fan in there so when cooking the door needs to be opened to the hallway in order for the alarm not to go off (just trying to show an example of how tiny it is). There are no separate rooms for us to go into when people stop by and seeing me and several family members with a newborn in that tight space will be of no help to them in trying to rent the place. Therefore, I'm willing to find someone now while the place is much more livable and do all of the work in finding a new tenant.
Yeah but the apartment hasn't shrunk since you signed the lease, right? I'm not saying that it's not small or won't be a challenge, I just think you'll have more luck with your landlord if you go into it asking how you can find a solution together rather than implying that the landlord or their apartment created the problem and now has an obligation to you to fix it. Just my two cents!
ETA- "leaving them dry" is likely not an option; if one of my tenants moved out early without working it out with me I would take them to small claims court for any money they owed me, plus keep their security deposit if allowed to by tenant law. Just FYI.
DS1 born June 2008 | m/c at 9w March 2011 | DS2 born April 2012
I would just go in knowing your options and ask for a mutually agreeable resolution. I wouldn't mention the difficulty showing the apartment with all of the stuff and you there. On my tenant's agreement there is no stipulation that they have to leave the place when we show it. If you can't break the lease early then I wouldn't worry about leaving unless you signed an agreement that you would. When looking to rent myself I saw a lot of apartments that were packed clear full and tenants obviously did not care what perspective tenants thought. I saw more than one pair of dirty underwear sitting on the floor while doing tours.
Honestly I would be as nice as possible and move as quickly as possible. I had a lot of unexpected health issues in my last month of pregnancy and I can't imagine dealing with that and moving at the same time.
BFP #2 7/18/11 - EDD 3/29/12 - Born 3/13/12
BFP #1 4/4/11 - Natural M/C - 7w1d - 4/30/11
In Baltimore, landlords cannot collect two rents on one property. So, I've gotten out of leases early by finding a new tenant for the properties I've lived in.
In that situation (in Baltimore) a landlord does not have to refund the security deposit. But I've always convinced them to by listing the property myself and showing the property myself. In other words, making it easy for them.
Making excuses won't help your cause because, as PP said, they're only excuses. They aren't just cause for termination of the lease.