Getting Out of a Lease
We have been tenants in the same apartment for over six and a half years, but in order to register our daughter in the kindergarten of a good public school in another neighborhood, we must move by Feb. 1 to establish proper residency. We alerted our landlord immediately when we found a new place, gave him over 75 days' notice, offered to help find new tenants and offered to pay an extra month's rent as a penalty for leaving before our lease expires on April 30. Is this enough to get out of our lease amicably?
"Tenants often ask if they can end a lease in advance of the stated expiration date," said Lucas A. Ferrara, a Manhattan real estate lawyer and adjunct professor at New York Law School. And under the circumstances described by the writer, it is probably best to assume that he could be held liable for the rent for the balance of the lease term.
At the same time, Mr. Ferrara said, many landlords will be amenable to a compromise, and may be willing to accept a tenant's help in locating a new tenant. But it is unlikely that an owner will accept a single month's penalty if the unit will be left vacant for a protracted period, or if the balance of the rent due under the lease is not paid by a new tenant found to be acceptable.