Help w/ Leases: Signed a Lease Tuesday and My Girlfriend Loses Her Job Today

Lieutenant Dan

Lieutenant Dan

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So we just signed a lease Tuesday and my girlfriend just lost her job about 20 minutes ago. Her company was involved in a merger and, despite the fact that she was told many times her department was safe, she's gone.

Is there anything we can do to get out of the lease without giving up the security deposit? Will breaking the lease have a negative effect on our credit?

This sucks...
 
[quote name='Lieutenant Dan']So we just signed a lease Tuesday and my girlfriend just lost her job about 20 minutes ago. Her company was involved in a merger and, despite the fact that she was told many times her department was safe, she's gone.

Is there anything we can do to get out of the lease without giving up the security deposit? Will breaking the lease have a negative effect on our credit?

This sucks...[/QUOTE]

If you've signed the lease and paid the deposit, you're SOL unless the complex is exceedingly humane and feels sympathy. Which, hey, they might if you explain the situation. But that's hugely YMMV.

There's a few ways to get out of lease:

1A) Just leave and hope that the complex won't waste their time/money to come after you, in which case all you have to deal with is your conscience. Normally you do this after you've paid some months worth of rent, because then they have little incentive to waste time on like...2-3 months of rent

1B) Leave and they do come after you, which leads to options 2 and 3:

2) Leave, but pay off the rent yourself

3) Leave, but sublease it so that someone else pays the rent (You can either tell the complex about this or not. It is suggested that you do, but normally there are bullshit fees when you do that. If you can steal sublet it without problem, go for it. Dunno how easy that is.)

4) Try to get out of the lease in a legal way. Like complain that your dishwasher doesn't work and give them written notice. Usually your lease will have a stipulation that says if you give written notice about a problem and they don't fix it in X days, you can legally break the lease. Usually the timeline is like 30 days and you have to have given them 2 written notices, the second usually two weeks later

I honestly wouldn't know if it would affect your credit score, but I remember hearing that a complex can report you...somewhere, and that will make it harder for you to get an apartment in the future. When I got my first apartment a lot of complexes wanted a history of my previous rents - if I paid on time, etc. So I imagine it will come back to haunt you if the complex wants to go after you, so it's really not worth the risk.

As for the deposit, my parents have a good rule - "Just expect you won't get it back." That's pretty much long gone at this point unless you find a way to stick around.

Sorry to hear about it. Good luck.
 
I believe you have 30 days or something?

How about unemployment checks to help with rent until she can find something else.
 
I would think it will hurt your credit score if you just skip out and they send a collection agency after you for the rent.

I think I'd go with Strell's advice and beg them to let you out. Maybe they'll let you just pay 1 month rent. Really crappy situation.

Your absolute best bet would be finding someone yourself who is willing to sign a new lease with the company and ask if they'd let you out and rent your apt to this new person. Or you could just rent directly to the new person and hope they don't discover you are subletting. But finding that person is the real trick of course.
 
[quote name='seanr1221']You know what would cheer you up? Ice Cream![/QUOTE]
I was going to say oral sex, but ice cream is good too, I guess.
 
[quote name='Eviltude']I was going to say oral sex, but ice cream is good too, I guess.[/QUOTE]

I don't see a reason why we can't combine both.
 
Poor Dan. :cry:

I just talked to a friend who owns rental property. She said there really is no set "grace period" for leases and it is really dependent on the lease you signed and how cool the Landlord is.
Her advice is call today! Don't wait any longer before notifing them of your situation. If they are cool it might be just that easy. If not, you may have to forfit your deposit if you paid one, or even worse the landlord may hold you responsible for the rent until a new renter is found.
Also call around to local lawyers who handle real estate. They may have some free advice for you regarding local state legislation that may help you out. I had a bad renting situation once and I called some lawyers for advice. I found one who gave me advice on exactly what to say to my landlord and said if that didn't work, for $50 he would write them a letter on my behalf with lots of legal leaning stuff in it.
Bottom line, it never hurts to ask.
Good luck!
 
Before you lock this thread too Linkin, this is how threads in the OT section go down.

We know how it is when we post threads here.
 
You should talk to the landlord as soon as possible. What kind of assholes wouldn't let you off in that situation? You lost both your legs in 'nam for this shit?!
 
Thanks for the help guys, got a couple good laughs too.

To answer some questions...

My girlfriend was laid-off, so she is eligible for unemployment. And she most definitely will be getting another job, it's just a matter of what kind of job she wants to go for. Right now we're both trying to decide what should be done for her career path, and if that means going to school for two more years, we might very well have to break the lease.

The bottom line is that the timing couldn't have been much worse for something like this. We definitely wouldn't have gotten the place had we known this was coming. To make matters worse, it's a damn nice place, which means the rent is a higher. We budgeted out all of our expenses properly and decided we had enough to get by with a hundred or two to spare each month, but I have an internship right now that pays pretty good and I don't know what I'll be able to get once it's up. Oh yeah, we also thought this place was going to save us quite a bit considering it was right across the street from where she worked; now, who knows, it might be farther (and her car is damn near done for - 160k miles)

We've heard tons of good things about the management at this place, so begging might sound like the best option if it comes down to breaking the lease.

Thanks again for the advice and the kind comments. You guys are like third-cousins to me.
 
If the management is nice, and you can articulate the situation in a way that makes you sounds like a human being, I would imagine you could get out of it--maybe only paying one month, maybe only losing your deposit, maybe without paying anything.

I would also assume a lot depends on the area and how "in-demand" the apartments are--if they know they can lease it to someone else by Monday afternoon, they'll probably be more apt to let you out.

It's really hit or miss with something like this--some landlords can be real cocksuckers in this type of situation, regardless of the surrounding circumstances. Best of luck.
 
I had to sneak out of the first lease I ever signed (immediately after graduating from college). A few hours after signing that lease and leaving a deposit check to secure the place, I found a cheaper, much nicer place closer to work. So I went back to the management company, acted flustered, and asked to see my application and deposit check right away. I said I had my SSN and previous residence info to add to the application. The secretary brought it out and handed it to me to look things over, and I made off with the goods without any explanation. As I shuffled out I looked back at her, and she just kind of stood there with her mouth open--she looked like she was thinking, "Hey, that doesn't go there." Don't know why the hell it worked, but woot.
 
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