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Considering Breaking Your Lease?
An apartment lease is a binding legal contract, and there are very few circumstances in which you can break an apartment lease without penalty. Buying a home, being transferred by your employer, moving out of the Houston area, or getting a divorce does not qualify a person to break an apartment lease without consequence.
Unless you and the rental property owner had agreed to some special provision when your apartment lease was signed, you will still be responsible for any charges noted in your apartment lease if you move out early.
Charges can be extreme and may include:
- Reletting fee - usually 85% of one month’s rent to cover the rental property's cost of getting your Houston apartment leased again.
- Accelerated rent - the remainder of the rent through the end of your lease term, less any rent received from a subsequent resident.
- Damages – fees will be charged for stains on carpet, holes in wall, dirty toilet, etc. for any Houston apartment not left in the condition in which it was received.
Depending on the apartment complex, this information will likely be reported to one or more of the typical credit reporting agencies. In addition, they are usually reported internally to apartment rental reporting services that maintain and SHARE this information for background checks when prospects are applying for an apartment in Houston.
No matter how you look at it, broken apartment leases are a bad deal for all involved. Houston complexes really don’t want apartment residents to break their apartment leases because they lose money when that happens. Most importantly, if a apartment resident breaks an apartment lease, it ends up “haunting” that person for many years as it shows up in various unwelcome circumstances including applying for other apartments for rent in Houston, buying a car, etc. It can make finding your next apartment in Houston a HUGE hassle because MOST (95% or more) Houston complexes won’t accept individuals with broken leases.
Therefore, if you are having problems with any of the apartments complexes in the Houston area, TALK to your apartment manager to see if there is any way things can be resolved. It’s like going through a divorce - it’s messy and it hurts both parties. It’s truly in your best interest to try to work things out if at all possible!
If you have already broken your apartment lease agreement, check out our advice on “Renting an Apartment with a Broken Lease", or feel free to contact your Renter Resource Apartment Locator for personalized advice catered to your particular situation.
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