Breaking a lease - rerenting questions

Question: My husband got a job transfer to another state. We were in a 1 year lease that was to end 11/06. We moved out on 9/15/06 and broke our lease early. We spoke with the landlord as soon as we knew of the move - 3 weeks before. (By the way our landlord resides in KS not in OH.) After some back and forth negotiating, they finally agreed to let us out of the lease when they found a new tenant to take over.

We were paying $750 rent, pretty high for the area and house that we were living in. They were having difficulty renting it, when we moved in it had been vacant for several months.

When we left, they listed the house for rent for $775. At $750 it was hard to rent, they will not get anyone for $775 - not in that area or in the condition the house is in (the roof leaks.) They were lucky when we got suckered in - we were very good tenants. We cleaned the place up, hauled off a dump truck of trash, always on time with rent, fixed various small things in the house - leaking faucets, etc.

First question is, can they advertise it for rent for more than we were paying? That will make it more difficult to rent - they have only had 1 person even look at it in the 3 weeks we have been gone.

Second question is, they knew we were moving 3 weeks before we actually moved on 9/15 - yet they did not start advertising for rent until 10/1. Is this right?

Answer: It sounds as if those may be moot points if the landlord found a new tenant after you broke your lease. They can advertise it for more than you were paying in rent but this would also give you a strong argument that you are not responsible for additional rent while it sat vacant. The landlord could argue that the new rental price was what the market would bear. I think you would be in a stronger position despite breaking your lease. Generally, landlords have a duty to rerent or try to rerent the apartment as soon as they find out that you must break your lease. Not sure why they waited 3 weeks. But the landlord could have reasons.

In my publication, I advise renters to offer to pay a percentage of the rent, even though they have broken the lease, so that the landlord can offer the place for rent at a discount. Chances are it will get rented faster and the tenants who broke the lease will be only partially liable.

Learn about all the options you have for getting out of your lease here.

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