• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Need to break Lease due to job transfer

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

jbcrawforf

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Maryland

A job placement agency found me a 9-5 job whose office is 46 miles from my apartment. Due to traffic, it's a 2 hour commute each way. I "heard" that under Maryland State Law, if a new job is more than 35 miles away, you can break the lease with no penalty. I signed the 1 year lease 2 months ago, got the job 2 weeks ago. Can I break my lease under these circumstances?
 


treese

Senior Member
I "heard" that under Maryland State Law, if a new job is more than 35 miles away, you can break the lease with no penalty.
You've heard wrong. Unless your lease contains a clause specifically addressing early termination for job relocation, you are out of luck.

I signed the 1 year lease 2 months ago, got the job 2 weeks ago. Can I break my lease under these circumstances?
You do not have a legal reason to break your lease and it will not be without penalty.

What does your lease state regarding early termination?

The LL can hold you liable for the rent (until a replacement tenant is found), any costs the LL may incur due to your breach (such as advertising, agent fees, etc.) as well as any damage to the apartment.

You can attempt to negotiate an early termination agreement with the LL. If you go this route, get it in writing.
 

Hot Topic

Senior Member
Did you tell the agency that you didn't want a long commute to a job? You could have said something like "I live in ABC. I'm looking for a new place in ABC or in DEF or GHI. I don't want to work any place that isn't in one of those areas because the communite will be too long."


Have you thought of what you'll do if the new job doesn't work out or the new employers decide that you're not working out? You'll have broken the lease on your current apartment and have to pay the rent on it until the landlord finds another tenant. You could end up paying rent on a place near the new job, rent on the place you have now and be jobless.
 

BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
and by the way people, this is NOT a job transfer which MIGHT be grounds under the lease to terminate early.

This is a NEW JOB completely under the control of the poster.
 

nextwife

Senior Member
Agreed. The poster CHOSE to interview for, and accept, a job that distance away. A NEW employment, not a job transfer.

Poster, if you OWNED your place and chose to work so far away, would you choose a job so far away without taking your housing obligations into account? You are in a new lease. Choosing to work for someone who is so far away is NOT a "transfer".

I've been in my home ten years, and both hubby and I have needed to find new employment during that time. One simply limits their job search to those positions that make sense geopgraphically, while tied to a certain locale. And being in a NEW lease ties you geographically unless YOU are willing to accept the financial consequences of a move.
 

Hot Topic

Senior Member
Nowhere in the OP's post does it mention a job transfer in relation to breaking the lease. Neither treese nor I framed our responses on that assumption, which should be clear upon rereading them.

If the OP comes back and posts that h/s meant to say that h/s works for an insurance company, for example, and is being transferred to an office that's farther from the new apartment than h/s wants to commute, my response will be that h/s has to suck it up until the lease expires. That is, of course, unless the landlord is willing to accommodate h/h.
 

BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
Hot Topic said:
Nowhere in the OP's post does it mention a job transfer in relation to breaking the lease. Neither treese nor I framed our responses on that assumption, which should be clear upon rereading them.
Then learn to read. it's in his TITLE for this thread.
 

thebradybunch

Junior Member
sometimes a company will, as part of their hiring/offer, pay some or all the costs associated with "transferring" (transitioning might be a better, more appropriate term)from your present job to joining their company.

I had a company pay half the costs, including half the costs to break my lease, whenever they hired me; and another company offered to pay 100% of all fees, etc., including the costs to break my lease in order to move and join their company.

It never hurts to ask/negotiate this as well as other "perks"...if they really want you they will probably work with you in order to make the transition easier for you...good luck.
 

Hot Topic

Senior Member
The time to negotiate is when you're offered the job. Unless the OP is going to be a top executive, I don't see any company paying to move him, let alone paying the costs of his breaking his lease. Out of state, maybe. A job that takes two hours to reach by car, no.
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
Try to get the employer to alter your start and finish times so you can get a jump on traffic. Longer drive times is not a valid reason for a LL to allow a lease to be terminated. I sure wouldnt have allowed a tenant out of a lease over that reason when had rental units, There are many people who do have longer daily drives where I live and its just one of those things to deal with.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top