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Transfer employment Out-of-State, Need to Break Lease

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DSM1012

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Michigan

I entered into a lease for a rental apartment which expires 8/31/06. My employer is transfering me to one of our locations is Ohio (at my request). I'm starting this Monday the 19th, and will be staying with a friend until I fulfill my obligations to my current Lessor then get my own place in Ohio. I do not expect my employer to help and are not helping with any of the financial obligations related to the move.

I am required to give 30 days notice of my intentions to break the lease, and give them a date at which I will vacate the premise. I have paid for December's rent, and rent for January is due on the 1st.

Upon approaching the property management with my intention to break the lease, they informed me that should I be out by the end of the month, I will have the following financial obligations.

1) $100.00 early termination fee (per the lease agreement)
2) 3 months rent (Jan.,Feb.,Mar.) *with their duty to mitigate damages by reasonably attempting to rent the property to someone else. I thought this was cool of them given their was 7 months left on the lease.

3) An additional financial threat comes per an addendum to the lease that I dumbly signed: It stated that I had recieved "free rent" in the amount of $1050 (an incentive that they had advertised on E-Bay's rent.com). The discount was to be spread over the course of the 12 monthly payments. The agreement stated that I would reimburse them this discounted rent should I break the terms of the lease.

My questions are:

1) Is there any Michigan or Federal law that exempts someone from certain lease obligations should their employer transfer them out of state?

2) Could I be expected to pay a lump sum of $1050 for the discounted rent, even though it has only been applied over the 5 months I've been renting?

I would appreciate any comments or advice regarding these concerns.

Happy Freekin Holiday's
 


Who's Liable?

Senior Member
1.) No... there are NO Federal laws(except active duty personnel with orders from their superior officer), and there are NO state laws in any of the 50 that allow for this...

2.) You already answered this in your original post... Yes, even though you are only 5 months into the lease, you agreed to pay for 12 months REGARDLESS of whether or not you actually live there... The LL cannot foce you to actively live there, but they can force you to abide by the terms of the lease, which state you will pay X amount every month for 12 months... Since you signed the lease stating that there was an incentive, and it would be charged back to you if you broke the lease, there is nothing you can do to prevent that from happening...



Remember, the LL is NOT punishing you for a fee, but you are punishing yourself for deciding to take a job in another state...
 

DSM1012

Junior Member
Thanks for the help.

They are being cool by only holding me accountable for 3 months rent after the termination, instead of the whole 7 that are remaining. In hingsight, I should not have signed the addendum about reimbursing the $1050. I don't think they would have denied my tenancy if didn't agree to signing it. I know I don't have $1050 freed up to hand over at once, I hope they are willing to work out some sort of payment plan.
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
DSM1012 said:
They are being cool

**A: don't you mean cruel?
*******

by only holding me accountable for 3 months rent after the termination, instead of the whole 7 that are remaining. In hingsight, I should not have signed the addendum about reimbursing the $1050. I don't think they would have denied my tenancy if didn't agree to signing it. I know I don't have $1050 freed up to hand over at once, I hope they are willing to work out some sort of payment plan.

**A: read the L/T law.
 

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