First time home buyer, can I break my rental lease?

**aikencolon** · 07-11-2011, 07:33 PM

I am currently in a rental lease with a property management company in Arizona. I am a first time home buyer getting ready to purchase a house, however I still have 6 months left on my rental agreement. If I purchase a house before my lease is up, can I legally break my lease without any penalty?

The only mentions of "Lease Termination" in the actual lease document refer to "Military Transfer" and "Lease Buy-Out".

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Chris

P.S. I should also mention that I'm a single father of 2 kids and my rent is currently $1,240/mo. When I purchase, I'm expecting a mortgage payment of around $800-$850. So, I'm not just trying to screw the property management company, I'm trying to save approximately $2,000 that I could put into my kids' ESA's or into the down payment on the new house.

**Greg** · 07-12-2011, 09:12 AM

How your personal situation will affect the breaking of the lease will depend on your landlord. Non of the things you mentioned are legitimate reasons to get out of a lease. Talk to your landlord and see what they say.

Sometimes, if they can rent out the unit immediately then they will let you go. Maybe you can find a new tenant to rent your place.

DO NOT ignore them and just walk away because you will now be the owner of a property that can have a lien attached to it. Talk to your landlord about your options.

**aikencolon** · 07-12-2011, 09:22 AM

Pretty sure I'm not just going to walk away just to end up with a judgement on my bureaus for 7+ years, or a lien as you mentioned.

I was actually under the impression that there might have been a law on the books, based on the 'tanked' market, that would promote home sales by allowing people who buy a home the ability to break his/her rental lease.

Arizona is in the top 5 states for worst home sales in the US. If there were a law to this effect, it just thought it might be on our books.

Thanks for the help.

**MarticiaLancaster** · 07-14-2011, 07:19 PM

Maybe Greg is right.. Try to talk to your landlord regarding this matter, explain your personal situation with your kids. Hopefully she'll understand you..

**Johnny Brooks** · 10-27-2011, 03:29 PM

Look at the lease closely and see if there are terms that will allow you to sublease.
This is your best option.

**CC Lifestyle Realty** · 10-28-2011, 02:08 PM

I have been on both sides of this problem. I have leased my own property whereby owners wanted out of their lease plus I leased at one point and needed to leave early. What I discovered is that most landlords (albeit not all) are nice to their tenants provided they have treated their property with care. Landlords do not wish for negative press to begin circulating. As such most are willing to work out a deal. In my case I paid till the next tenant was placed. That amounted to one months rent.

Your best option is to be honest with the landlord and work out a deal. Go into the situation with a proposal so he feels you are concerned about his loss of rental income. If you take this approach you will be far better off then running. Even lenders are now looking at rental history so jumping ship cold turkey may very well hurt your chances at getting a good loan on the new home.

**Greg** · 11-15-2011, 04:56 AM

Originally Posted by tim.frankcom

First time home buyers can break a lease after giving proper notice without penalty.

WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG

don't listen to this advice

**YourTampaRealEState** · 11-15-2011, 07:18 AM

I'm a landlord in Florida and I've had this situation come up. I agree, try talking to the landlord. Get them to advertise the property for lease now, you keep it clean so it shows well, give them an easy transition to a new tenant and pay rent till that happens and they should be fine. Even if they took you to court, I believe your only responsible for the missed rent till a new tenant came in. (I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advise, it's just my experience)

**Chris Kukelhan** · 11-18-2011, 08:06 AM

I own a few rental properties and have been in this situation before. Is you landlord a REALTOR? If so ask him for an early termination if you allow him to represent you on the purchase.

In any regard, communication with your landlord is essential.

**YourTampaRealEState** · 11-18-2011, 08:11 AM

I didn't think of that. I would defilitely let you out of a lease if i got to represent you on a purchase. Even if the landlords not an agent, you could tell the agent you do use that you need to get out a lease in order to buy a house, and they may negotiate for you, or offer some commission to help.