My Oldest daughter may return home to Illinois.. living in Fla. at the moment and she is about 2 months into a 12 month lease..

If she is hired into a position with better pay etc. here in Illinois, can she be bound/held to her lease if she is going to relocate for this position?

TIA

Hog

technically, yes.

Chances about 50/50 that landlord would make the effort to enforce.

A lot depends on how the lease is written.

A lease is a contract, so they sort of have you, but usually you can pay a release fee of some sort and get out of it early, usually a months rent and lose security deposit. When I accepted the job I have now we were renting, and I asked the company to pay our fine as part of relocation.

Bluedevil should be able to shed even more light on the situation

She will probably forfeit her deposit but I'm sure she can get out....

A lot of those laws vary by state, but more importantly, by the lease contract itself. Chances are, she's responsible for early termination fees, would probably lose her security deposit (goes towards the term fee) and would be hassled by the apt community or its collectors until she paid the balance off.

Here in South Carolina, the standard termination fee is 3 times the amount of monthly rent and you're required to give at least a 30-day notice to vacate.

An option she should explore, however, is if her current apt community has any locations in Illinois (assuming she's not living with you). I worked for a year and a half as an assistant property manager for a very large company that had apartment communities in 15 states. If she stays within the same company, they should let her just pay a small transfer fee and then the termination fee isn't an issue.

Usually, at least in South Carolina anyways, civil court judges will ALWAYS agree with apt communities once an individual has signed the lease agreement. She can try and fight it, but it will probably be unsuccessful.

The few times we waived termination fees at the community I worked at was when residents came in and honestly told us what was going on. Not coming in all fired up, trying to beat the contract.... but coming in humble, aware that they signed a legally binding contract, and wanting to see if other arrangements could be made before their account was sent to creditors.

Hope that helps!

3. Author: hscmit Date: 12/31/2008 10:52 AM Reply

When I accepted the job I have now we were renting, and I asked the company to pay our fine as part of relocation.

Another very good option for her to consider. If the company wants her bad enough, forking out some $$$ for a fine shouldn't be that big of a deal...... it's basically a moving expense.

Thanks all.. I figured she would probably have to forfiet her deposit... she is going to check...

or she can have her bf find a roommate?

^ That works too, if the apt community agrees. In most leases, there's a clause that makes it illegal to "sub-let".... which would mean your daughter moving out, but still paying the rent to the community, and having whoever moved into her apt pay the rent to her, usually at a higher rate.

But the way our community looked at it, if you wanted to leave, but could find your own person to take over your lease and fill that spot, it made our lives much easier. She should have extra bargaining power for this option during the last week of any given month, since that's the time when all the communities really try and get their occupancy up for month-end closeouts.

My new company bought out my lease.

It depends on the lease agreement and state laws. After that, it depends if the landlord wants to pursue you. They would probably win in court, but it's a lot of hassle for the landlord. It's generally easier to rent the place again than to pursue you. I've broken them before and only forfieted my deposit.

Russ,

If she wants my legal opinion, have her e-mail or fax the lease to me and I will provide her with a definitive legal answer that she can rely upon.

Robert

^ Can't ask for anything better than that.

Lawyers are the new hired gunslingers of today.

Everybody needs one and everyone's afeerd of them.

Good for Robert I am sure he will give her the correct advice and help her out....

Charlie

I hope her landlord is like mine, he said I can cut out anytime if I can find someone else to take over my lease. That's not hard here since I live in a college town - there are always people looking for a good place to live. Heck, some of the large apartment buildings in the downtown area have a two year waiting list.

I wish her the best of luck.

-JT

^

That's how a lot of the apartment leases are in this area of NorCal.

If you break the lease, you're still on the hook _until_ they find another renter. Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Bezerkley, Sacramento and a number of places inbetween, it'll take less than 30 days to find a new renter.

Well...looks like I'm a little late to the party, but that you've got it covered.