Getting off leases during a breakup

sumwar

So I'm not in this situation but maybe one day I will be living with a future girlfriend in an apartment renting and all of a sudden we break up and the lease is for another oh I don't know 6+ months and we really don't want to live together still. Can one of us move out and get off the lease and not have to pay rent anymore? I'm in Toronto Ontario Canada if that matters. Are we forced to live together for another 6+ months?

Dr. Frenchenstein

subletting is usually an option, or you can bite the bullet and pay whatever fee is associated with breaking the lease.

Psykoma

You may get a super nice landlord who will, but they don't have any obligation to break the lease early for you.

Would second subletting if it comes up.

Myiagros

Sublet is the way to go, had to do it back when I was finishing school, luckily I was a short walk from the college and people were starting to look for places for the next semester.

bowen

Keep in mind a lot of landlords won't sublet in some areas, so, check your lease for that.

Jam Warrior

If you both signed you are both equally liable for the rent no matter who is living there. Of course the landlord doesn't really care who pays as long as one of you does and the rent is fully covered.

In the event that you can't come to an amicable agreement with your co-signee (and apparently ex-partner) it'll be down to the individual lease terms as to what options you have such as:

Breaking the lease (and any associated fees)

Subletting (if allowed)

Transferring your lease to a third party (again, probably with fees).

You absolutely cannot just walk away and say 'Well I'm not living there so I'm not paying anything'. You signed, you are still liable.

That's kind of the point of the lease. The landlord wants a regular rent guaranteed against whatever life throws at their tenants.

Jam Warrior

Or to put it another way, if you don't feel confident in being together with your partner in six months, you probably shouldn't be signing a lease together. I mean I know shit happens in life and nobody can predict the future, but this is a significant financial liability so you need to be pretty sure before entering into this.

The Crowing One

I've been in this very situation where a joint lease was in play during a breakup.

In my case we had private, single property landlords who were very understanding. We talked and made an amendment to the lease removing my name. Easy as can be. As has been noted above, most landlords don't care as long as it's being paid. That said, they can go after you if they're stupid geese.

I'd be concerned most about the larger property management companies which just want that money regardless.

sumwar

So it sounds like if you pay a fee you can get off the lease and move out if the contract allows you to do that. I'd imagine the fee would be roughly one months rent? I guess it would depend on the contract.

naporeon

Oh no, @sumwar. In many areas, you will continue paying rent until someone assumes the lease.

wonderpug

sumwar wrote: »

So it sounds like if you pay a fee you can get off the lease and move out if the contract allows you to do that. I'd imagine the fee would be roughly one months rent? I guess it would depend on the contract.

It will depend on the landlord and the contract, but in general they just want to reliably get their money each month and don't overly care about the specifics.

If the girlfriend is willing to pay the full rent herself, and the landlord has no doubt about her ability to come up with the money, a decent human being landlord should have no issue letting you out.

If the girlfriend can't pay it all herself, a decent human being landlord might want you guys to find a new roommate replacement before letting you off the hook and the new roommate on the hook.

If both you and the girlfriend want out, a decent human being landlord might still want to wait until new tenants are found before letting you off the hook. If you help find new tenants, and the landlord approves of them, the process gets expedited.

Psykoma

Unless toronto is very different from montreal in it's lease terms (possible, but I doubt)
The fee for getting out of the lease is usually roughly "the rest of the lease term's rent"

You can ask to see a copy of the rental contract before signing and go over it specifically looking for cancellation terms, but I don't know anyone who had a cancellation fee included.

If you're really nervous you could ask to be on a month to month lease, or some other short term one.

tuxkamen

It may be difficult for you to find a place that starts with a month-to-month lease unless it's a bigger complex. Many landlords with privately owned properties look to sign people up for a minimum term of at least six months to a year before transitioning to a month-to-month. The potential loss of income and time from having to deal with a flaky renter isn't worth the trouble.

The lease terms are going to be whatever the landlord puts in the agreement, so it's difficult for us to tell you that you will or will not be able to sublet. This is often highly dependent on what clientele the landlord is looking for, and I would expect that a landlord who knows their business will be asking questions of you that will give them a sense of how reliable you will be when it comes time to pay up. Privately owned properties will usually NOT allow this in the lease agreement if they are using state-provided lease papers or running credit/background checks on you to determine your income eligibility. It's not only a financial issue but a liability concern--they signed the contract and ran the income/credit checks on you, not Tenant X. The safest approach from the landlord's side would be to run the same checks on any potential replacement.