Breaking a 2 year residential lease?

Hi all!

We are currently halfway through a two year lease (in NSW) on a place that WE rent (ie, I'm the tenant with my wife and baby). It's a 3 bedroom duplex that was fine until our son was born - now it's slowly getting too small.

I negotiated a 2 year lease with the property manager and managed to get a pretty good deal in the end ($490/week for the first year, $510/week for the second year), as market rent is probably closer to $540/week for this sort of place.

I'm happy to stay on, but my wife has itchy domain.com.au fingers and is looking for a larger house to rent.

I've never had to break a lease before - I would have thought that I'd have to keep paying rent on this place until the property manager can find someone else who will rent this place out.

Is there any other way to get out of this lease?

-- MJ.
 
Give them plenty of notice so they can find another tenant.

The manager is required to do everything normal to find a new tenant inc advertising at your cost.

You are responsible for the rent until the house is relet. But if there is demand then this shouldn't take too long. Given the low rent, the owner might be pleased to find a tenant to pay market rental.

I have done it before and it was relatively painless.
 
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Well you're no stranger to negotiating so why not approach the property manager again?

He/she might be happy for you to sublet - especially if you can get the $540p/w you think it is worth.
 
HappyMoo - I don't want to sublet - plus the current lease doesn't allow it. Good try though.

Simon: I'm hoping the rental market in this area is hot enough that there won't be a (long) time period between vacating and finding a new tenant. :)
 
If you find somewhere else, and give two weeks' notice of the date it will be vacant, and if there is demand, you may not be out of pocket by much at all.

The thing I notice when giving PMs a house to find a tenant though, is that because they are not making the mortgage payments, time just isn't as important to them as it is to me when I am finding a tenant.

Another week to them is just "business" whereas to me it is "money".
 
Give them plenty of notice so they can find another tenant.

The manager is required to do everything normal to find a new tenant inc advertising at your cost.

You are responsible for the rent until the house is relet. But if there is demand then this shouldn't take too long. Given the low rent, the owner might be pleased to find a tenant to pay market rental.

I have done it before and it was relatively painless.

I'm with you Simon - if the rent is lower than market value, the landlord might be happy to break the lease but only on the basis that the advertising costs and PM lease fee don't outweigh the rent payable had the lease been completed. Also the owner wouldn't accept the property being vacant for more than a few days, because that would quickly cost them too. If you can allow the owner to conduct inspections while you're still there and if you ensure the place is in good nick, this would cut down the gap between tenancies.

At the end of the day, the landlord is not obliged to do you a favour and can just go after your bond + claim on landlord's insurance if you break the lease without consent. You'd also risk having your rent record scarred.

If you can propose an arrangement that makes it worth the landlord's while, then you could have a good shot at breaking the lease with consent.
 
Mja,

you will definitely be liable for the rent until a new tenant is found. You'll be ok if rents are indeed higher than what you're paying, otherwise you might be up for quite a bit. The owner might ask yo to pay the agent's re-letting fee and advertising costs, too. If you go ahead, make sure you check the ads on the Internet to make sure they are actually advertising and at what rent.
 
If you find somewhere else, and give two weeks' notice of the date it will be vacant, and if there is demand, you may not be out of pocket by much at all.

The thing I notice when giving PMs a house to find a tenant though, is that because they are not making the mortgage payments, time just isn't as important to them as it is to me when I am finding a tenant.

Another week to them is just "business" whereas to me it is "money".

Agreed. They have not hurt money involved.

mja - check the nsw rta site. If you find the tenant in Qld, the agent cannot reasonably charge you the full let fee - depending on how stingy they are, they may want to charge you something to prepare the lease...

Suffice to say, the general rule with break leases - you are permitted to leave your lease if your lessor is no worse off financially. ie. you wear all the costs associated with the changeover and your replacement accepts the same rent as you until the end of your original lease.

In Qld your agent is not permitted to adverstise for market rent (sorry owners) - it must be at the rent stated in the current lease for the balance of the original lease term. This is to ensure, if you have broken lease due to financial hardship, you are not disadvantaged also.

How badly you want to leave...you can provide various incentives at your expense to make it more attractive for someone else to take over your lease.
 
In Qld your agent is not permitted to adverstise for market rent (sorry owners) - it must be at the rent stated in the current lease for the balance of the original lease term. This is to ensure, if you have broken lease due to financial hardship, you are not disadvantaged also.

Lura, do you have a reference for this? Im currently trying to help my sister break her lease with minimal financial strain on myself, as I really want her to move in to a property that I've just purchased and settles very soon.

Thanks
 
Lura - In NSW you do have to pay for advertising and reletting costs - Basicalls any cost that the owner would incur to relet the premises.
In the Eastern Suburbs that would be up to 3 weeks rent for a 2 year lease - in saying that, as there is already 1 year gone in the tenancy, he would only have to pay 1.5 of the letting fee, as well as rent until the new tenant moves in and advertising costs.
 
In closing this topic, the landlord agreed to let us out of our lease with no penalty, as he could easily get $560/week (market rent now) with no loss of income (we moved out on Tuesday, new tenants moved in on Thursday).
 
In Qld your agent is not permitted to adverstise for market rent (sorry owners) - it must be at the rent stated in the current lease for the balance of the original lease term. This is to ensure, if you have broken lease due to financial hardship, you are not disadvantaged also.

Don't know where this came from however it is incorrect. A new lease is just that, not an extension of an existing one. The rent asked for can be anything.
A
 
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