Breaking A Lease

[fredr123]

A lease is a contract. You can contract out of it. In my own experience, I rented a house with three other people. We each paid 1/4 rent and 1/4 utilities. Rent alone was $400/month/person. It was a 12 month lease but come April we realized we couldn't afford the place anymore and wanted to go our separate ways for the summer. With four months left on the lease I spoke to our landlord and he agreed to my proposal. We would forfeit the damage deposit ($1600 or one month's rent) as consideration for him relieving us of our obligations under the lease. He got one month's rent for free basically and a month's grace to find new tenants. It saved us $1200 each plus four months utilities. All was well. And the landlord wasn't someone we got along with on previous occassions. Common sense and business sense ruled the day.

Now I live in a Boardwalk hovel with my wife and dislike everything about the place. The service is subpar, the apartments are in ill-repair and you can hear/smell each and every thing your neighbours do.

If you're on a term lease that ends at the end of April it might be worth it in the end, to you, to walk. You mentioned that saving $200 is important to you. Clean the apratment really well, take all your possessions with you (duh). Assuming there isn't a lot of damage attributable to you, then you'll *probably* be okay. BW is a big corporation and business makes sense to them. They won't do anything without a cost-benefit analysis. Is it worth going to court over one month's rent when they've got a damage deposit in their back pocket to offset their losses? Not likely.

With respect to your reputation, I wouldn't worry about it too much. While BW may be a bad landlord in a lot of cases (and that fact alone doesn't justify breaching your obligations), what you are contemplating is not uncommon. In your circumstances its understandable. So long as you can look at yourself in the mirror with no remorse and can sleep soundly at night, what you do is your own business. No anonymous poster on this board should convince you otherwise.

Good luck and, if you try negotiating with BW, let us know how things go.

[Reaper]

As far as revenge on shifty landlords go, nothing beats performing the upper deck on the toilet 10 minutes before the walk through when you move out.

In two weeks the removal of the tank lid is vomit inspiring and you're long gone.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally posted by Incinerator@Mar 23 2005, 02:32 PM
exactly, and buy a condo next time, $599 a month you're just throwing your money away, might as well put it into something that has a return one day.

Ever seen a mortgage amortization table? Plenty gets "thrown" away in interest.... Unless you're paying something like 50% down, I doubt many condos could be had for a monthly payment of $599 a month, unless it's a trailer in Ogden / Forest Lawn or something.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally posted by I-Hate-Hulse+Mar 24 2005, 12:30 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (I-Hate-Hulse @ Mar 24 2005, 12:30 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Incinerator@Mar 23 2005, 02:32 PM
exactly, and buy a condo next time, $599 a month you're just throwing your money away, might as well put it into something that has a return one day.

Ever seen a mortgage amortization table? Plenty gets "thrown" away in interest.... Unless you're paying something like 50% down, I doubt many condos could be had for a monthly payment of $599 a month, unless it's a trailer in Ogden / Forest Lawn or something. [/b][/quote]
Okay, so you're throwing away the interest. But let's see what you get for that.
$1000/month on rent for 25 years = $300 000 spent + nothing to show for it.
$1000/month on mortgage for 25 years = $300 000 spent + house that was worth $150-200k 25 years ago, and probalby worth more now.

Yeah, mortgages are dumb because you throw away all that interest. (I doubt you were actually saying the two are equal, but don't say the interest is throw away).

That being said, I've got a 1000 sq ft condo in rocky ridge for mortgage payments of about $650/month. So don't tell me it can't be had. Can you buy a place down town for that? Not a chance, but there are a TON of places that you can buy for that price range.

[nfotiu]

Originally posted by Bring_Back_Shantz+Mar 24 2005, 06:53 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Bring_Back_Shantz @ Mar 24 2005, 06:53 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>

Ever seen a mortgage amortization table? Plenty gets "thrown" away in interest.... Unless you're paying something like 50% down, I doubt many condos could be had for a monthly payment of $599 a month, unless it's a trailer in Ogden / Forest Lawn or something.

Okay, so you're throwing away the interest. But let's see what you get for that.
$1000/month on rent for 25 years = $300 000 spent + nothing to show for it.
$1000/month on mortgage for 25 years = $300 000 spent + house that was worth $150-200k 25 years ago, and probalby worth more now.

Yeah, mortgages are dumb because you throw away all that interest. (I doubt you were actually saying the two are equal, but don't say the interest is throw away).

That being said, I've got a 1000 sq ft condo in rocky ridge for mortgage payments of about $650/month. So don't tell me it can't be had. Can you buy a place down town for that? Not a chance, but there are a TON of places that you can buy for that price range. [/b][/quote]
It is a fine balance, and buying is not always the better option. If you say end up paying $1200/month to buy a place and that includes $150/month in condo fees and your other option is to rent a similar place for $900/month. You might be better off investing that extra $300/month, especially if the real estate isn't appreciating very quickly. Or if you are only going to live somewhere for a couple years, you might lose all you've gained on real estate fees, closing costs and mortgage penalties. Too many factors to say that buying is always better.

[photon]

Yup, buying isn't always better than renting.. though in Calgary's market with today's interest rates buying makes lots of sense.

[Agamemnon]

The philosophy of buying vs. renting may have changed a little in the past decade or two as well, since interest rates are under 14% it might make more sense to buy than it once did.

I'm going through files in the 80's, I can't believe a savings account at the height of inflation could net you like 15%!!

[ricosuave]

as a landlord, let me interject with a thought or two...

most leases have an early lease break clause, the tenant can be on the hook for whatever, providing its in the lease. if it is not, then the landlord can sue you in small claims court for breach of contract. most dont go that route though...

as far as using your 'security deposit' - key term here is security, not damage, no landlord in their right mind uses the words damage deposit anymore, cannot be used as payment, or a 'fine' for breaking a lease. this can only be used for suite repairs and the like. on the other hand, if that is specifically IN the lease, then it is allowable...

here is some light reading for you all...
http://www.qp.gov.ab.ca/documents/Acts/R17...isbn=0779729579

[ricosuave]

oh, and as someone already said - talk to him, be up front and nice about it - if you are a good tenant, they'll likely let you go ok, i know i would. if youve been a dick, or try to be sneaky about it, then we landlords will try and stick it to you anyway we can.

oh, and by the way, most leases also state that the tenant is not allowed to sublet the place, nor the lease, or any part of the contract without the landlords permission - so youll have to talk to em anyway...

rico

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally posted by Bring_Back_Shantz@Mar 24 2005, 12:53 PM
Okay, so you're throwing away the interest. But let's see what you get for that.
$1000/month on rent for 25 years = $300 000 spent + nothing to show for it.
$1000/month on mortgage for 25 years = $300 000 spent + house that was worth $150-200k 25 years ago, and probalby worth more now.

Yeah, mortgages are dumb because you throw away all that interest. (I doubt you were actually saying the two are equal, but don't say the interest is throw away).

That being said, I've got a 1000 sq ft condo in rocky ridge for mortgage payments of about $650/month. So don't tell me it can't be had. Can you buy a place down town for that? Not a chance, but there are a TON of places that you can buy for that price range.

No, that was just a reaction to the "renting is just throwing money away" part. That isn't always true. Whenever I hear that I don't think all the variables of the rent or buy decision are being considered. Like many have said here, length of time that you'll be in there certainly plays into things. There's also a lot of costs to home ownership that come into play. There's a train of thought that says you can rent an equivalent place for less what a mortage and ownership costs would total - and if the amount you save is invested in the equities market you can come out ahead compared to home ownership.

At any rate, I don't want to get off thread here. Look up a thread back on Investing by MMF for all the gory details and viewpoints.

Hopefully your LL is a reasonable person and you can work out something amicable. Failing that, spilt milk in carpet gone rotten has to be the nastiest stuff to try and clean up...