When did the lease begin. You state that you are considering purchasing your first home. Have you found a home yet? If not ,and you are just beginning your search, you may not need to break the lease. By the time you find a home, enter escrow (which you can request 45 to 60 days), you may already be a the end of your lease. If you have already entered into an escrow and your lease will not be over for 30 to 45 more days, maybe you can advertise and get a tenant who would be willing to take over the remainder of your lease. If that is the case, then the lease can then be renegiotated thru your landlord.

Jorge,
I think Tara did a good job of answering your question. You'll need to look over the entire lease agreement that you signed initially, to find out what you agreed to in terms of getting out early or what the rules are for a sublet. You can't just stop paying, because then the landlord could have you evicted which would show upon a credit report and hurt you in purchasing a home. Make sure you review your lease and see if the landlord is willing to work with you.

Noah Seidenberg

Hi Jorge,

Yes, you are still obligated to perform per the lease agreement that you signed. If you are renting a privately owned property, the owner may very well work with you in an effort to re-rent the unit and limit the vacancy cost. If you can assist in finding a new tenant and help limit the overall expense they will likely be more apt to refund the unused portion of your security deposit. You very well may lose your security deposit in breaking the lease. But in addition, if the landlord makes a clear documented effort to re-rent and is unable to do so they could come after you for the full value of the lease. This is very rare but I have seen cases that resulted in legal action by the landlord.

I have found that large apartment complexes are less apt to work with tenants in lease termination. Check your lease agreement. But most aparment complexes have fees to break a lease in addition to retaining your security deposit.

Best of Luck!
Tara

Tara Steinke
San Diego Specialist
Residential Sales and Appraisal
619-384-6014

That wouldn't be a reason to break a lease. The best thing you could do, is find some one that would qualify for the lease and ask the landlord, if they could take over the remaining 6 months.
You will be responsible for any time period that it is empty.