how to break lease after discharge

[nullbalance]

I'm in a tight spot now. My discharge cleared last week and my case is closed. I face possible lay off in 3 to 5 months. I am thinking of breaking my apartment lease and moving back home to mother to save some money. My hopes is that I get another job elsewhere and will have enough funds to relocate. However, I do not know how to go about breaking my lease. Meaning...I can't afford it. They want me to give 45 day notice and pay 2 months rent plus $100, or 3 months rent plus $100, I was confused by the office manager so I'm not sure what it is they want. This isn't a privately owned property, they have complexes in 2 states. Is there anyway I can negotiate a way to perhaps pay them off after I move out? I don't want to just leave and wait to be sued in court, nor do I want another hit on my credit. I don't know what to do?

[keepmine]

About all you can do is just politely explain your problem and ask {beg} for a break.
How long left on the lease?

[nullbalance]

i want to move out by the end of may, which leaves 6 months on the lease. according to my lease, i have to pay one month's rent, plus $100, plus rent for during the 45day notice . that would be 1800 to 2000!

[StartingOver08]

Did you reaffirm your lease in the BK? If you were just discharged, check with your attorney right away to see how the lease was handled in the petition.

[nullbalance]

Did you reaffirm your lease in the BK? If you were just discharged, check with your attorney right away to see how the lease was handled in the petition.

no i didn't reaffirm anything. i listed all parties that i had contracts with, which included the apartment complex and my cellular phone. at the time of filing i was expecting to be working through 2010, but circumstances have changed.

[dingdong]

My cousin filed BK with a lease and the remainder of the lease was discharged, but she had moved out prior to her discharge.

Was your LL notified of the BK?

Did you list them in your matrix?

It would seem that if they were provided notification of the BK and did not contact you after the discharge to renew the lease, your tenancy would continue as a month to month unless they offered a new lease and you refused.

You might want to "google" the issue and see what you can find. Check out "executory contracts in bankruptcy" as your key words or "residential lease bankruptcy"

[justbroke]

Technically, you are supposed to assume or reject any lease of executory contract within 45 days (I think) of filing your petition. If you don't assume (keep) your lease, then it is automatically rejected.

However, if you stay there then it could be a constructive assumption. But that's a different matter.

As pointed out, just tell the landlord that you had filed and that the lease was rejected (not assumed). See if they won't bother you. Because, again, technically it was rejected... especially if the landlord was notified of the bankruptcy.

[Gerry]

If push comes to shove, you could spend a fraction of that and hire your lawyer to write a letter.

[StartingOver08]

It's worth it to hire a lawyer to write that letter - the BK lawyer should do that for you reasonably as pointed out above. Don't let the apt complex bully you. You want to keep good records so this does not come back to bite you down the road.

[nullbalance]

they haven't bullied me, yet. they received notice of the bk and the notice for the discharge should be in the mail and received next week. they never contacted me about the current lease or signing a new one over the last few months. i guess i'll call my lawyer monday and see what he can do.

[nullbalance]

the complex did receive notice of the bk and the discharge notice is in the mail. they have not contacted me about a new lease or anything since i filed. i guess ill call my lawyer monday and see what he can do.

[lrprn]

Do keep in mind that since you have been living in the apartment after you filed, you do legally owe the rent for those 2-3 months since that rent is post-filing. You might be able to save yourself the "break the lease early" penalties though with some expert legal help.