Whether you’re excited to move and start a new chapter in your life — maybe you took a new job or bought your first home — or you’re responding to a sudden crisis such as an ailing family member or a job loss, moving out isn’t always something you can time perfectly to coincide with the end of your apartment lease.
That’s why most apartment leases require a contract. If everyone could move out anytime, landlords would have a much harder time keeping their properties rented out with any consistency.
Thankfully, there are ways to break a lease without breaking the law or knowing any secret tricks. Because no matter what kind of contract you signed, your landlord has the power to let you out of it.
Generally, as long as you’re in their good graces and there’s a new tenant willing to take your place, you won’t have a problem getting out of your lease.
Be Kind to Your Landlord Throughout Your Tenure
If you spent enough time on the internet, you’ll find most tenants dislike their landlords. Therefore, leading to disrespecting them online. However, some landlords share online that they are lucky enough to have tenants who exhibit even the most basic decency.
For example, being quiet on weeknights and attempting to fix very simple problems before reaching for the phone are seen as particularly admirable qualities for a tenant to possess. Additionally, paying rent on time and telling the truth if they need an extension are also pluses.
These are all practices you can easily incorporate into your life as a renter. As busy as you may be, and as annoying as it can be to do simple fixes when you’re not handy, giving it a shot can pay dividends down the road. And, as with any relationship, the more goodwill you build up, the easier it will be to make requests down the line.
Offer to Find a Replacement Tenant
Kenyan landlords generally just want to receive their rent check every month with as few intervening headaches as possible — it doesn’t really matter from whom. As long as the renter doesn’t damage the property, and pays rent on time, most landlords are happy.
Just as finding an apartment can be labour, listing one for rent can be difficult as well. Posting an ad, drawing up a new lease, showing the apartment to prospective tenants, and evaluating applications and running credit checks is a lot of legwork. Listing through a real estate agent can eliminate some of that work, but typically comes with a fee of one month’s rent to be paid by either the landlord or the tenant.
Your landlord probably doesn’t want to deal with all the extra work of finding a new tenant when they already have one under contract. So, if you’re going to try breaking your lease, always offer to help find a replacement tenant.
Build a Real Relationship With Your Landlord
During those times you call the landlord to handle something, try to treat them as your other guests. Like offer them water, ask them questions and stick around to see if you can help. Being friendly can lead to some great interactions.
Just as practising basic kindness is almost always a good idea, in the long run, getting on more personal terms with your landlord can help if you later need to get out of your lease.
Be Prepared to Make Some Sacrifices
If you want to get out of your a lease quickly, it might cost you some time and money. Whether it’s showing your apartment to prospective tenants at inconvenient hours, agreeing to replace or repair things you had no part in breaking, or giving up your security deposit, there will be some hard choices to make.
Sometimes the only way you can break out of a lease is if you give up your house deposit. Hence, giving it up can save you a lot of trouble of back and forth with the landlord.
Move Out with Dignity
This is obvious. You shouldn’t be disrespectful to your landlord during the move-out process. Clean the apartment, even if you feel like there’s no point. Return the keys, even if it means you have to commute across town at rush hour to do so. Send your landlord a nice text to thank them for their help.
You can choose to clean the apartment top to bottom before moving out, even though you may lose your deposit for breaking the lease. It’s the right thing to do, and while it was a hassle, you never know who’s going to call your former landlord looking for a reference.
Conclusion:
That was quite a few ways of getting out of a lease, but the most important thing to keep in mind is that it all boils down to being a good person. As with most things in life, if you’re nice to people and reasonable, they’re going to be more willing to help you.
It’s also important to remember that you’ll never get anywhere if you’re afraid to ask your landlord some tough questions. You’ll never know if you can break the lease if you don’t ask especially with Kenyans landlords.