A person who has been sexually assaulted may be able to break their lease prematurely. See Sexual assault and early termination of tenancy for more information. Signing a lease means that a tenant agrees to live in your rental unit for the duration of the contract. If a tenant breaks this legally binding agreement, they are presumed to be in violation of the lease, and there are often consequences. In Texas, most residential leases last 12 months. If you decide to cancel prematurely without a valid reason, you will still have to postpone your end for the remaining period. For example, move six months before the lease expires and your landlord could recover the remaining six months you owe even if you no longer occupy the site. In such cases, tenants have no legal protection against penalties for premature termination of the lease and must pay the rent due. (Note, however, that in Texas, it`s not a crime to break a lease prematurely. This is simply a breach of contract.) It doesn`t matter if you`re moving into an apartment in downtown Houston or a property in Dripping Springs, breaking a lease has the same consequences no matter where you live in Texas. Under Section 91.001 of the Texas Property Code, a monthly lease can be terminated by the tenant or landlord. Once they have notified the other party, the lease ends at one of the following times: As mentioned earlier, the reasons for entering into a lease may or may not be justified. If justified by law, it means that tenants no longer have any further liability under the lease.
All they have to do is send you the appropriate notification and provide evidence if necessary. There are many ways to break a lease. The Texas Association of Realtors standard lease is 14 pages filled with rules and regulations. But some terms are broken more regularly than others, often because tenants don`t even realize they`re doing something wrong. Notice obligations. You should check your lease to determine if you need to inform the landlord in advance that you are moving. Many leases require 30 days` notice as a condition of refunding your deposit. If the landlord in Texas clearly had a reasonable amount of time to repair the condition (usually seven days) and didn`t make a thorough effort to resolve the issue, and you properly followed the procedures to notify the landlord, you might be able to terminate the lease and move. Check your lease carefully to see if it mentions a situation where you might be able to terminate your lease prematurely. There is a small chance that it will include a clause on family emergencies or deaths, or even a sudden job loss or move.
More likely, your lease will set out the early termination process, including the amount you`ll have to pay in “relocation fees” — a term that refers to the landlord`s costs arising from an early move. Relocation fees are allowed under Texas constitutional law, but they may not be so high that they would be considered excessive by a judge. (As an indication, the Texas Apartment Association`s standard lease sets the return rental fee at 85% of the one-month rent.1) There are many other reasons to break a lease: buy a house, move for a job, or even go through a breakup. However, none of this is covered by the law. Instead, you`ll need to review your lease. If a tenant has asked their landlord to make repairs to a problem that “materially affects the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant” by following the procedures of Section 92.056 of the Texas Property Code and the landlord has not done so, they may be able to terminate their lease prematurely. For more information about a tenant`s rights under texas`s “Repair Obligation” law, please visit the “Repairs” page of this manual. If a tenant wishes to move earlier and terminate their lease for a reason other than that listed in the “Legal Termination of a Lease” field below, they will continue to owe the landlord rent under the lease until a new tenant can be found. If you`re determined to leave your rent without paying a fee, it`s best to find a sub-letter or transfer your lease. What for? Except in a handful of scenarios, Texas landlords aren`t legally required to return your lease to you sooner, meaning they often charge a high rental fee in return.
So make sure you`ve weighed your options for early exit from a lease before proceeding with the lease termination. Section 91.006 of the Texas Property Code describes the “landlord`s duty to mitigate damage,” which means that a landlord must try to find a new tenant and help reduce the amount of rent the former tenant owes under the lease. A condition of a lease that states that a landlord is not required to mitigate the damage is void under this Act. So what should you do if your tenant breaks the lease? In general, the flat rule is to hold the tenant responsible for all rents remaining in the lease. However, this may not always be true in all situations. If you want to change part of the lease, discuss it with the landlord. If the owner agrees, you both need to decide how you want to formulate the change and then write it down in the agreement. You and the owner must then initialize the change. For example, many standard leases prohibit pets, but your landlord may be willing to accept a pet if you put extra money as collateral. You can also approach negotiations from a different perspective: could your rent break really benefit your landlord in some way? For example, do homes near you now rent out even more than you currently pay? You`ll likely be more successful if you rent from a private owner rather than a large management company with less flexibility. .