Vague Contract Terms Regarding Lease Termination

Hi. I have lived in an apartment for nine months. Three months to go on my apartment. I see rental prices dropping, but that's not the reason I want out of my contract. I find that the housing I am living in is actually inconvenient to my work life and makes commuting hard. Also, I will be traveling a bit for work, and won't really be staying here. I'd like to downsize and just use Airbnb.

My question is about my contract. I reviewed my leasing agreement, and cannot find a single reference to early termination. IT seems rather unusually to not even exist in the contract terms.

So I am wondering what are the legal penalties if I just drop the contract and move out? Will I get my deposit back? If not, how can I fight to get the deposit back? I feel like the landlord was not very responsible for leaving the lease so vague. When I asked if I could be let out, he has asked for really onerous terms, listing two alternatives.

One is that I find someone to replace me, the leaving tenant, and I can get my deposit back, minus an "administration fee."

The other is that I have to surrender all of my deposit and then pay the remaining months.

Both of these seem to put quite a load on me, and they don't really seem to be held up by any language in the contract. I am worried that if I don't agree to these terms, there is no way for me to get the deposit back.

Any thoughts? or any advice on who to talk to in Hong Kong to get a solid opinion on this? It's not too clear when I search with Google at existing comments about this.

Hey DBC,

A court probably wouldn't have sympathy for you over the vague contract terms - its position would more likely be that you had the chance to negotiate and you didn't. Does the lease not have a break clause at all?

So, I'm not a lawyer but I have some unfortunate experience in landlord-tenant disputes. I'd say you have a few options:

1. Sublet until the end of the lease (not sure what your lease says about it if anything, but lots of people do it - see the 'break lease' ads). You'd have to wear any difference between the rent you receive and the rent you pay, obviously.
2. Negotiate an acceptable figure for the 'administration fee', find a new tenant, leave and move on. This would be seen as a contract variation and doesn't sound too unreasonable.
3. Pay out the remaining months either living there or not. The landlord should have no reason to keep your deposit in either case.

Don't just drop your contract and do a runner. If you do, the landlord is entitled to both keep your deposit to cover unpaid rent and will have an open-and-shut case against you for any shortfall, and would probably claim costs and interest.

In any case, it's probably best if you talk to a Rent Officer at the RVD:

http://www.rvd.gov.hk/mobile/en/public_services/tenancy_matters.html

They specialise in landord-tenant disputes. I used the service once and it was really helpful. Hope this helps.

Thanks! That's very helpful.