Posted by
luckybon12
19 yrs ago
Hi,
I need to move out of my current apartment because I just can't afford it anymore. I'm trying to find a replacement tenant for my landlord. However, I want to know what back up plans I can have if I can't find someone to take over my lease.
I'm 7 months into a 1+1 lease. I read the lease over 10 times and there is nothing that says what happens if I break the lease early. The only wording that touches on this says that I can terminate the lease as long as I do it after the 13th month. But no where on the lease is there any clause that says I have to pay the remainder of the months on the one year lease if I terminate early...
Is this standard? I don't see how the landlord can force me to pay the last 5 months rent if there is nothing on the lease agreement that says this.
If I don't find a new tenant and have to move out, what can happen to me besides losing my two month deposit?
Any legal advice would be great. Hopefully, I won't have to leave my landlord with no tenant, but just want to know what my options are.
Thanks!
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Hi Oldhand,
Thanks for responding. Yes, I know that I am technically bound to a 12 month contract. However, I just don't see how legally, a document can be based on assumed penalties. As I said, the lease says I have a 12+1 first contract and I can't terminate it early. HOWEVER, there is no other wording on what happens if I actually DO terminate early. Obviously, the easiest assumption is that then I must pay out the rest of the lease, but shouldn't the lease say that specifically? What's stopping the landlord from saying that if I terminate early then I have to pay out the rest of my lease months, he can keep my deposit and all my furniture and get my first born child?
In court, shouldn't the judgement be based on what is actually written in a contract? Not based on common assumptions?
By the way, it looks like i have a lot of interest from people who want to rent my apartment, so this is really not very important for me. But a part of me still thinks it's quite odd that my lease is so... unsubstantial. Every other lease I've ever signed clearly spells out exactly what the penalties are for early termination.
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I suggest that Contract Law is fairly clear on this issue (you could research via google - I did it for you to see if difficult and the first post is wipipedia which has a good summary).
As the issue is clear at law, it need not be in the contract (some things are just obvious), even though I appreciate that at this time may be frustrating for you.
Note that leases can specify damages in advance to easily solve issues such as these (though you can't retroactively decide to unilaterally fix it).
I guess the way to look at is in reverse, what if the landlord decided to kick you out or double the rent, what would you then think or demand at law? Full compensation for the rest of the lease plus compensation for being put out (I would), so seems fair that the landlord gets a similar deal.
And if you have found a good new tenant, presumably the landlord would accept them stepping into your legal shoes for the rest of the lease (but you can't force them to accept just anyone).
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Keeping the deposit and asking you to pay the remaining the rest of the lease are two mutually exclusive actions your landlord can take, not both at the same time.
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yes I know... that was just an example I gave as an unreasonable, and undocumented, possible penalty.
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So, where is your line? What is reasonable in your own opinion. Don't forget one thing. You are breaking the lease, not the landlord.
When nothing is said in a contract about early termination, it means the contract cannot be terminated earlier.
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I think what is reasonable is to pay out the whole year's rent. But that doesn't mean that I necessarily want to. Especially if I do that and then the landlord re-rents the apartment for the same months that I've already paid for.
I think that my landlord allowing me to find someone else to take over my lease is reasonable. I think that me continuing to pay rent until I find a tenant is reasonable.
My question has never been if terminating early is correct morally. My question is about a lease that is flimsy in its legalese.
By the way, "When nothing is said in a contract about early termination, it means the contract cannot be terminated earlier" is true. But WHAT IF you terminate early??????? WHAT HAPPENS????
That's my question. Please answer that question and one ones that I have NOT asked.
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Well that depends on if you plan on staying in HK or not.
What can happen is that your landlord will take the matter to court and they will come and find you for breaking the contract. If you can't pay, they will first try to estimate your assets and will then force you to sell them off so they can reclaim the money you still owe them.
But if you decide to leave HK then it is a whole different matter, then they would have to go about tracing you and for the kind of money we are talking about that is really not worth the hassle, so the landlord will be left in the cold. I would however avoid going back to HK or China for quite a while (several years) coz the workings of these things cannot be estimated, you never know who your landlord knows....be it politically or criminally
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Hi Chris79,
That's along the lines of what I was thinking. Which is good that I am probably going to end up transferring my lease anyways.
Just seems like it would serve the landlord's purpose better if the contracts were more clearly written. All the legal action involved if I break the contract is only if the court rules in the landlord's favor. Having shown the lease today to a friend of mine who is a lawyer, she says that the chances that the lease will hold up in court with its current language is slim to none. You can sue someone for doing something that is forbidden by the contract, but the punishment needs to also be clearly stated. As for my lease, there is no consequence clearly stated for early termination. Good for me in the long run probably but glad that I don't have to worry about that hassle.
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Good for you, as always when dealing with Chinese it is better to keep the harmony, give a little take a little and nobody gets offended or loses face.
I don't know much about going to court in HK, I presume it is a little more developped then it is in Beijing/Shanghai, coz over here if you are foreigner its a 70-30 gamble that you will get an agreement from the court in your favor (70 being the chances you won't get a ruling in your favor, especially in these kinds of cases).
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So what is her opinion then? She told you that you can break the lease any time and the landlord can do nothing? Hmmmm......
The very basic of English contract law is a contract is broken, the innocent party can claim for losses suffered from the guilty party. The question here is what the court thinks is a reasonable sum based on the evidence produced before him.
If the contract clearly specifies the consequences, in legal term, it is called liquidated damages. Unless proven that the sum stated in the contract is grossly under or over valued, the court will not go ahead to decide on a reasonable sum.
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you don't have a leg to stand on. WHY do people not read their contracts????
EVERYONE: READ YOUR CONTRACTS and consider their implications!!!! BEFORE YOU SIGN!!!
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