Q I have a rental lease agreement through September. I have had a significant change in my personal circumstances and need to relocate.
According to my lease agent, I have few options to terminate the lease early. Since I am not buying a new home and my employer isn't relocating me, I do have the option to sublet the place. But I am not interested in the responsibility I would still have should the new tenants (if you can find a tenant who is able to pay an $1,800 a month lease) damage the townhouse.
A friend who rents property says a leasing agent must provide a buyout option, according to a Minnesota statute. I have not been able to find such a statute.
Is there such a thing?
A There is no requirement that a lease contain a buyout option, although every tenant has the option of paying the remaining rent and then moving. That is not much of an option, so your best bet is to try to negotiate a lease buyout with your landlord, offering to pay two or three months' rent in exchange for being let out of the lease early.
I understand that this is an expensive proposition, but you signed an agreement obligating payment through the term of the lease, and the landlord does not have to agree to terminate the lease early. You need to convince the landlord that by accepting payment, he or she will do better than if you were to just leave.
Make sure that you get any agreement in writing, so that you can document it at a later date.
Subsidized leaseQ We have an employee who has a one-year government-subsidized lease that is due to expire May 31. Her landlord has told her she cannot renew because she is a full-time student and her lease says she cannot be the head of the household and a full-time student. She lives alone in a one-bedroom place and has never had problems there or been late on payments. Does she have any recourse?
