How to Break a Lease in New York City With a Security Deposit
- 1). Review your lease carefully so that you fully understand the terms of the contract between yourself and the property owner. This will help you understand how much time remains on the lease and whether there are any stated penalties for breaking the lease early.
- 2). Call your property owner as soon as you realize that you need to break the lease. The property owner's response will likely be dependent on his ability to re-rent the property quickly. For example, while rent-stabilized tenants are regularly released from their leases early in New York, those tenants who occupy a market rate apartment aren't generally so lucky. The is because property owners of rent-stabilized apartments can turn around and increase the rent by 20 percent.
- 3). Ask for permission to assign the lease to a substitute tenant for the remainder of your lease -- a situation that would allow you to move off the premises and, theoretically, save you from having to pay rent on the property until the end of your lease. The New York Real Property Law does give tenants the right to ask their property owners for permission to rent to a substitute tenant, though property owners aren't necessarily obligated to consent to the request. If your property owner refuses your request for a substitute tenant, refusing to let you out of your lease, the courts may find this decision unreasonable and release you from your lease anyway.
- 4). Determine whether your property owner must make a reasonable effort to find a new tenant for the property. An appellate court ruling in New York mandates that property owners in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island must try to find a new tenant for their rental unit when a tenant breaks the lease. If the property owner finds a new tenant, you will only be responsible for rent incurred during the apartment's vacancy and for costs associated with re-renting the unit. In Manhattan and the Bronx, however, property owners have no such obligation and can leave a rental property vacant for the remainder of the lease -- a situation that could make you liable for the monthly rent until your lease ends.
