Reply to 3K lease breaking clause in VA

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So I'm looking to move to a bigger place before school registration and realized I would owe a fee of nearly $3,400 by my current lease. I'm considering fighting the fee - it is a commercial property so they will re-rent it quickly. I would argue that I will pay any actual costs of the unit being vacant up to the $3400 fee but will not pay if they cannot prove the apartment isn't rented. What would you do? [/quote]

Well, I certainly wouldn't start out by saying this to them.  You need to check with a real estate lawyer familiar with VA laws. Your analysis doesn't sound accurate.

Your position seems to be that you willing to pay the cost of the rent only if the unit is vacant. But, this is not really the situation.  If there was no penalty for breaking a lease early, then everyone would essentially have a month-to-month lease and landlords would never be able to plan what their income stream will be for a given month.  When a landlord agrees to a month-to-month lease, they usually charge a higher rent, so the cost of a possible tenant change and vacancy is built into the rental price and they are covered for any potential losses.  You did not agree to a month-to-month lease with a higher rent.  You have been paying the lower rent that is contingent on staying the year so the landlord knows that there will not be a vacancy for that time period and is therefore able to offer you a lower rate.  If you want to break the lease early, you are essentially paying at the end the premium that you would have been paying all along if you were renting month-to-month.  You are not paying double rent for the months after you leave.  The landlord structures his business this way so that over all of his or her units the losses from vacancies are mitigated.

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