Terminating Lease
 

I'm currently renting and have lived at the place since August. The lease agreement is a standard one year lease with no information about early termination. The landlord said that early termination has never happened to his previous tenants so he didn't state further as to what actions can be taken. Due to work I will have to relocate in March. Does anyone have any experience with early termination? Before I contact my landlord I want to see what some of my options are. TIA
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If the tenant wants to move before the end of a fixed term tenancy, the tenant will have to continue to pay rent until the end of the term unless the landlord agrees in writing that the tenant can end the tenancy early or can assign or sublet the unit, or if the landlord is able to mitigate the potential loss by renting out the premises. If the tenancy is for a fixed term of six months or more, the landlord cannot unreasonably withhold consent to assign or sublet.

As taken from the residential tenancy branch website. Just try talking to your landlord and see if he's willing to work something out with you like a 1 month penalty or something

We always let people go, but you are on the hook until its re-rented. Basically, I don't want just 'whatever' tenants taking over.

It happened enough, that at 2 of the buildings we make people sign liquidated damages up front that if you leave earlier than the year, we keep like 2-300 of your security deposit-otherwise we may as well not even sign a lease.

If people are nice during their stay, and keep the place clean and clean it well when they go, then sometimes we don't enforce the damages part.

If your landlord is an ass-which many are, things to know are: they can't double dip on rent. I can charge a fee for liquidated damage, but its based on advertising costs, time to re-show the apartment and so on-its not a penalty per se.

The best thing to do is talk to the landlord, and explain the situation. If you've been a nice guy, then chances are, they are going to pay you back in kind. If not, report back, and I can give you some ammo to use.