Good morning,
My son and his wife (newlyweds) reside in an apartment complex in Blackwood NJ. They signed a year lease Dec 2006. Recently, my son was selected for a new job in North Carolina. They were told that to break the lease they would have to pay (2) months rent $1500.00 and lose their security deposit $1000.00.
They understand there is a penalty for breaking the lease. However, paying (2) months rent AND losing their security deposit seems a bit much to them. They could understand one or the other.
They want to do the right thing which is fair for both parties.
Please advise.

Well, legally, if that's what the lease states that they signed when they moved in the landlord can charge that. Double check the link to NJ's landlord/tenant laws in the first post in this forum to make sure what the law actually states.

What you're describing is actaully fairly typical. I know it seems like a lot from the tenant's perspective, but from the landlord's perspective it's a big, expensive inconvenience to have units turning over every 8 or 9 months. Has your son checked with the employer to see if the fees can be part of his relocation package? That, also is a fairly common practice. Employers expect people to incur such expenses when they're relocating.

If they are required to pay 2 months rent and the unit rents faster than that (ask a neighbor to keep them informed) the landlord should refund that pro-rated amount of rent. However a lot of landlord's will attempt to get around this by having the tenant sign a lease termination and it just so happens that the "lease termination fee" is exactly equal to 2 months rent. Then it's no longer considered rent and the landlord wouldn't be "double dipping".

Hope that helps.
Karla in TX