[Johnsontm]

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.

[rockinmommy]

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