How to Break Your Lease With a Job Relocation Letter

Whenever you're relocating due to your job, it means that you have to terminate your current lease. This can prove to be an additional complication, besides the stress that comes with moving to a new place. Additionally, no law supports automatic breaking of lease due to job relocation, except for service members.

Therefore, you must use relevant measures to break your lease without penalty. One way you can try to break your lease without penalty is by writing and sending your landlord a job relocation letter to break your lease.

Fortunately, DoNotPay has created the Break My Lease tool that can help you quickly terminate your lease when relocating to your job. Read on to learn everything you need to know about breaking your lease due to job relocation.

What Are the Consequences of Terminating a Lease Due to Job Relocation?

Since job relocation is not a protected reason to legally break your lease without penalty, you could potentially face these consequences:

1. You might face some hefty fees. Your landlord is running a business and isn't ready to give up the financial terms of your contract. Therefore, your landlord might require you to pay the entire amount supposed to be paid in your rent.
2. You might be sued. Your landlord might end up suing you, even though this might be a rare case, especially if you've been a good tenant. However, it's recommended to avoid going to this point by using relevant measures like paying the entire rent or subletting.
3. You might hurt your credit. Breaking a lease can easily hurt your credit score and can even end up in a small claims court if you don't pay your fines.
4. You might have trouble finding a new apartment. Landlords only want to deal with trustworthy tenants. Therefore, if you have a history of breaking a lease early, you might find trouble finding a new place to live, especially when you want to move due to your job relocation. The best way to work around this is to remain honest with your new landlord about the reason why you've decided to break your current contract.

Many landlords will use all means to ensure that you pay the entire lease amount, unless you have legal reasons to break the lease or perform other valid measures to mitigate this risk.

How Do You Terminate Your Lease for Job Relocation?

Before you decide to break your lease due to a job relocation, check whether your agreement has a "tenant transfer clause." This is a provision reserved for military and business transfer. It outlines what happens when you break your lease, precisely how much notice you should give your landlord, and how much it may cost to break your lease.

Once you've understood the provisions of your lease, you can proceed to the following steps:

• Talk to your landlord about breaking your lease: Your landlord will understand why you need to break a lease, even when there's no legal backing for your decision. Remember, the more polite and honest you are, it's much easier to break your lease.
• Offer to find a new tenant: It's in your best interest to help your landlord find a new tenant. Once someone new relocates to your rental, you don't have to worry about the remaining rent in your lease.
• Consider subletting: If you cannot find a new tenant, you'll have to pay the remainder of your rent due to your lease. Subletting can be a suitable option to cover part of your rent than paying the entire amount. If your new tenant agrees to cover 70% to 80% of the entire rent, this can save you a lot of money.
• Send a job relocation letter to your landlord to tell them about your move and give them your official notice: You will need to give your landlord written notice. Check out the sample letter in the section below.

How Much Notice to Give by State

Check how much notice you are required to give, depending on your state and lease type. You may also find that your state has a law protecting your rights if you are required to move for work.

Sample Letter to Send to Your Landlord if You're Relocating for Your Job

To properly break your lease because of moving for a job, you should send your landlord a letter at least 30 days in advance, but this time requirement may differ depending on the state you live in. Here is a sample letter for breaking a lease due to job relocation that you can send to your landlord:

Your Name

Your Address

Your City, State, Zip

Date

Landlord's Name

Landlord's Address

Landlord's City, State, Zip

REF: Notification of Intent to Break Lease Due to Job Relocation

Dear [Name of the Landlord],

This is a letter to notify you that I am moving out of my rental at [Address] on [Moving date] due to a job relocation. According to the early termination clause in our lease dated [Date you signed the lease], if I notify you at least 30 days in advance, as well as pay any outstanding rent and pay one month’s rent as a fee for early termination, I am allowed to break my lease early without further penalty.

After my thirty days are up, I will be fully moved out and our agreed-upon one month’s rent plus the early termination fee will be paid in full.

My forwarding address is [New address] and I can be reached at [Contact info].

Sincerely,

Signature

Name of tenant

How Can DoNotPay Help You Break a Lease Due to Job Relocation Without a Penalty?

Since there are no laws allowing tenants to terminate their lease due to their job relocation, you may face some fees, but you may be able to avoid extra penalties, like eviction, lawsuits, and credit damage, if you use DoNotPay’s help. DoNotPay can help you mitigate these risks using these three steps:

1. Search Break My Lease on DoNotPay.

2. Prepare a signed copy of your lease that you can use as a reference, and enter the state the lease was signed in.

3. Let us guide you through the 4 potential options.

Here is how DoNotPay can help, depending on your specific situation:

• If you're a uniformed service member breaking a lease to fulfill your service obligations, we'll send your landlord an SCRA Protection Letter.
• If you're breaking your lease for a reason protected by your state's tenant laws, we'll write your landlord a letter detailing your protections for breaking the lease under the relevant law.
• If your reasons for breaking your lease aren't protected by federal or state law, but you'd like to try to convince your landlord to let you break the lease through mutual agreement, we'll draft a hardship letter making your case to your landlord.
• If there are no remaining options for breaking the lease with protection, but your state requires landlords to mitigate damages to tenants who break their leases, we'll notify your landlord of that obligation and minimize the remaining rent you have to pay.

What Are the Benefits of Using DoNotPay to Terminate a Lease Due to Job Relocation?

With our service, you don't have to worry about the consequences of terminating a lease prematurely. We will help you mitigate these consequences using our three easy steps above. Our process also guarantees the best result within the least time possible.

Sign up today, and let's help you relocate to your new job without worrying about your lease.