That said, breaking the lease in and of itself isn't a big deal. She'll lose her deposit and likely have to pay one to three months rent, or whatever time it takes for a new tenant to move in, plus cleaning and damages if such applies. If she doesn't pay, and her landlord doesn't have to offer her a payment plan, she can be sued and the judgement will make it difficult for her to get approved for a nice unit for the foreseeable future. Of course if it came down to that, your landlord would also likely take the roommate that bounce to court as well.
You are required to give proper notice, even if such notice is not specifically laid out in the lease. She will lose her security deposit. She will also continue to be responsible for the rent until either the end of the lease or the place is re-rented unless she comes to an agreement with the landlord. There is no national landlord database so unless the landlord sends her to collections, it is unlikely an out of state landlord will know she broke the lease if she doesn't put the landlord down as a reference. However, is she doesn't the new landlord will wonder where she was living during that time and is red flag she is hiding something bad.
"no asbestos found on her side of the building but the other side had it" If there is none in her unit that falls under the so what category & will not get her out of the lease. A unit she does not live in having asbestos has no bearing on her lease what so ever. You don't say what the other reasons are but general FYI - what most tenants see as a 1-2 punch to the landlord usually does not mean squat.
In order to break her lease without penalty over ANY issues she has to sue the landlord & get released from the lease by a judge. Unless there are major health or safety issues that went completely ignored (i'm talking the place has to just about be falling down around her) she has no case. If there are repair issues & the landlord took steps to fix it then she has no case. The repairs have to be properly reported to the landlord in writing & the landlord does absolutely nothing in order for any tenant to have any kind of a case to break the lease.
What she needs to do is give a proper written notice to vacate. She will likely lose her deposit & possibly charged more. If the lease does not state a lease break fee then she can be charged full rent through the end of the lease or until they find a new tenant.
and yes getting any landlord to rent to you when you have broken a lease is very hard.
Yes, she will have problems renting from a decent LL as she will not get a good reference from her current LL.
She can expect to forfeit her security deposit and be sued for the unpaid rent until the unit is re-rented as well as all costs associated with re-renting the unit. She will be charged for the cost to repair all damages to the unit.
She can be sued for non compliance of the lease and the landlord can get a judgment for the deficit. It will be recorded on her credit record and can cause her problems in the future unless she clears it up. In turn she has a claim against her room mate who also left early and can sue her for her portion of the claim. Good Luck
My cousin recently broke her lease because her roommate bailed on her and she can no longer afford it and she has also decided to move down south due to a death within her immediate family. We both went over her lease and it really doesn't clarify any instructions on ending a contract early so I referred her to a non profit organization that provides rental assistance and legal advice for tenants. She was advised to break her lease because of a waiver she signed about asbestos the landlord said there was no asbestos found on her side of the building but the other side had it and a plenty of other reasons. She has been calling her landlord and leaving messages but no response. She wrote a letter breaking her lease and she is trying to work out a payment plan for back rent but she has not heard back from the landlord. What does this mean? When she moves down south will she have a problem renting an apartment again?
