Did you know that not giving your landlord proper notice to vacate can affect your rental history report?
You’ve been living in your apartment for some time now. It’s in a great location, your kids are able to attend excellent schools, you can get to work quickly and easily, and the apartment has really worked well for fitting into your lifestyle.
But a life change might require you to move your family to a new location, across town, in a neighboring community or even out of state. How you notify your landlord about your intent to leave your apartment could follow you for years, especially if you don’t give proper notice to vacate.
All tenants have rental history reports containing information about their payment history, as well as whether they left the rental unit in good standing. Lease agreements often have a specified end date, and then the renter is required to extend the lease agreement or move out of the apartment so the landlord can rent it to another tenant. However, if the tenant decides to terminate the rental agreement prior to the date specified in the lease agreement, this is considered a breach of contract. The tenant has a couple of options to give proper notice so negative information doesn’t appear on his rental history report:
1. As soon as the need to vacate the apartment becomes apparent, contact your landlord. Advise him of the reason behind the need to vacate, and ask if the lease agreement can be terminated early without penalty to you. Insure you have given him/her the proper notice to vacate.
2. Consider negotiating with the landlord. Offer to help re-rent your unit by paying for advertising, and having it clean and available for showings.
3. Ask if subletting the apartment through the end of the lease agreement is acceptable.
4. Move out of the apartment, but continue paying the rent until the lease has expired.
Don’t intentionally put any negative information on your rental history report if you can avoid it, because having a clean and glowing rental history report will make you look good to future landlords, who hopefully will want to rent their apartments to you.
