Breaking a lease often comes at a price, but sometimes the real cost is in broken promises.

Their landlord offered them a sweet deal to move out early, but when he changed his mind, one couple found themselves fighting for the payout they were promised.

Read on for the full story.

AITA for asking my landlord to pay me to move back in?

In December 2024, my wife and I started renting an apartment for $4000/month.

By the end of February, Landlord wanted us to move out to sell the apartment to buy another property.

He offered the renters a good deal, so they took it.

He offered us 2 months’ rent ($8000) as compensation for breaking the lease.

We agreed, understanding his reason.

We had a month-long trip planned for the first week of March and couldn’t move immediately.

The two parties went back and forth over what timing worked best for everyone.

We asked for more time (until May), and he initially agreed but wanted to hold open houses while we were away.

We were uncomfortable with strangers in our home for a month while we were traveling.

To avoid the open houses, we offered to move out quickly (within a week).

Finally the two agreed and arrangements were made.

The landlord agreed, stating, “If you wanted to move out early, I would be fine with your decision. You could even save more money since I would give you the same amount and wouldn’t be paying for the rent while you’re travelling.”

We moved out on March 7th and initially booked storage.

As a favor, we asked if we could leave our packed boxes and car in his garage.

He agreed, and we didn’t pay March rent.

But then the situation took an unexpected turn.

A month later (now), the sale fell through.

The landlord asked if we wanted to move back in under the original terms.

This would be convenient for us.

But this time, the negotiations didn’t go as smoothly.

Being considerate, we offered to forgo the full $8000 lease break fee and instead asked for 1 month’s rent ($4000) for the inconvenience, plus repairs to the old water heater and installation of a water softener.

The landlord refused this, offering only $1000, claiming we weren’t really inconvenienced.

The two can’t agree on a way forward.

Now that we’ve rejected his $1000 offer, we told him we’d move our things out completely and expect the original $8000 lease break fee.

He’s now arguing that since we “saved” a month’s rent in March, he will only pay us $4000.

They aren’t sure what to do next.

He has been quite friendly and nice to me in the past.

Were my demands justified?

Is his argument about “saved rent” valid in negating the agreed-upon lease break compensation

AITA or is he?

The only thing moving faster than their boxes was their landlord’s loyalty.

What did Reddit have to say?

Always get it in writing, folks.

This situation may be beyond Reddit’s purview.

This commenter thinks the renters are right to negotiate.

Maybe this landlord-renter relationship is just too flawed to continue with anyway.

What started as a handshake quickly turned into a tug-of-war.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.