Imagine deciding to move out of your apartment early, and you need to break your lease. What would you do if the fee to break your lease ended up being much more expensive than you anticipated?

In this story, one renter is in this exact situation, but quick thinking makes the problem go away.

Keep reading to see what they did.

How I got out of apartment’s lease

My friend had lived in his apartment complex for a few years and his fiancé and him were in the market of buying a house.

Well, the time came and an opportunity came and they put an offer on a house.

They still had 6 months on their lease and asked the management what their options were.

Management lied.

Management told them, they would have to pay a months rent to break the lease.

He agreed and assumed it would be on his final statement (the following month).

The final statement comes and it’s for the remainder of the lease ($10k +).

He told them what he was told and of course “that isn’t their policy so they aren’t sure why he would have been told this and he was on the hook for the remainder of the lease.”

He found a loophole!

He remembered seeing advertisements from his community about a 30 day grace period of backing out a new rental agreement (prior to actually moving in and just securing your spot).

He then asked if the unit got rented out before the end of his old lease if he would still be on the hook.

They told him once it’s rented out they will release the charges and he will only be on the hook for one month of rent.

He then asked them for an application and applied to rent the exact same unit, waited for the charge to drop from his balance and cancelled his application.

I’m actually surprised the management company let him get away with that, but I’m glad it worked out!

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

A property manager gives some advice.

This renter feels lucky.

Another person shares their rental story.

Here’s how it works in Canada.

It’s important to read the lease agreement carefully.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.