urgent help needed regarding break lease

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  1. #1

    urgent help needed regarding break lease

    Hi all,

    I just knew that I may be changing job in the near future and the new job is located in Kowloon instead of HK Island.

    Before I knew this change in job arrangement, I entered into a Provisional Tenancy Agreement and I am supposed to sign the formal lease contract with agent tomorrow. If I want to move to Kowloon to be close to the new office in a few months' time, am I still able to get my 2 months' deposit back if I find someone to take over my lease by then? Or no break-lease under any circumstances can happen under the initial "fixed one year".

    Thank you for all your help.

    s


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Clear Water Bay (In Da Jungle)
    Posts
    9,968

    have u paid the money before sigining the formal lease??????


  3. #3

    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    115

    What does your Provisional Tenancy Agreement say? I think there is a usually a clause in which it says, "If you don't sign the real thing by a certain date, you will forfiet whatever provisional deposit you paid and you have to pay both side's agents' fee"

    So your choice is to NOT sign the real lease, and pay the above, or sign the real lease and PAY ALL OF THE LEASE' RENT if you signed the standard fixed one year lease, i.e. 12 months' rent, PLUS agent's commission on your side, i.e. 12.5 months rent.

    Technically you can't even have someone just take over your lease unless your lease specifically allows it, as the landlord may decide he doesn't like this alternate tenant. That is, unless you do it under the table - you let someone else live in it, you collect money from him, and pay the landlord. This is technically sub-letting and usually not allowed in most tenancy agreements, but you can do it under the table but you will be responsible for all the alternate tenant's misgivings even if torches the whole place down.

    The 2 months' deposit has nothing to do with it. Even if you forfeit it, the landlord could still sue you for the full 12 months' rent due. If you don't pay, he files with court, freezes your bank account, etc. If he cannot find a bank account of yours, he can apply for your bankruptcy and you won't have a job if your company is reputable.

    My suggestion will therefore only be:
    1) Just live in the apartment and commute to work
    2) Don't sign the real tenancy agreement and lose whatever you have already paid under the provisional with the agent's commission penalty.


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    349

    Another option of course is to actually discuss this with your agent and/or the landlord - who knows he/she may actually be reasonable and you can arrive at some compromise. For all you know after the landlord signed the provisional agreement, they had interest from people willing to pay more and might be just as happy to see the lease broken. There's nothing really to lose in discussing it - at least with your agent anyway.