Breaking A Lease To Buy A House: Can (And Should) You Do It?

If you’re house hunting or considering starting the process while still leasing your current place, you may wonder what’ll happen if you need to break your lease to buy a house.

You might think that finding and buying the perfect home will take a while — maybe even until your current lease runs out. After all, you’ll likely tour several homes before you find the right one, and then you’ll still need to go through the inspection, appraisal and closing processes.

However, everything can happen quicker than expected, leaving you with a tough decision. Do you face the repercussions of breaking your lease to buy a house? Are you even allowed to do this?

Can You Break A Lease To Buy A House?

Yes, you can usually break your lease after discussing it with your landlord, but you should be prepared to pay a penalty fee.

In general, it’s legally justifiable to break a lease in extreme circumstances – such as your apartment becoming uninhabitable, having to move for military purposes or being in danger or a victim of domestic violence. But if you want to break a lease to buy a house, it can be a little more complicated.

Lease-breaking laws differ by state, so your options (and consequences) may differ depending on where you live. Even if you don’t have a good reason to legally end a lease, though, you’re usually not trapped in it. You might be able to use the following methods to get out of a lease.