Landlord problem - breaking the lease

[rasearcy.livejournal.com]

I've looked through some of the past posts regarding landlord / tenant issues, and couldn't quite find the information I was looking for.  I will be leaving Somerville to move to NYC in February for a new job, and I need to break my apartment lease.  My landlord has agreed to terminate my tenancy under the following terms: 1) a light cleaning, and 2) a termination fee equal to 4 months rent.  That seems insane to me, and I've been looking around for information online, but everything seems so ambiguous and I haven't been able to find anything definitive.  My landlord has also explicitly forbidden subletting.  I guess my questions are whether I actually do have to pay this, and if not, how do I respond to this?

I received some advice that suggested that if I'm able to find someone creditworthy interested in assuming the remainder of the lease (I guess that's somehow semantically different from a sublet, although I don't quite know why) then that releases me from the lease, regardless of whether or not the landlord accepts this person.

Does anyone have any experience with a situation like this?  I've talked with a bunch of people who have broken their lease and most of them just had to forfeit their security deposit.  Four months rent is a lot of money and I'm kind of freaking out.  I don't know how to get my landlord to reduce that amount and I don't want this to turn into a messy, ugly situation.  Any help would be very much appreciated.  Thanks!

Comments

[dahdahdahdancer.livejournal.com]

When my tenant needed to break his lease early, I found another tenant to take over the remainder of the lease in something that I think is called a "reassignment" - there is specific paperwork for a transfer/reassignment (not a sublet) like this. Then at the same time the new tenant completed a lease for the following year - so this way the new tenant booked the place for the 4 months remaining on the old lease, plus 12 months following the old lease's expiration. Your landlord may not know that a "reassignment" option is even available - I know I didn't until the situation presented itself. A sublet, I believe, implies that the old tenant retains some responsibility for the apt. A reassignment does not (but I'm not a lawyer....).

[rasearcy.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip! I'm going to mention it to him. Fingers crossed!