Breaking an Equity Residential Lease: Your Options & Rights

How to Break the Lease in an Equity Apartment

Equity apartments are the apartment complexes managed by Equity Residential. The apartments are in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Oregon, Virginia, Washington state and Washington, D.C. Equity Residential offers flexible living options, with the same rules and guidelines at each apartment complex. This includes rules about breaking the lease.

Step 1

Request a copy of your lease from the onsite Equity Residential property manager.

Step 2

Look over your lease to determine how many months are left on the lease and what the lease-breaking fee is. The term of the lease will be on the very first page. The lease-breaking fee will be located somewhere else in the lease; it varies by lease agreement. To find it, look for the paragraph on terminating a lease early. Not only will it tell you the fee amount but also the notification period. Usually the fee is equal to two months of rent and the notification period is 30 to 60 days.

Step 3

Give your onsite Equity Residential property manager a notice to vacate. You must turn this in within the proper notification period listed in your lease. When you give notice, also confirm the settlement fee for terminating the lease, as listed in your lease agreement.

Step 4

Pay all due rent and settlement fees by the move-out date to successfully break lease with the Equity Apartment complex. If you received any type of rental concession at the start of the lease, such as a free month, you must repay all of the concession when you move out as well.