Need some advice....

Bought our first house recently, but we are still in a lease contract with apartment complex. Originally, we tried to buy out, but they wanted something like $5000.00. Uhh, no. So we've stuck it out about as long as we can, and have since moved out of the apartment. We have continued to pay for the space, and are down to our last two months. I have no intention of walking away from my debt here. My question is, how bad could it be if instead of paying full rent for the last two months, I paid them half rent for 4 months. With some of the repairs we had to make to the new place, money is tight, and we could really use the break. I've searched online, and cannot seem to find an answer. You guys have been very supportive and a great resource in the past, thought maybe someone might have some insight.

I think you're on the wrong website.

Also, you're suggesting that you give the leasing office the same amount of money over twice as long of a period of time, thereby extending the full transfer of funds past the date on your lease? Good luck with that.

I'm pretty sure you can't just randomly change the terms on your lease, where payment is concerned. If it's only two months, I'm assuming you're just going to have to suck it the f up.

I get it, but really, what are they gonna do? Evict me? Pfft, I'm already out. Again, not running from responsibility, just comes down to funds. If I have to choose, I choose mortgage over rent. I've been paying for both for the last three months and the well is close to dry. Even in the worst possible scenario, they still get their money, just a little later. No different than if I lost my job again like I did a couple of years ago and I just fell behind. I'm not trying to burn anyone, just trying to avoid a some blisters myself. I'm just curious what the repercussions would be. Does the half payment constitute good-faith payment? Or would they still start the eviction process regardless? And if so, what does that mean for me since I'm already out?

Can they garnish your wages through a debt collector if you don't pay or buyout? Technically, you will be under the terms of the lease if neither of those occur.

I think you should be less concerned with eviction and more concerned with your credit score. I believe defaulting on your lease is a bad thing, and I don't think "I was going to pay you later" counts as an excuse.

If you're planning to do this without talking to the leasing office first and just sending them a half-check, you will probably be reported to a credit agency.

tell them to go fuck themselves.

yep. Although if he manages to get the 2nd installment of the first payment in on the 31st (instead of the 1st of the following month) he may be able to avoid the initial 30 day late on his credit (if they even report. Most rental agencies do not report to credit bureaus directly. Instead, if it gets late enough it will farm it out to a collections agency who will most likely report it. )

in other words, pay your bill.

Being a defendant in a lawsuit is fun. I highly recommend it.

No.

I'm not sure what we could tell you...try talking to someone in the leasing office, but since you've already fallen behind in the past they might not be so lenient. If you do fall behind they could fuck your credit score a little bit.

This is how we got into a financial crisis.

pretty much what my wife and i did. i had had enough of things not getting taken care of...broken dryer, broken dishwasher etc. but when mold started to grow on the ceiling in the shower and it took them 3 weeks just to come and look at it...and then management told us we were overreacting...yea, we were out of there. we were still under our lease, 4 more months i believe. we paid the rest of the rent when we had it.

nothing ever came of it.

See, in this case, their negligence would (probably) have allowed you to break your lease without paying. Dunno if the original guy has anything similar.

Talk to the leasing office. If they give you an answer you don't want to hear, ask to speak to their boss. The last thing they want is a lawsuit. Maybe they can try and rent the unit earlier and make double the income if they let you extend your payments...who knows? Be upfront and honest with the situation. Most likely, they will not be happy with any of this. They don't care if you live there or don't live there - they want their rent on time.

Did you try and sublease your place? You could still try for the last 2 months but it's not really a lot of time.

But you should probably just take our credit card debt and pay the rent on time and then pay the finance charges for the 2 months you have to hold the debt. It shouldn't add up to more than $100 and isn't that easier than all of this hassle?