Lease laws on the islands...

I think if you look a little harder, you can find a place with a shorter lease or no lease-just writing a check each month. Landlords understand that many people are on the islands less than a year. I would call landlords in response to their ads in the papers and explain up front that you may not want to lease a full year.

I assume the penalty is that you have to pay a full year's rent even if you leave early, or you may have the option of subletting, but that can get complicated. Of course, don't sign anything unless you fully understand it and are very comfortable with it.

My parents rent in Bridge Hampton LI and they think that the only penalty would be that we would loose our last month and deposit. Laws Vary from state to state though.

Laws do vary, as do lease terms. FormerOhioGuy gave the best advice that's out there: either look for a month to month rental, request a shorter than 1 year lease (a lot of landlords I have had will do that but will charge you higher rent each month than you'd pay on a longer term lease), or find a lease that allows you to sublet the place (with your landlord's approval of the new tenant) if you need to leave before the lease term is up. I also had one landord who allowed me to break my lease if I could find tenants she approved of and that were willing to assume the remainder of my lease plus a new one year lease of their own.

Do think carefully about the subletting option, though. Unless you write the sublet lease tight enough and act like a landlord by checking to make sure everything is being paid on time, you can wind up paying the rent, utilties, and/or other bills should the sub-tenant skip out on his obligations.

Good luck -- hope you find a solution that works for you.

HC

Hello,

Do you have the lease... read through it - does it have a termination of lease section that stipulates what the procedure for termination and penalities are for you terminating the lease and also if the landlord was to terminate the lease and ask you to leave what protection you have (number of days warning etc.). If not ask the realtor.

I know of landlords in St. Thomas that have said sure you can break the lease its quite busy with folks looking for apartments and we will find someone else -no problem; had some say you are losing your security deposit and last months; had some say find us another good tenant and you can leave with your deposits... Agree with Ohioguy read and re-read the lease agreement before signing.

--Islander