broken lease

[edheathcliff]

Hi all,

I have a problem I was hoping to get some advice on. I recently rented an apartment in Brooklyn Heights, about 2k per month. Last week when I was supposed to move in, I had second thoughts and decided to break the lease. I've given the owner the keys back and the apartment is now back on the market with a broker. Anyone know how long apts stay on the market in that area? Any advice as to how to deal with the situation would be really appreciated.

Ed

[Edward]

Did you give security deposit to the owner, or a fee to a broker?

[edheathcliff]

Yes, stupidly I did both. The landlord says he is keeping the security deposit until he re-rents, then I get the balance. He has a broker working on renting it. So basically I'm asking because I'd like to know how much money I can expect to get back from the security deposit.

[KenNYC]

I'd guess nothing, and even at that he's not really doing you any injustice. People really need to know better than signing contracts on a whim.

[edheathcliff]

Ok, thanks for your 2 cents ken, but that's not really my question. My question is about how long apartments stay on the market in the brooklyn heights area.

[stache]

Usually not too long, but with the economy it's hard to tell. Did you ask your broker?

[KenNYC]

Fair enough, and I don't think that part of the market is suffering too bad yet, but I can't really make any qualified guess as to how long. Depends a lot on the broker too, if it's the landlord's broker and the landlord intends to hold you for all the rent until it's re-rented he probably wouldn't put much effort into it.