Early termination of rental agreement

Hi folks.

Currently living in New Tapei City. Been in this place for 5 years and am planning to leave Taiwan this year but not sure exactly when. The landlord is aware of my plans to leave, but insists that we still sign a new lease.

My understanding is that, if you give one month’s notice to the landlord, you can leave before the contract expiry date without any penalty i.e. the landlord should return your two-month deposit. Is this correct?

If it is correct, does the standard rental contract (lease) have a clause that explicitly states this?

(Would anyone know how that might be worded in Chinese?)

Thanks for any response.

It is not correct, there is (usually) a one month penalty for breaking a lease, I’ve done it twice. It will be noted in the contract though.

So the landlord is trying to get you to sign a lease to screw you out of a month’s rent or s/he’s just a dumb dumb who wants a lease signed for no logical reason.

Either way you probably shouldn’t sign it if you want to leave or maybe negotiate for a 3-6 month lease

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Correct. Lease agreement law has recently changed to allow you break a lease with no penalty given one months notice.

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When did this happen!? Do you have a link anywhere, I might be doing this for the 3rd time :joy:

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Rental Housing Market Development and Regulation Act

article 11

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I got a one month penalty in 2019 for breaking a lease early despite giving 1.5 months notice, but it was written in the contract. My 2021 contract was also written in this way.

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This part is negotiable between you and your landlord. The new standard lease usually has check boxes to check whether the renter can terminate the lease early (if given one month notice) without penalty.

Here is a sample lease from the government:
https://www.ey.gov.tw/File/E126722EF167DEC9

The leases sold at stores can be old and state you must pay one-month rent as a penalty if you break the lease (and be more partial toward the landlord in general), such as this one:
https://www.minheng.com.tw/pdf/003/C06.doc
Don’t sign anything you don’t understand or disagree with. You can ask to add clauses to the lease if it’s not to your satisfaction.

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from the landlords point of view, it always makes sense to have a signed lease, instead of verbal agreement.
As for the penalty - in my contract is reciprocal - if the landlord asks me to move out (e.g. he wants to give the place to his daughter) he needs to give me a notice and pay the same amount as compensation.
your advice to negotiate a shorter lease is the best way forward.

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if the reason you break the contract is one of the reasons listed in the article, you don’t need to pay any penalty, even if the contract says you need to pay, iiuc.

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Mine is reciprocal too, shoulda mentioned that :blush:

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Twice when I’ve had this situation I just tell the landlord im not signing anything as I will be leaving at some point but I assure them they will get 2 months notice in advance. Usually they will back off then

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