Can I Break My Lease if My Apartment Building Converts Into Airbnbs?

Whether you can break a lease if your apartment building converts into Airbnbs depends on several factors, including the terms of your individual lease, the state and local landlord-tenant law, and the circumstances surrounding any disruption to your living situation.

While converting an apartment into short-term rentals does not automatically give you the right to break your lease, particular circumstances could strengthen your case. If you need help understanding your rights when your apartment converts into a short-term rental, contact a landlord-tenant attorney in your area.

Tenants Breaking Leases Because of a Conversion

It can be frustrating to learn that your short-term rental will be listed on platforms like VRBO, Airbnb, or other short-term rental companies. These concerns are legitimate.

Subletting often arises when a building begins mixing long-term rentals with short-term guest occupancies. If your landlord lists units from your building on one of these sites, several consequences can follow, including the following:

• New service fees or surcharges
• Changes in building character or services
• Construction and renovation disruption
• Repeated noise from cleaning, guest traffic, buildouts, or parties
• Loss of quiet enjoyment, where you lose the normal use of your home

When this occurs, it may be possible to break the lease under landlord-tenant law. The strongest reasons for breaking the lease would be when the interference with your rental occupancy is serious and ongoing. Or, if the conversion results in unsafe conditions or loss of promised services.

Perhaps the strongest basis for breaking the lease is when the landlord engages in conduct that clearly violates the lease or local housing law, such as local zoning laws or unauthorized subletting.

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What Rights Does a Tenant Have?

A tenant’s options depend on the landlord’s specific actions. A tenant’s rights come from various sources, including the lease agreement and state and local laws.

• Breach of lease. The rental agreement provides for certain services or features that change because of a short-term rental.
• Violation of the right of quiet enjoyment. The issues involve recurring serious noise, unsafe conditions, or constant disruption that interfere with your ability to enjoy your rental unit.
• Constructive eviction. While it requires meeting a high bar and extensive documentation, a tenant generally must show that the landlord’s actions or failures made the unit unfit for the intended use, and that the tenant moved out within a reasonable time after the problem was not fixed.
• Failure to provide essential services. When a property manager begins to slip in essential repairs, safety, and upkeep that impacts habitability, that can provide grounds to break a lease.
• Illegal lease modification. Unless the lease allows for it, a landlord usually cannot impose new charges during the term of the lease.
• Local short-term rental violations. Issues involving a short-term rental unit that violate laws governing these units, such as when a city makes Airbnb-style use illegal or when it exceeds occupancy limits.

When a landlord’s actions violate the law, that provides the clearest path toward supporting the tenant’s position to break the lease.

What Options Are Available for Tenants?

There are several options that you may be able to pursue if your apartment building converts into short-term rentals.

Carefully Review Your Lease

Your lease may provide everything you need to determine whether you can break your lease. Pay special attention to clauses that involve quiet enjoyment, subleasing, building rules, amenities, services, the landlord’s right to renovate, early termination, fees, and access to common areas.

Document Everything

To build a strong case that the enjoyment of your property has been seriously impacted, you’ll need proof. Documentation will go a long way to support your case.

For example, keep records of dates and disruptions. Take photos or videos that prove your point. If other witnesses or tenants have experienced the same thing, obtain witness statements.

Get Written Consent from Your Landlord

It’s important to ask your landlord to stop the activities that are disrupting your stay in your apartment. You can request written consent to break your lease. It doesn’t hurt to ask. Often, your landlord may be able to increase profitability if your unit is converted.

Request a Remedy

If you are interested in remaining in your unit after it has been converted into an Airbnb or other short-term rental, you may ask for certain remedies that are agreeable to both parties. For example, you may request:

• Noise mitigation
• Repairs or restored services
• A rent reduction
• The ability to transfer to another unit
• Landlord permission to terminate the lease without a penalty

File Complaints with Local Agencies

Depending on what is occurring in your apartment building relating to converting into short-term rentals, you could lodge a complaint with your local housing agency.

If there are housing or code violations, you could make a report. Or, if your local government has a short-term rental enforcement office, you could contact them and make a report or receive guidance.

Some local laws treat rental arbitrage, which is when a unit is leased and then re-rented on short-term rental platforms like Airbnb or VRBO, as a form of unauthorized subletting.

Negotiate an Early Lease Exit

If your building is undergoing a material change, your landlord or property manager may readily agree to let you move out. They may grant you permission to terminate the lease, return your security deposit, and waive any termination penalties.

Consult a Landlord-Tenant Lawyer

If you are dealing with a situation that has you considering whether you can break your lease if your apartment building converts into Airbnbs, take a few steps:

1. Review your lease to look for provisions that support your position
2. Review the coverage terms of your renter’s insurance (it may provide protections for particular disruptions involved with a conversion)
3. Collect written documentation and other evidence that will support your case
4. File a written complaint with your landlord or property management company
5. Local enforcement check to determine whether there are any legal violations
6. Legal advice to guide your next steps

If you need legal help to understand your rights relating to your rental unit if your apartment converts into Airbnbs, contact an experienced landlord-tenant lawyer in your area.