NYC Early lease termination fee's

[Cory Melious]

Hi there;

I have a tenant who's terminating their lease early due to being relocated for work. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything in the lease language regarding this process. I thought that was strange since I am using one of Bigger Pockets NYS leases.

Anyway, I'd like to add some language into the lease addendum for the next tenant that requires a penalty for simply walking away.

One thing I've read is to charge a 2 month's rent penalty fee for this. In my case this will be nearly 7K. That seems astronomical for me and I would be frustrated if I were in a tenants shoes (considering they are probably dealing with security etc on their new place). I think for my purposes though, I'd prefer to have the tenant as helpful as possible with finding a replacement, so that I don't have to constantly be running and doing showings, etc.

So here's what I was thinking of doing:

1) Must give 60 days notice of intention to break lease.

2) Penalty of 2 month's rent if they've lived there under one year. Penalty of one month's rent if they've lived there over one year.

3) Must pay building managements application fee for the replacement tenant (or maybe they split it with the replacement tenant?). The fee's this management company charges are upwards of $750 dollars for the opportunity to apply to live in my apartment. I'm finding it frustrating to explain to new incoming tenants why they have to pay a huge fee just to live in my condo. I'd rather put that burden on the outgoing tenant who will likely be more than happy to cover it rather than get saddled with a lawsuit or an extra month's rent.

What do you all thing about those stipulations? Are they reasonable or unreasonable? Should I go more?

I understand that events happen in people's lives that require them to change jobs/locations. And I'd hate to get into an argument or lawsuit with a tenant over trying to force them to cover their lease. Remember this is New York State, one of the most tenant friendly places in America. It's nearly impossible to sue someone for back rent and win. I'd much prefer their cooperation and assistance with finding a replacement rather than get into a legal battle.