<prompt> Human: I just relocated for work from a small college town to a large city. I was offered a new job with a lot of potential for growth and couldnt pass it up. I went from making 28k a year to 40k, with a promotion in February if everything works out right. My boyfriend and I currently have a duplex that we pay 620 a month for in the college town. Its an older place but you couldnt beat the price for the location and size. I have had the lease for 3 years roughly, and resigned in March assuming I would be in town another year. The leasing company also starts showing in February and pretty much shows up unannounced at all hours of the day.Well Its now the end of August and I have had to relocate for work, Im lucky enough that I have family in town and I have been staying with them. The leasing company will not allow me to break the lease, theyve only provided two options. We either find a subletter, and pay 300 to get off of the lease, or We pay them a total of 975 to have them re-list and re-lease the unit.We decided to try and sublet the unit as it was the cheapest option. My boyfriend is still working and showing our apartment to potential tenants, so far 3 of them have put in applications. Today we found out that the leasing company rejected all 3 applications 50 a pop I might add. They are citing credit issues, and criminal history as the reasoning. We have already issued a check to the leasing agency for the 300 to sublet the unit, although they are not letting us out of our lease.I called the agency after work today anonymously and asked about the qualifications needed to rent from them. They said they dont check credit score, just any big item sitting on someones credit; and that criminal history dont necessarily matter. At this point my boyfriend and I need to move on, he starts school on the 29th, and I need to get our of my familys house. Should we pay the 975, with a possible 620 on the 1st if they dont rent itOr Should we continue to show the unit and try and sublet, with a possible 620 if we dont rent it by the 1stI currently have 1500 available for our moveMy boyfriend has 1200We have put down an application for a new place that has the first month free of rent, but we do still have to pay deposits and such on that unit as well.  <response>: The leasing company will not allow me to break the lease... We either find a subletter, and pay 300 to get off of the lease, or We pay them a total of 975 to have them re-list and re-lease the unit.They are allowing you to break the lease, just specifying the two conditions theyll let you agree to terminate:1 Find a subletter and pay 300, or2 pay a total of 975 to let you out early.Either of those options are better than saying, hah, no you signed a lease.There is a third option - in most states, landlords have an obligation to mitigate their damages see this rlegaladvice thread but that could very likely cost you more than either of the two previous options.Essentially, the idea there is that you give them notice that you need to break the contract, they have to panic to fill the apartment, and then you owe them actual damages. That could be a couple of weeks of rent, or it couple be a couple of months rent, or it could be the rest of their lease. You would have to prove that they did not do their duty to fill your apartment. The fact that you found subletters and the company rejected them could work in your favor, but this isnt rlegaladvice that thread linked has a pretty good discussion of the third option. Remember that its almost certainly illegal for them to charge you rent if they already have another renter paying rent since you cant grant exclusive use quiet enjoyment of the same space to two people at the same time. TL;DR: Finding a new tenant or paying their 975 fee could be the cheaper of your options. 