Transfer Balance of Lease Term Guide

TRANSFER THE BALANCE OF LEASE TERM

Ultimately, as it is your decision to move before the end of your lease term, it is your responsibility to locate someone new to take over your apartment. Once we have received your signed notice of intent to transfer your lease, we can offer your apartment to people who call our office. In practice, when residents want to do this, about 50% of the new substitute residents result from calls to our office, and 50% result from the present residents finding them.

Please consider that people looking for an apartment are customers. They have to be shown the apartment when THEY want to see it. Also, almost every person, even a messy one, wants to move into a really clean place. If your place looks great, they will like it better and take it sooner.

Some suggestions:

  • Make up a notice or brochure and distribute it throughout the dormitories. This is your best source. Some dorms close for the summer, and these are a definite group of people wanting a place for the summer. Dorms have bulletin boards, but most effective is to distribute the brochure yourself to the rooms inside the dorm.
  • List an ad in the U of M housing office behind Comstock. You can also place an ad on the bulletin board there.
  • Pass the word around to anyone you meet during the day.
  • You can place an ad in the Minnesota Daily, though this is not free.
  • Be flexible. Once someone comes to look at your place, be flexible about their move-in date and creative to negotiate the terms. Try to make a deal.
  • Don't wait. Most people are looking at least a month in advance. Now is the time to get started.

Until someone signs for your apartment, it is normal to feel anxiety. After all, there are only two possibilities: Either someone takes it, or they don't. Just work on it, and start now. Remember that about half of the applicants call our office, and half come from contacts made by the residents, and that, in the past, all residents wanting to transfer have done it, and at the time they wanted.

If you have any questions, please call 612-623-4488 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.