ABOUT US

About the Broken Lease Team

We’ve spent years helping renters find their next apartment after a broken lease, and it’s the one problem we focus on. We work in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio. We’re the apartment locating team of Spirit Real Estate Group, LLC, a licensed Texas brokerage, and our help costs you nothing.

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Why we focus on broken leases

A broken lease follows you differently than a low credit score. It shows up on rental history reports from screening companies like RealPage LeasingDesk and SafeRent Solutions. And an unpaid balance can be sold to a collection agency such as National Credit Systems or IQ Data International. Leasing offices see those reports when they screen your application.

Two renters can both say "I broke a lease" and get opposite answers from the same office. One moved out eight months ago and still owes the full balance. The other left four years ago and has a letter showing the account was paid. To a screener, those are two different files. We treat them that way too.

So every search we run starts with three questions: how long ago the lease ended, where the balance stands today, and where you've rented since. We've worked with renters who owed as much as $18,000 on a past lease.

How a search with us works

1. You tell us what happened. Your city, budget and move date, when the lease ended, what you owe, and anything else a screener might flag. The search form takes a few minutes, or you can call us.
2. We read your file the way a screener will. A recent break with an open balance needs a different plan than an older one that's paid or settled. If we think paying or settling the balance first could open more doors, we'll tell you.
3. We compare your situation with what leasing offices tell us. We talk with communities often and keep track of the screening rules they give us. Those rules change when a property fills up or a manager leaves, so when something isn't clear, we call the community and ask again. You confirm the unit, price and fees on the one you pick.
4. You get your list. Usually by the next business day, by text and email.
5. You apply and name us as your locator. When the leasing office knows we sent you, we can follow up and speak up for you as they look at your application.

What renters with a broken lease usually run into

Here are the numbers we usually see in our five cities. Each community sets its own, so treat them as a guide, not a quote.

For help with the balance itself, our renter resources cover payoff letters, collections and how long a broken lease stays on your rental history.

Where our help stops

No locator can promise approval. Each community makes its own decision, and its rules can change at any time. We can't remove a broken lease from a screening report or settle a balance for you, and we aren't attorneys. If you think a report is wrong, start with the screening company's dispute process or a legal aid group.

How we get paid

Our help is free to you. When a renter we sent signs a lease, the community pays us a referral fee out of its advertising budget. That's why it matters to name us on your application: if the office doesn't know we sent you, we can't follow up for you. Application fees, deposits, risk fees and guarantor fees are separate costs that go to the community or the provider, never to us.

Licensed and easy to check

We’re the apartment locating team of Spirit Real Estate Group, LLC, Texas Real Estate Commission license #9003398. Our designated broker is Bryan Bjerke, license #562021. You can look up the license on the Texas Real Estate Commission website.

Texas requires us to share two notices: Information About Brokerage Services (PDF) and the Consumer Protection Notice (PDF).

Questions about us or how we work? Send us a message.