I have been living in my current apartment for 2 years now, and the complex has gone through several management changes since I first moved in. I have been on 1-year leases; my current lease will be up Jan. 31.

I received a renewal notice earlier this month, and on Jan. 11, I signed the new yearly lease, commencing Feb. 1. Yesterday I received notice that my employer is leaving the state, and that within the next 4-6 months I will be unemployed. My job will require a major relocation; the chances of finding a similar job anywhere within the state is extremely unlikely. This news was extremely unexpected.

Today I called my my apartment manager to ask him if there was any way to switch to a month-to-month lease, since it is still prior to the commencement date of Feb. 1. He said that since I'd signed the lease that it was already too late, and that I was bound by it. Is this correct? Is a contract binding starting the day it is signed (Jan. 11), or the day that it is written in it as the commencement date (Feb. 1)?

I signed the yearly lease in good faith, but if it is possible to avoid the horribly expensive penalties necessary to break my lease partway through, I would like to do so. If I had been lazy, I wouldn't have even renewed my lease yet, and wouldn't have had this problem!

Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated.

Britt