This is a very common situation. If your financial distress is temporary, you may be able to work out a temporary arrangement with your landlord, but that is not common. In most cases, the landlord will act swiftly to enforce the lease and evict the non-paying tenant, regardless of the reason the tenant cannot pay the rent. Therefore, you must be pro-active insted of re-active.The best method to break your lease (regardless of the reason) is to simply find a qualified replacement tenant who is willing to take over your existing apartment lease and/or sign a direct lease with the landlord. Once you have found such a person, then simply inform the landlord that you are unable to continue your tenancy and request permission to assign (not sublet) the lease to your replacement or, alternatively, to terminate your lease without penalty in exchange for signing a new lease with your replacement tenant.That is how to break out of a lease with no harm and no foul. In many cases, the replacement tenant is willing to pay a higher rent (perhaps because the apartment has risen in rental value) and the landlord is then, of course, very happy to accomodate your request to break your lease early without any penalty. This way, you turn a potential problem into an opportunity for the landlord and everyone is happy.