What Leasebreak does

Leasebreak is a privately-held, founder-led online marketplace founded in 2013 that connects tenants seeking to exit leases early with renters looking for short-term housing (1–12 months), sublets, leasebreaks, and rooms for rent, primarily across New York City's five boroughs with adjacent coverage in New Jersey, Long Island, and Westchester. The platform operates on a freemium model: posting and searching listings is free for tenants, landlords, and brokers, while revenue is generated through paid Premium subscriptions (ranging from $15 for one day to $45 for 30 days) that grant early listing access, SMS alerts, and enhanced messaging, plus Featured Listing promotions that the company claims can double or triple listing views. The product also includes "Apartments Find You," a reverse-marketplace feature where qualified renter profiles are matched to incoming landlord/agent inventory.

The underlying technology is a web-based marketplace platform with Facebook social login, internal messaging, listing management tools, map-based search, and extensive filtering by location, price, bedrooms, and lease term. A distinguishing product feature is public display of landlord approval status for each listing, designed to create trust and accountability in a market where subletting is often informal. The platform has no mobile app, no public API, and no documented AI/ML capabilities; it relies on SEO-driven neighborhood landing pages, a weekly email newsletter (The Leasebreak List), blog content, and earned media coverage in outlets such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal for user acquisition.

Customer segments span four personas — tenants/renters, individual property owners, professional landlords, and licensed real estate agents/brokers — with a parallel channel of agent referrals for leasebreak assistance. The company is bootstrapped (no disclosed funding rounds, no institutional investors identified) and operates with a small, undisclosed team from a New York City headquarters, suggesting a lifestyle-business scale rather than venture-backed growth ambitions. The single-product, single-geography orientation means revenue is tightly bound to NYC rental market dynamics and to the company's ability to convert free users into premium subscribers or featured listings.

Name

Leasebreak

Legal name

Lease Break

Website

https://leasebreak.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Leasebreak is a free NYC-focused online marketplace, founded in 2013, that connects tenants breaking leases with renters seeking short-term (1–12 month) housing, sublets, and rooms for rent, monetizing via premium subscriptions and featured listings.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Rental Marketplace

NAICS

Lessors of Real Estate (5311), Rental and Leasing Services (532)

SIC

Lessors Of Real Property, Nec (6519), Real Estate Operators (No Developers) & Lessors (6510), Operators Of Apartment Buildings (6513)

akta.pro primary industry

Residential Lease Administration & Tenant Services (BPAJAFAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Sublets & Lease Takeovers (Student-to-Student) (THAMAGAG)

Keywords

• Short-term rentals
• Sublet marketplace
• Lease break platform
• Monthly rentals
• NYC rental marketplace

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. Premium Subscriptions: Users pay for premium access to get early access to new listings, SMS alerts, email notifications, and enhanced messaging features. Plans range from $15 for 1 day to $45 for 30 days.
2. Featured Listings: Listers can pay to have their listings featured, which can double or triple views. This is a pay-to-promote model for enhanced visibility.
3. Agent Partnerships: The company partners with agents who want to help tenants market apartments or search for rentals, generating referral or partnership revenue.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Leasebreak operates a free online marketplace where tenants, landlords, and real estate brokers in New York City and New Jersey can post and search listings for short-term rentals (1-12 months), sublets, leasebreaks, lease assignments, and rooms for rent. The platform charges no fees for basic posting or searching, generating revenue through optional premium subscriptions and paid featured listing promotions that increase listing visibility.

Product overview

Leasebreak operates as a single unified marketplace product (Leasebreak.com) that connects tenants seeking to exit leases early with renters looking for short-term rentals, sublets, and lease assignments in NYC. The platform offers a free core marketplace for posting and searching listings, supplemented by optional paid add-ons including Premium User subscriptions for enhanced visibility and communication features, Featured Listings for promotional exposure, and The Leasebreak List weekly email newsletter. The additional Apartments Find You service provides reverse-matching where listings come to qualified renters.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Leasebreak.com Marketplace
• Premium User Subscription
• Featured Listings
• The Leasebreak List Email Newsletter
• Apartments Find You

Quantifiable outcome

• Users report finding qualified tenants within days to weeks, with many testimonials noting apartments rented within 10-14 days of posting
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Real Estate Broker PartnerscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorLeasebreak partners with real estate agents and brokers who want to help tenants either market their apartments or search for rentals. The platform sometimes refers brokers to tenants looking to break their lease, providing a matching service at no cost to tenants.
• Landlord NetworksminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWhile not formal partnerships, the platform works with landlords who allow leasebreaks, sublets, and short-term rentals. Landlords benefit by avoiding vacancy costs and potentially increasing rent with new tenants.
• TikTok Content PartnersminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership with TikTok content creators like @philiphorigan for organic social media reach and brand awareness.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• SpareRoom: Direct competitor in the room-for-rent and shared housing marketplace space, with comparable self-serve listing model and similar target of short-term/flexible housing seekers.
• StreetEasy: NYC's dominant rental marketplace, owned by Zillow Group; directly competes for NYC rental search traffic and serves overlapping tenant and broker segments.
• Zumper: Apartment rental marketplace with strong presence in short-term and month-to-month rentals; similar self-serve listing model and competing for the same flexible-lease tenant demand.
• RentHop: NYC-focused rental marketplace with verified listings and broker competition; overlaps directly with Leasebreak in NYC apartment search and tenant/landlord segment.

Broad incumbents

• Apartments.com: Largest US apartment rental marketplace owned by CoStar Group; broad incumbent with overlapping rental search use case though not specialized in short-term/sublet niche.
• Zillow Rentals: Largest US real estate platform with significant rental search inventory including short-term filters; competes broadly for tenant search traffic and broker leads.
• HotPads: Map-based apartment search platform owned by Zillow Group; serves overlapping tenant segment with broader geographic scope and stronger mobile experience.
• PadMapper: Multi-source apartment search aggregator with map-centric UX; competes for the same renter audience with broader listing scope than Leasebreak's niche.

Emerging players

• Roomster: Room-rent and shared housing marketplace with global reach; partial overlap with Leasebreak on the room-for-rent and short-term sublet use cases.
• Furnished Finder: Marketplace specialized in furnished monthly rentals, primarily for traveling nurses and professionals; adjacent niche that overlaps with Leasebreak's furnished short-term segment.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• TikToktiktok.com/@philiphorigan
• Xx.com/leasebreak
• Facebookfacebook.com/leasebreaks
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/leasebreak

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Leasebreak