Your best bet is to talk to the landlord to see if they would be willing to allow you to dissolve the lease without penalty, which may not be too difficult if you have yet to turn over any money to them. Otherwise, even if you never move into the unit you could still be evicted for nonpayment of rent or failure to comply with the terms of the lease (providing your security deposit), which would remain on your credit report and in public records for as much as 10 years.

