posted
Umm, I need a favor. But I do love you, in that platonic never met you kind of way.
Could you please weigh in on this? Here's the situation - hubby and I live in a rental house. Four months after we signed our lease the landlord decided to put the house up for sale. We don't want to buy the house, so we started shopping. We've found one and are moving next month - 3 months before our lease is up. Mr. Opera has tried several times to reach a compromise with the landlord, but she's not having it. She wants us to pay out the rest of the lease, pay the utilities for the months after we move, and keep our deposit. We obviously don't want to do this.
Here's our side. We're breaking our lease because she has not fulfilled her responsibilities as a landlord. When we moved into the house it was unclean and in bad repair - bathrooms were filthy, toilets didn't work, paint was all over the windows, etc. In addition the yard was full of leaves from last year and HUGE tree limbs that had been cut down. The yard was supposed to be taken care of before we moved in. So, we had to take care of the yard (20 bags of debris) and wait almost a month for her to have someone haul it away. We also had to clean junk out of the garage for her to haul away as well. We were assured prior to signing the lease that all this would be taken care of.
Since then, she has refused to make certain repairs to the house. Our garage door has never worked, so we've never been able to put our car in it. Worst of all, there is mold growing in one of our bathrooms on the ceiling. We informed her about the mold several weeks ago and she has not responded. Can you say health risk? In addition she refused to have the gutters cleaned on the house (they are so full that 3 small trees have sprouted in them) despite us asking her several times. These gutters of course drew lots of mosquitos all summer, also a health risk.
Mr. Opera wrote her a letter stating that we were moving and the things I've told you about up above. Her letter back did not address any of our problems with the house (even the mold) and she also stated that she will refuse to do a walk-through of the house with us after we move. She basically said that she has a lawyer and is going to sue us. So, should we try to continue to reach a compromise, or are we just screwed? We are fine with paying another month and letting her keep the deposit, but in light of her inaction on the house don't feel like we owe the full amount. Any thoughts?
space opera, who really appreciates that you read all of this
Posts: 2578 | Registered: Apr 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Is there such a thing as a Rental Tenancy Board in your state? We have them here in Australia. You must pay a bond not to the landlord but to the Rental Bond Authority, a federal agency, and they only release the bond if there's no disputes. If there's a dispute, it goes to the tenancy board and their decision is binding.
Don't know if this helps, but there may be some kind of tenancy advocate group in your area.
Posts: 2245 | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
In the statutes, the parts of interest are the obligations of the landlord and the noncompliance by the landlord section. Your letter may constitute notice, but you should send another letter (keeping copies of all of this!) immediately which states your intention to move out within 30 days of the first letter if the problems are not remedied within 14 days of the first letter, and affirms that you considered the letter written notice of the problems in violation of your rental agreement.
Furthermore, if you previously had a problem like these problems (substantially the same sort) and provided a written letter about it (and you have the copy), which was remedied, you can move out within 14 days of the letter you sent recently if he hasn't complied with these new things.
However, most important thing is, go talk to an attorney who does rent cases. Any reputable attorney should give you a chance to explain the situation for free and then tell you if they feel they would be able to help. A sternly worded letter from an attorny on your behalf may very well force your landlord to fold.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Along with the lack of maintence fugu talked about, having the house up for sale may allow you an out for leaving. Is sale of the house mentioned in the lease? You can probably get some free legal advice from a legal aid group in your area. I've used similar legal aid groups before in landlord/renter disputes, and they are very familiar with this area. There may be an income requirement. Good luck!
Posts: 6316 | Registered: Jun 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yep - you need to talk to a lawyer. The rights of tenants to break leases based on non-maintenance vary considerably from state to state and city to city. Going through the local fair housing board or equivalent will likely get good results, but you need to talk to the lawyer.
The standard is usually "habitability," and usually extends to health & safety risks: power, sewage, water, etc.
Gutters may not be the landlord's responsibility; debris likely is.
There's too many variables involved, but a lawyer should help you sort it out. At minimum he'll make the landlord pay attention to you.
posted
Can you do a small-claims court kind of a deal, S.O.?
Here in Kansas at least, if the amount contested is less than, like, $5,000 (don't know how much that three months rent would be), then you can file like a $40 processing fee and get it in front of a judge in small claims court. Then you could present your case yourself without a lawyer, and get a judges' ruling..
posted
She should still talk to a lawyer first. It may be that there's some relatively simple procedure she can follow that will get her out, but if she doesn't follow it the landlord's in the right. A lawyer will be able to tell her what to do, which may involve going to small claims, but going straight to small claims may just end up in her having a judgement against her and no recourse.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
If she sells the house while you're in the lease are you expected to move out? This happened to one of my friend and they struck a deal with their landlord since if the house sold they'd probably have to move out anyway. It didn't make sense for them to have to wait until their landlords kicked them out since they weren't guaranteed to find something.
I don't know if there is any legal premise for something like that situation. And it doesn't sound like she's doing you any favors at all. But it's another variable to add to the mix.
Posts: 872 | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged |
quote:It may be that there's some relatively simple procedure she can follow that will get her out, but if she doesn't follow it the landlord's in the right.
This is exactly what you need to fear - missing some procedural chore that ends up letting the landlord win.
It's why ultimately all the advice has to come to down to go see a lawyer.
This case is unusual, because they have more to lose than just their chance to collect damages - the landlord might be able to collect from them if they mess it up.
A lawyer should not charge for the time it takes for you to explain the situation. Then he can propose a course of action and let you know the possible fees.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
But I do love you, in that platonic never met you kind of way.
