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Old 10-07-2010, 10:02 AM
 
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LL is allowing us to break lease early (as confirmed by voicemail and numerous text messages as well as in person) but will not sign an early lease termination document to confirm a move out date. He has the house up for sale and wants to wait to see if the buyers back out or if they move forward and go under contract, but we have a place lined up for 11/1 and need to know ASAP. Is there anything we can do? He is basically keeping us in limbo until he can confirm he is selling the house.. we may potentially lose our new place if he doesn't give us a date.
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Old 10-08-2010, 11:51 AM
 
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Originally Posted by kayfouroh View Post
LL is allowing us to break lease early (as confirmed by voicemail and numerous text messages as well as in person) but will not sign an early lease termination document to confirm a move out date. He has the house up for sale and wants to wait to see if the buyers back out or if they move forward and go under contract, but we have a place lined up for 11/1 and need to know ASAP. Is there anything we can do? He is basically keeping us in limbo until he can confirm he is selling the house.. we may potentially lose our new place if he doesn't give us a date.
Not much. However this is what I would do. I would tell him either he puts things in writing, or forget about it, and you will honor the orignal terms of the lease and will not be releasing him from his obligations if he is able to sell the house. Do you know if the new owners want tenants? If they do then this offer won't work, if they don't than it might.
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Old 10-08-2010, 11:54 AM
 
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Originally Posted by jdm2008 View Post
Not much. However this is what I would do. I would tell him either he puts things in writing, or forget about it, and you will honor the orignal terms of the lease and will not be releasing him from his obligations if he is able to sell the house. Do you know if the new owners want tenants? If they do then this offer won't work, if they don't than it might.
Potential new owners actually want to move into the apartment we are in right now... and keep the other tenants in the other part of the house as renters.


we are actually just giving him until 10/15 to decide if he wants to sign the lease termination document we gave him. If he doesn't sign it, we are sending him a certified letter on 10/16 stating we are returning the keys on 10/31. I'm done playing games, especially since we have no heat.
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Old 10-08-2010, 11:57 AM
 
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Originally Posted by kayfouroh View Post
Potential new owners actually want the apartment we are in right now.
They want to occupy it you mean? If so then that is what I would do. How long do you have left on your lease? Do you need to move(lost job etc) or are you just moving to somethin better? Do you believe the new owners will buy the house with you occupying it and being obligated to honor your lease? All questions that will impact whether that approach will work or if it is even worth it to try. There is an element of risk in my advice so remember that.
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Old 10-08-2010, 12:08 PM
 
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They want to occupy it you mean? If so then that is what I would do. How long do you have left on your lease? Do you need to move(lost job etc) or are you just moving to somethin better? Do you believe the new owners will buy the house with you occupying it and being obligated to honor your lease? All questions that will impact whether that approach will work or if it is even worth it to try. There is an element of risk in my advice so remember that.

From what the LL told us, the new owners want to occupy the space we are in, and rent out the other half of the house. We have 7 months left on our lease, I need to move because I have no heat (I sent a certified letter requesting he fixes the heat, and he called and laughed at us for making that request), there is mildew/mold due to lack of ventilation (because we do not want to open the window and lose what ambient heat we do have), and we are just overall miserable living there. LL said he understands and wants to work with us, but like I said he is stalling until he decides when to let us out.
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Old 10-08-2010, 02:52 PM
 
Location: Lansing, MI
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kayfouroh View Post
From what the LL told us, the new owners want to occupy the space we are in, and rent out the other half of the house. We have 7 months left on our lease, I need to move because I have no heat (I sent a certified letter requesting he fixes the heat, and he called and laughed at us for making that request), there is mildew/mold due to lack of ventilation (because we do not want to open the window and lose what ambient heat we do have), and we are just overall miserable living there. LL said he understands and wants to work with us, but like I said he is stalling until he decides when to let us out.
If he is not providing adequate repairs so that you can maintain occupancy through the winter, then that is a breach of contract on his part UNLESS your lease with him clearly states that the tenant is responsible for all maintenance and repairs of the unit.

Definitely check your state's landlord-tenant laws so that you know exactly what rights you have. Then, take the next step. For example, if your lease terms are that he is responsible for repairs, then you can go to the local housing commission or whichever department is responsible to keep tabs on rental properties and report the problem.

If he sells the property out from under you and the new owner wants to occupy the unit, he has obviously breached the contract terms and, depending on what your state outlines for L-T laws, could be liable for your expenses to move.

However, if you move out without CYA first, he could try to sue you for the remaining balance of the contract in the event the house does not sell.
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Old 10-08-2010, 03:08 PM
 
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Originally Posted by chance2jump View Post
If he is not providing adequate repairs so that you can maintain occupancy through the winter, then that is a breach of contract on his part UNLESS your lease with him clearly states that the tenant is responsible for all maintenance and repairs of the unit.

Definitely check your state's landlord-tenant laws so that you know exactly what rights you have. Then, take the next step. For example, if your lease terms are that he is responsible for repairs, then you can go to the local housing commission or whichever department is responsible to keep tabs on rental properties and report the problem.

If he sells the property out from under you and the new owner wants to occupy the unit, he has obviously breached the contract terms and, depending on what your state outlines for L-T laws, could be liable for your expenses to move.

However, if you move out without CYA first, he could try to sue you for the remaining balance of the contract in the event the house does not sell.

Yep we've done that -- he is responsible for repairs. We sent him a letter requesting the repairs and nothing came of it. I doubt he'll come after us, as the tenant before us was only there for a week and then left, and now lives next door in another apt... he told us we shouldn't expect heat and to just leave. Lawyer friend that I've been chatting with said that it's probably too much work for the LL to come after us for... but if he wanted to, he could come after us for almost 10k (7 months left in lease).

AFAIK if he sells, the lease just transfers over and the new owners will have to offer to break our lease to move in. He wants to make sure he has buyers before he lets us out, but we have been cold ever since the beginning of october and we are giving him until the 15th to tell him we are moving out on our terms, rather than his.

We have a nasty voicemail that he left me once he read what the letter said, saying he's going to let us out of the lease and he will find new tenants. We also have text messages of him saying the same thing. We handed him a lease termination document for him to sign, but he simply took it and will return it signed once he gets the buyers under contract.
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Old 10-09-2010, 02:35 PM
 
4,399 posts, read 10,630,114 times
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Originally Posted by kayfouroh View Post
Yep we've done that -- he is responsible for repairs. We sent him a letter requesting the repairs and nothing came of it. I doubt he'll come after us, as the tenant before us was only there for a week and then left, and now lives next door in another apt... he told us we shouldn't expect heat and to just leave. Lawyer friend that I've been chatting with said that it's probably too much work for the LL to come after us for... but if he wanted to, he could come after us for almost 10k (7 months left in lease).

AFAIK if he sells, the lease just transfers over and the new owners will have to offer to break our lease to move in. He wants to make sure he has buyers before he lets us out, but we have been cold ever since the beginning of october and we are giving him until the 15th to tell him we are moving out on our terms, rather than his.

We have a nasty voicemail that he left me once he read what the letter said, saying he's going to let us out of the lease and he will find new tenants. We also have text messages of him saying the same thing. We handed him a lease termination document for him to sign, but he simply took it and will return it signed once he gets the buyers under contract.
I didn't know you didn't have heat. Have you called the town? If not implying you will will probably get him to sign the lease termination.
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Old 10-09-2010, 04:00 PM
 
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Originally Posted by jdm2008 View Post
I didn't know you didn't have heat. Have you called the town? If not implying you will will probably get him to sign the lease termination.
No we have not called the town... like you said, we are going to leverage it against him.
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Old 10-10-2010, 07:49 PM
 
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You can give the Landlord a written notice of no compliance to do repairs and give him a time frame and otherwise you will leave and deduct all from the rent and that needs to be placed in a special account, so you show to a judge (in case of a court case) you will to obey the contract.

If you have a sec. sep. you might have to go to court to get it back.
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