Help! Have a lease till June, but want to move NOW (tenants, renew)
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Twenty five mice playing the pea game with the peas you dropped on the floor is an infestation; an occasional mouse scurrying through is not. If the only place where the mouse/mice are coming in is behind the stove which you can't move, ask the landlord to have someone move it and plug the hole. You made a mistake renting an apartment with which you're now not happy. If your lease has an early termination clause then read it and abide by it. If it doesn't then you're legally responsible to adhere to the terms of your contract and you need to sit down with your landlord and see if you can work something out which will satisfy you both.
As STT said, read your lease. See if it says anything about early termination. It might specify a set amout that you pay to get out of the lease early.
If it doesn't say anything about that, you can call the landlord and ask point blank "what is the early termination fee for getting out of the lease early?".
This can be negotiated between you and landlord but neither party has to agree on anything if not already in lease. If you agree on a set amt, let's say 1.5 months rent....then you must have landlord put something in writing (and sign) that says you have been released from the lease term of xxxx date. that you paid $xxxx on yyyy date as early termination fee.
If NO agreement for early termination and you move out early. Then you legally owe rent for all months that the apartment remains unrented. However, landlord must actively try to rerent to another tenant. Once the other tenant moves in, your obligation to pay rent ends.
Here is a win-win: See if your landlord can start showing the rental asap. Once a new renter is picked, you coordinate to move out a few days prior.
HUD told me they could send the Health Dept to my apt & IF they find Roaches I could break the lease & Move! I contact your local Health Dept. Mice are Worse than Raoches esp since you live on the 7th floor! Place must be over run!
HUD told me they could send the Health Dept to my apt & IF they find Roaches I could break the lease & Move! I contact your local Health Dept. Mice are Worse than Raoches esp since you live on the 7th floor! Place must be over run!
No Health Department will act unless there's a serious infestation and neither can you break a lease for the occasional roach or mouse. And mice most certainly can be on a 7th floor of a building or even a 20th floor without the whole building being "overrun".
If the mice situation was resolved would you be alright with staying until your lease is over?
I had a really bad ant problem for a long time that started right when I moved in. The LL claimed nothing could be done. Add to that I have open holes in my drywall (in the cabinets) and it gave them easy access. I was having my house cleaned twice per week and trying to be as careful as possible, but they were in the bathroom as much as the kitchen seeking water, and then I'd get thousands in my kitchen... Once they found the inside of a sealed bag of sugar inside my cupboard! I diligently used the stuff they bring back with them to poison the other ants, and it eventually worked. The colony was killed. In hindsight, I should've requested it be dealt with in writing or paid an exterminator to go under the house myself!
If it's only one or two getting in through, that should be an easy fix. If it's an infestation that might be another story. Are you allowed to have a cat??? Even if you could cat sit for someone. I've only experienced mice a few times when I was a child and it was a lone one our cat enjoyed... There maybe other strategies to get rid of them, babypowder worked well on the ants for example.
The LL's here don't like the idea of you using the mice as an excuse to try and end your lease earlier, but I can understand having to live with the problem (if this is the case) can make the difference between enjoying your home or being miserable. Notify your LL in writing that the mice are getting through holes in the wall. This is NOT too much to ask for. If they still refuse, then assert your rights with whatever your state laws allow. Even if you still want to move, it's unfair to leave the problem for the next unsuspecting tenant IMO.
HUD told me they could send the Health Dept to my apt & IF they find Roaches I could break the lease & Move! I contact your local Health Dept. Mice are Worse than Raoches esp since you live on the 7th floor! Place must be over run!
This poster is living on welfare and HUD is paying her rent. I very much doubt that HUD would get her out of her lease for roaches, but even if they could, it does not help the OP unless she is living on the dole and Section 8 is paying her rent.
As for the OP's problem, a lease is a legally binding contracts. If the landlord won't agree to terminate the lease, then I suggest that OP put out mouse traps and some poison bait. Bait blocks can almost always be dropped behind a stove or placed under the bottom drawer. There is no excuse for living with a mouse infestation.
I think it was really rude of the landlord to add 5 floors underneath her and to shrink the apartment size after she moved in, but there is nothing that can be done about that.
OP, give proper written notice that you will be vacating as soon as the lease expires. Check your lease for the proper time line because some leases renew automatically unless you give the correct notice at the proper time. Also, I suggest that you take a good look around to make sure you can do better in your price range. Sometimes yucky places are low rent because they are yucky, but if that is all you can afford, then your other options will also be yucky. You won't be getting a penthouse suite for the same price as a 7th floor vermin infested walk-up.
Additional comment addressed to everybody, not just the OP:
A lease is a legally binding contract. It makes the signer legally and enforceably bound to whatever is in the lease. The courts will uphold whatever is in the lease.
DO NOT SIGN A LEASE UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE READ IT AND YOU UNDERSTAND IT. DO NOT SIGN A LEASE UNLESS YOU CAN LIVE WITH ALL THE TERMS IN THE LEASE.
A lease is a contract. it is not a statement that, yes, indeed, you would like to rent the apartment but at however you imagine it will work and for only as long as you prefer.
Additional comment addressed to everybody, not just the OP:
A lease is a legally binding contract. It makes the signer legally and enforceably bound to whatever is in the lease. The courts will uphold whatever is in the lease.
DO NOT SIGN A LEASE UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE READ IT AND YOU UNDERSTAND IT. DO NOT SIGN A LEASE UNLESS YOU CAN LIVE WITH ALL THE TERMS IN THE LEASE.
A lease is a contract. it is not a statement that, yes, indeed, you would like to rent the apartment but at however you imagine it will work and for only as long as you prefer.
The LL has responsibilities as well, though. Are holes in the wall something she should expect to live with when it provides easy access to mice and roaches, which are highly unsanitary?
Not only is the contract binding, but the LL also must adhere to state and local laws. Protections go both ways. If a LL is too lazy to protect themselves by doing the bare minimum, and a renter reaches the point of being fed up enough and has a potential loophole to exit the lease early, oh well.
And the OP hasn't even come back yet to state if she'd be okay staying if the mice issue were fixed, so it seems a bit harsh to attack her.
Thanks to all, as for the harsh ones. Calm down, I knew what I got myself into, now I am asking for options.
When we first came to NYC, it looked good, it was newly renovated unit, but not newly renovated building. LL did say there were no mice in the unit. But as time went by the mice realized there were people living here and came through the holes. I threw baits everywhere, sticky pads, poison blocks. I don't cook on my stove anymore because there's mice crap everywhere! I clean the stove everyday but somehow! Somehow there's crap on there. So we don't cook anymore.
And yes I do know the difference in price between 7th floor walkup and a penthouse, I live in NYC. I am willing to pay 3500 a doorman elevator apartment that I can afford vs the crappy 1600 7th floor walkup that I currently have. If I could, I'd get the new apartment and pay for this current apartment cause I am that depressed. However it would be horrible to anyone paying
$3500 AND $1600 effectively paying 5000 a month oh god.
Anyways, besides the point, the LL here is horrendous. The tenants KNOW there are mice. IN fact one of them knocked on my door telling me to take out one of the bags out in the hall and said, mice are eating through it, and I talked to them about the issue, and the tenants are FINE with it saying it's an old building and LL can't do anything about it anyways - they're also ok with it because they've lived here since the inception in god know what century. They learned to adapt clearly cause LL does nothing.
I don't belong here obviously, which is why I have to move out. Now in the lease terms it did not say "we don't care if you have mice so if you complain, who cares?" There's only so much I can do.
I did everything I can. And I talked to LL about leaving, I effectively have to pay all the rent (duh) and not getting back my deposit. Like I said, worst building ever.
Technically we are just getting by in this apt. It's just a place we come home, sleep for a while (and we hear the mice running around too, why don't they die with all the things we put around this apt to kill them?) and it's not a place to 'live'. I can't adapt like the rest.
Last edited by hatemyplace; 01-22-2013 at 12:03 PM..
Thanks to all, as for the harsh ones. Calm down, I knew what I got myself into, now I am asking for options.
When we first came to NYC, it looked good, it was newly renovated unit, but not newly renovated building. LL did say there were no mice in the unit. But as time went by the mice realized there were people living here and came through the holes. I threw baits everywhere, sticky pads, poison blocks. I don't cook on my stove anymore because there's mice crap everywhere! I clean the stove everyday but somehow! Somehow there's crap on there. So we don't cook anymore.
And yes I do know the difference in price between 7th floor walkup and a penthouse, I live in NYC. I am willing to pay 3500 a doorman elevator apartment that I can afford vs the crappy 1600 7th floor walkup that I currently have. If I could, I'd get the new apartment and pay for this current apartment cause I am that depressed. However it would be horrible to anyone paying
$3500 AND $1600 effectively paying 5000 a month oh god.
Anyways, besides the point, the LL here is horrendous. The tenants KNOW there are mice. IN fact one of them knocked on my door telling me to take out one of the bags out in the hall and said, mice are eating through it, and I talked to them about the issue, and the tenants are FINE with it saying it's an old building and LL can't do anything about it anyways - they're also ok with it because they've lived here since the inception in god know what century. They learned to adapt clearly cause LL does nothing.
I don't belong here obviously, which is why I have to move out. Now in the lease terms it did not say "we don't care if you have mice so if you complain, who cares?" There's only so much I can do.
I did everything I can. And I talked to LL about leaving, I effectively have to pay all the rent (duh) and not getting back my deposit. Like I said, worst building ever.
Technically we are just getting by in this apt. It's just a place we come home, sleep for a while (and we hear the mice running around too, why don't they die with all the things we put around this apt to kill them?) and it's not a place to 'live'. I can't adapt like the rest.
You should find an agency that helps tenants deal with landlords. They often give free legal advise. There should be many of these in NYC. They know the rules very well and might assist you in getting out easier due to the mice.
If you leave early, you don't have to pay all the rent upfront. IF they find a new renter, you no longer owe rent. However, if they don't find a new renter, you will owe rent each month until end of lease IF the landlord actively searches for a new renter (they cannot just stop searching because you are paying.). This is where an agency will really assist you for CYA for you.
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