Legal Rights to Leave Lease Agreement before Occupancy. (tenant, renter, deposit)

[Rhett_Butler]

Okay, here's the situation....

My mother signed a year lease for a townhome and then lost her job the day after signing.

She was about three weeks out from actually moving in at the time...

She dragged her feet trying to find a way that she'd still be able to afford it but the reality ended up being that she couldn't....

She informed the landlord probably about a week before she was to move in that she wasn't going to move in.

Now not digging for sympathy because the circumstances don't matter legally I guess, but what is her legal obligation???

The landlord is basically trying to tell her she's responsible for the ENTIRE lease and her only option is to sublet or she'll have to pay the year's rent......

That CAN'T be right can it??? If anything she should be able to give 60 days notice or something to terminate. Or is it possible that it was written in to the agreement that any termination before the lease was up would leave her on the hook for the whole year???

She wants to just ignore it and hope it goes away which I know it won't, so I'm trying to help.... What recourse does she have????

Thanks.

[Ultrarunner]

Check to see if your lease has a buy-out provision which spells out the dollar cost for early termination.

I'm not a lawyer, but the way it works here is the Owner has a duty to mitigate damages by making a good faith effort to re-lease the unit.

Unfortunately, for your mom, the owner will look to her to recover his additional expenses and lost rent during the process.

The only "loopholes" I can think of relate to the unit being uninhabitable, tough to prove... or if it is not registered in a jurisdiction with rent control or rent stabilization boards.

I'm assuming you have communicated in writing to the owner that do to unforeseen circumstances your Mom will not be moving in and requesting the owner act quickly to mitigate loss.

Short of having your Mom declared incompetent, therefore unable to contract... I can't think of anything else at the moment.

Remember, if the Landlord circumstances were to change, he would still be bound by the terms of the lease also.

[zman0]

Originally Posted by Rhett_Butler

The landlord is basically trying to tell her she's responsible for the ENTIRE lease and her only option is to sublet or she'll have to pay the year's rent......

That CAN'T be right can it???

Generally yes, that is right. Maybe your state's laws have something about terminating a lease before occupancy, but for most states, she would be stuck with the lease.

The landlord does have an obligation to try to re-rent the property to reduce the amount she has to pay, but he doesn't have to put it to the front of his list or anything.

She could try getting a lawyer, but I think he'll tell you the same thing the landlord did.

[Rhett_Butler]

Okay, but is it necessary if he attempts to re-lease the property for it to be a sublease from my mother??? Can't he re-lease the place and release my mother from her obligations then???

Sounds like the guy wants to keep her locked in and make her responsible for anyone else who might lease the place.... can't say as I like that.

[slim04]

Originally Posted by Rhett_Butler

Okay, but is it necessary if he attempts to re-lease the property for it to be a sublease from my mother??? Can't he re-lease the place and release my mother from her obligations then???

Sounds like the guy wants to keep her locked in and make her responsible for anyone else who might lease the place.... can't say as I like that.

Yes, that's exactly what the landlord wants. I would try to be fair with him and contact a Tenant Union for mediation, but don't let him be a bully.

In my area, judges hate these types of cases and generally force litigants to settle for one or two month's rent if the place can be re-let for a reasonable amount. If the landlord wants more than that, it might be worth contesting it.

[Donn2390]

It would behove the LL to work with your mother and try to re-lease it as soon as possible. If your mother is unemployed, he can play all the games he wants to, he can't get blood out of a trynip.
He can sue her and win, but what has he won? Maybe if she gets a job, he might recover something, but it may be more time and trouble than it's worth.
Myself, as a property owner, would rather get a renter in that has the ability to pay, than to waste my time on someone with no income.
If she had lived there and did damage, that might be different, but he just loss three weeks of ability to find a renter. that's the name of the LL game.
No way would I get involved in a sublease. Bad for both parties. he is just angry he loss a potential renter. He'll cool off and realize he is beter off getting a new renter and forgetting all about dear ol' mom...

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by Rhett_Butler

Okay, but is it necessary if he attempts to re-lease the property for it to be a sublease from my mother??? Can't he re-lease the place and release my mother from her obligations then???

Sounds like the guy wants to keep her locked in and make her responsible for anyone else who might lease the place.... can't say as I like that.

I've seen it go both ways...

Something similar happened to a student attending UC Berkeley.

The student found someone to sublease the remaining 9 months on his lease when he learned he was awarded a 6 month fellowship abroad. The landlord had a no sublease clause in the agreement and the new person had bad credit.

A landlord allowing your Mom to sublease could be viewed as "Helping" to make the situation better.

With a sublease, the landlord is potentially not out any money and your Mom would still be on the lease.

[Donn2390]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

I've seen it go both ways...

Something similar happened to a student attending UC Berkeley.

The student found someone to sublease the remaining 9 months on his lease when he learned he was awarded a 6 month fellowship abroad. The landlord had a no sublease clause in the agreement and the new person had bad credit.

A landlord allowing your Mom to sublease could be viewed as "Helping" to make the situation better.

With a sublease, the landlord is potentially not out any money and your Mom would still be on the lease.

I don't understand why you, or either party would want any part in a sub-lease? It makes no sense..!
Much smarter for LL to lick his wounds, i.e. wounded pride, and lease to a fresh renter and forget mom ever existed.
what purpose is served by keeping mom involved? I would want her severed and forgotten about. what is LL gaining by keeping her involved? What am I missing here?

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by Donn2390

I don't understand why you, or either party would want any part in a sub-lease? It makes no sense..!
Much smarter for LL to lick his wounds, i.e. wounded pride, and lease to a fresh renter and forget mom ever existed.
what purpose is served by keeping mom involved? I would want her severed and forgotten about. what is LL gaining by keeping her involved? What am I missing here?

I've never personally been a party to a Residential Sublease. I do and have had several commercial Subleases.

We lease industrial space to a contractor who is experiencing a business slowdown. The contractor asked if it was OK to sublease a portion of the equipment yard for another contractor to park his trucks at night... I have no problem with it and view it as a win-win. I get to help a reliable tenant through a lean period that would otherwise have to downsize and leave me looking for a new tenant.

Back to your question...

Subleases, approved or not, seem to be the norm in my neighboring college town of Berkeley... Often a Landlord will require a one year lease even though a student may only require 9 months. Visiting students may only need a place during summer sesssion and not many owners are willing to do short term rentals in this college town.

Another example is when a student leases a home and subleases or rents out bedrooms... generally providing a Landlord a higher rent and a better chance to keep the unit rented year round.

Subleasing increases the potential for problems, but can also stabilize and increase the bottom line in certain situations.

I think the OP's landlord is putting the poster's mom on notice that he doesn't want to go through the leasing process again and is prepared to play hardball... i.e keeping the deposit.

[Rhett_Butler]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

I think the OP's landlord is putting the poster's mom on notice that he doesn't want to go through the leasing process again and is prepared to play hardball... i.e keeping the deposit.

That is EXACTLY what's going on.... Realtors that have been working with my mother have told her in no uncertain terms that this LL is a real A-Hole......

My mother now resides out of state and keeping the deposit was never in doubt... I'm not sure what else the guy thinks he can get, but......

Even if he only charges her 1 month's rent to get out, he'd have a difficult time getting it at the moment....

I don't think he understands that his tennant/target has nothing for him to take...

Communication would help out here as, like I mentioned before, my mother is acting like an ostrich and burying her head in the sand hoping he goes away...... Unsure of how this'll play out, but I'm going to try to contact one of the realtors myself and get an idea of the situation.... (You know how it is.... I'm sure I've got the sugar-coated version of the story from my mother but need to know the details if I'm going to be able to help at all....).