help! not 100% on laws for termination of a lease while on active duty with orders! (leases)

[armychick87]

Alright so here is my situation! I got out of a bad relationship in march which we lived together and rented a house. I called the property manager at the time and explained the situation and said my partner was willing to pay the full rent and take over the lease. He said alright i'll have you off the lease by April and write of a new one with just their name on it. Well I received my ETS orders on april 6, 2012 and started my terminal leave on june 2, 2012. My actually ETS date was july 24, 2012. We moved into the house on Feb, 23 2012. I moved out on March 20, 2012. I was there less than a month obviously. Well now I'm in Ohio attending school, and I get a call from a new property manager who took over the house and said the property manager you signed the lease with is no longer with our company. Come to find out my ex was staying in the house through july and had the rent up to date til then. Then apparently they just abandoned the house and left it a mess, and didnt pay august or september rent, which is 750 a month. He informed me that I was still on the lease and that they can't get ahold of my ex and if he can't I will have to pay for all the damages and lost rent (aug, sept). I told him that I was told I was off the lease and if there was any way we could get in touch with the former property manager and he said he will try to get in touch with him but of course he isn't answering our calls. He had me email him my ETS orders so that we can possibly pin the august and september rent on my ex. The initial security deposit of 750 should cover the damages but not the aug and sept rent and late fees. He told me he will explain my situation to the owners of the house and see if they will not hold me accountable for the aug and sept rents and not put me into collections. Basically, everything would fall on my ex, which it should. How do I go about this? What's legal and illegal? Are there any loop holes for me in this kind of situation? I need help! I'm now a college student here in Ohio not NC and the VA of course hasn't paid me for my Post 9/11 GI bill yet so I'm already struggling.

[macjr82]

Here's a pdf of the Service member's Civil Relief Act that grant the rights to terminate leases. Didn't read through it, but it's only 45 pages, you should be able to find your answer there. Also may want to post in the military forum . Someone may have come across this exact case. I know at least one property owner posts there

http://www.justice.gov/crt/spec_topi...y/scratext.pdf

[macjr82]

Here's a way to get a SCRA certificate: https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/appj/scra/scraHome.do