Question about proper way to break a lease-and other issues (apartment, tenant)
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Okay, after dealing w/ our abusive landlord for several months, my roommates and I are fed up. We've discovered that he's lied to us, telling each of us different stories regarding issues in the apartment (he's trying to have us turn on each other by putting the blame on different people), yelled at us for borrowing a ladder to change a light bulb in our apartment (we have 10+ high ceilings and our ladder just wasn't tall enough. the building manager let us borrow a ladder, but the LL still freaked out), and has basically been a jerk. We don't even like checking our phones b/c he calls constantly to complain about one of us (he'll call Roommate A to complain about Roommate B, will call Roommate B to complain about Roommate C, and so on), and when he does contact us via phone or text, it's far from professional. we have 3 major issues w/ him:
-we told him in January that we had caged pets and a goldfish, in addition to the the two cats allowed by the lease. He said he was fine w/ the caged pets. Last weekend, we got into an argument w/ him, now all of a sudden, he wants those pets out (yes, including the goldfish!). I know, we should have gotten his approval in writing, but in all my years of owning caged pets (10+ years), I've never had to include them in a lease, esp. for a dog/cat friendly apartment
-some maintenance was done which he is now trying to overcharge us for (trying to charge us for a lock change when no locks have been changed). he's also trying to stick us w/ the repair charges for the washer and dryer, despite the fact that they were here when we moved in, are not even ours, and included in the lease.
-one of us is trying to move out to go back home for the summer and we want to sublet her room in case we stay the entire lease term (Sept 2011). he was okay w/ this before, now he's refusing (I've done preliminary research and it seems like he can't refuse this, according to Chicago laws)
at this point, we're just ready to throw in the towel and break the lease, esp. since it seems like he's gunning for ways to evict us. he told us 2 months ago he would buy us out of our lease and pay for our moving costs b/c he's selling his house and moving back to IL and wants our apartment. whether this was true or a lie, we no longer know since he's now talking about future tenants. our issue is, if he's going to use the apartment for his own use, we don't have to look for new subtenants, but if he lied about that, he may try to come after us for the remaining rent from the lease, or keep our security deposit. Plan B, if it comes to that, is to stay and sublease the other room once my roommate moves out, but he's already hassling us about that
to sum up, we're trying to write up a letter to break our lease this summer and hold him to his promise to pay our moving costs if possible. If we stay here, we know he's going to cause us issues w/ the harassment, pets, and subtenant. we're looking into a pro to help us w/ this (we have a friend who is a lawyer, hoping she can help), but was wondering if someone here may have experience in this matter and if we're going about it the right way. We're trying to be formal about this and are trying to write up a suitable letter to send him to cover our bases and make sure he doesn't screw us over.
You grab the lease and read what it says about terminating the lease for cause and you read the Landlord tenant laws of your state and read what steps you must do and in what order to break a lease for cause. Also read what is legitimate reasons to terminate the lease. Follow the law to the letter. If it says mail aletter certified mail, you mail it certified mail. If it says to make a specific demand to correct the problem, you have to make that specific demand to ciorrect something. If it wants you to give the landlord a certain time period to correct the problems, you have to give them that time period to fix it. Its not what or how you think things are fair, its how and what the laws say is proper.
I think I made my post more complicated than it need be. sorry, too much ranting in there (kind of frustrated right now).
our main concern is breaking our lease, not really too concerned about the subleasing issue (will cross that bridge if/when we come to it) or the pet issue (we're not getting rid of them, end of story and my roommate is looking for the text where the LL more or less okayed them). we're trying to think up an appropriate letter to write up to our LL where it will be binding and he can't come after us for the remaining rent in case he lied to us about not needing to find new tenants. We were also curious if we should hold him to his verbal promise to pay moving costs since breaking the lease was his idea. we've never done this before and I'm hoping to hear from folks on both ends who have and see how they went about it. not sure if this is an issue where having a lawyer on our case is necessary or can we manage this on our own (hopefully, our lawyer friend can be of some help, though this isn't her field of expertise)
we're also trying to figure out these repair issues and we're worried he's going to withhold our security deposit for the lock issue and the washer/dryer repairs. he's already stated that he'll withhold it if we don't include the costs of the repairs w/ our next rent check. mind you, these weren't brand spanking new machines we went out of our way to break; the dryer stopped blowing hot air one day and not long afterward, the washer stopped draining water
His verbal promises really don't amount to anything enforceable. What matters is what is in the lease and what your state's LL/Tenant laws say. Whatever letter you write to him, if you break your lease early, without written proof he said it was ok, you will need to likely pay the consequences for that, which should be spelled out in your lease.
As for the maintenance issues, he will have to abide by the law as well regarding the withholding of deposits, and will have to provide an itemized list of the deductions. Your state laws will tell you how to handle that if you disagree.
I think I made my post more complicated than it need be. sorry, too much ranting in there (kind of frustrated right now).
our main concern is breaking our lease, not really too concerned about the subleasing issue (will cross that bridge if/when we come to it) or the pet issue (we're not getting rid of them, end of story and my roommate is looking for the text where the LL more or less okayed them). we're trying to think up an appropriate letter to write up to our LL where it will be binding and he can't come after us for the remaining rent in case he lied to us about not needing to find new tenants. We were also curious if we should hold him to his verbal promise to pay moving costs since breaking the lease was his idea. we've never done this before and I'm hoping to hear from folks on both ends who have and see how they went about it. not sure if this is an issue where having a lawyer on our case is necessary or can we manage this on our own (hopefully, our lawyer friend can be of some help, though this isn't her field of expertise)
we're also trying to figure out these repair issues and we're worried he's going to withhold our security deposit for the lock issue and the washer/dryer repairs. he's already stated that he'll withhold it if we don't include the costs of the repairs w/ our next rent check. mind you, these weren't brand spanking new machines we went out of our way to break; the dryer stopped blowing hot air one day and not long afterward, the washer stopped draining water
Forget about moving costs, no way you are getting them. However when yo approach him you might try to pretend that those are still on the table. But unless he justs hands them over if he doesn't think you are moving anyway there is nothing to hold him too. In court, whats important is that he offered you money to break the lease and you refused, nothing more. I would not put it in writing that you are breaking the lease unless you have a bonafide reason(like the place is unihabitable).
Here's what I would do.
First option: Call the landlord and say you would like to accept his offer of his paying your moving costs. If he gives you money and signs a release great.
Option two: Negotiate peacefully with the landlord to release you from the lease. Come to an agreement whether you leave and you are even steven or he keeps your deposit etc.
Option three: Carefully inspect your apartment and start asking for repairs. If these repairs are code violations, threaten to call in the town. At this time again offer to leave if he releases you from the lease.
Option four: Leave in the middle of the night and just mail him the keys. Make sure he doesn't find out where you live. Try and make him believe you've left the state, if he's dumb enough make him believe you've left the country. At this point negotiate a settlement. Make sure he does not trick you into meeting him and serving you with a lawsuit If he knows where you work, this option is not useful. Also make sure he does not evict you behind your back.
Personally I would only realistically go with options 1-3, if I was on reasonably good terms only options 1 or 2.
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