Breaking my lease, legally?
I’d like to leave my current apartment as I’ve had constant problems from it:
1) I have had furniture damaged on my patio from children playing in there. I told the landlord PRIOR to it being damaged that the fence was broken and to please fix it. He did nothing and told me to buy a lock. Once my furniture was damaged from children going through said broken fence, he told me it wasn’t his responsibility.
2) I haven’t had a working stove in over two weeks. They claimed their was a gas leak, understandable. However, I was told said leak was fixed however, I still don’t have a working stove.
I’ve had people in my apartment every single day for the past two weeks who are “fixing” (they literally spend about two minutes there and then leave) while I’m trying to dress for work.
On top of this, the days they have entered without my being there, they have left lights on, the stove was in left “lighting” mode as well once
3) I’ve repeatedly asked my landlord to simply notify me when they’re entering my apartment to fix the stove since, as stated above, they keep coming in while I’m trying to dress for work. They’ve once entered while I was in the shower, I didn’t hear the doorbell, and just came in.
I’m just fed up and would rather move out.
Is there any legal way I can break my lease?
You want him to correct a situation, but you make it difficult for him to do so. You might be happier buying a house and maintaining it yourself, because there are always things that are going to go wrong. In answer to your question, no, you have not given a legal reason to break your lease. You can notify the ll in writing, and if he doesn’t correct it in a reasonable amount of time, you can have it done yourself and deduct it from the rent. However, I think this landlord will be happy to have you leave.
My state has a 24 hour written notice law. Find out about your state. If they entered while I was in the shower I would be calling 911 or getting out my gun.
Here we can give them a demand to repair or you will terminate letter. If they then fail to repair then you can leave.
Well, look at your lease. These reasons are none to brake it though…. You will probably have to pay X months rent and lose your deposit.
I had an issue similar to yours – I read over my lease (you legally must have been given a copy when your signed) and found something printed in the lease that the landlord must have not realised and I got out of it.
Have a read through yours and see if you can use anything in it as a reason.
As for the entering without permission etc. I’d suggest going to the citizens advice bureau with the lease to ask for help – they are really quite good at sorting things out for you, and even if you can’t find a reason to legally break the lease they might be able to do something to sort the landlord out a bit?
Also, if you break your lease will you have somewhere else to go? Think everything through before moving out.
I think perhaps if you said you were moving to another part of the country with work or something they wouldn’t expect you to stay – that wouldn’t be your fault as such so they couldn’t hold it against you. There are all sorts loop holes, you just need to be smart about it
Good luck.
Shutting off the gas for a leak is perfectly understandable. Not having a working oven for two weeks and probably longer as I assume this as not been fixed (?) is not understandable.
I also agree that simply notifying you to enter the apartment is not that outlandish. Simply sliding a note under the door with a day and time would be acceptable. I, too, would be upset if I had people entering my apartment, particularly if I were in the shower as you were.
Unfortunately, I don’t believe the reasons are enough to break your lease, however, you do have the Right to Repair. Meaning, you may hire an outside source to repair your stove and charge your landlord for the price.
14+ days for something as crucial as a working oven is absurd. I assume you’ve been living off microwaveable food, which can be pricey and unhealthy.
In the US the answer is in your local (state, city, county) laws that control the landlord/tenant relationship and the wording of your lease. There is no Federal law that applies to all of the US leases, except for issues of public housing and discrimination.
For example in Illinois, we have several state laws that control what is in a rental lease and in Chicago we have Chicago’s Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance. We also have several tenant’s rights organizations that can interpret leases. Your area may have the same type of organizations that can help you interpret the local laws.