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Dealing with Unreasonable Aspects of a Lease |
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Written by Ken Bauer
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If part of a lease seems unreasonable to you then this guide is just
for you. It will show you step-by-step instructions on how to deal with
your situation.
Don’t panic too badly if you
encounter an area of a lease that sounds unreasonable, as long as you
know that you are protected by state statute. Bring it to the
landlord’s attention that you need to address this and see what the
landlord has to say. This will help you know what the landlord is going
to be like to deal with if you have differences of opinion at the end
of the lease agreement period.
All states have statutes and codes that prescribe in detail what a
landlord may enforce by way of deposit, additional expenses the
landlord may and may not require tenants to pay, allowing or forbidding
the landlord to turn off utilities, exact procedure that landlords must
follow if a tenant must be evicted (they may not simply lock you out or
just keep your stuff) even if you owe them several months of rent, what
landlords must do to keep the premises up to code (you would be
surprised how many expenses the landlord will try to pass onto you),
etc. One of the most important things you will find in these laws is
the amount of time allowed by law for things like, notice the landlord
must give you to enter your premises, extra time you may rent the place
despite what the lease says, how much time a landlord is allowed to
make repairs, how soon a landlord must return the deposit, how soon a
landlord has to notify you of his or her intent to keep part or all of
your deposit, etc.
Getting Specific
If a part of the lease that you believe is not valid comes to be a
problem then make sure of yourself before you act. If time allows you
should talk to a lawyer. Most of the time you can get this done free of
charge because many lawyers have free initial consultations. Go and ask
an attorney if they are affiliated in any business or personal capacity
with the landlord, then proceed only if the lawyer is not. Ask the
lawyer if you would have a case and, or if the law is on your side.
Have a short chat session with the lawyer about it and you’ll be surer
whether or not your interpretation of the law was correct. Also, if
things go badly with the landlord you already know a lawyer who
believes in your cause, that’s why the initial consultation was free.
Let me give you an example. Many landlords try to make tenants believe
that if they sign a two-year lease they must rent the premises for the
full two years or else pay the difference. For instance, if you only
rent it for a one-year period and leave then you still owe the landlord
one year’s worth of rent. That’s what the landlord would like you to
believe. However, in every state that I have researched nothing could
be further from the truth. In every state that I have researched it is
the landlord’s duty to try and re rent the rental property. The
landlord cannot charge you for rent for the unfulfilled one-year period
and then during that same specified time period rent the property to
another party thereby doubling the money they would have made had you
rented it. The only way that a landlord could forcibly get the rent
money for an unfulfilled period of a lease is if he or she could prove
in court that he or she were unable to rent the property to another
individual. The landlord would have to prove to a judge that he or she
in fact actively advertised the property and made it available to be
rented for the entire period that he or she is asking compensation for.
Only if a tenant doesn’t appear in court and the landlord gets a
judgment in default (when the other side doesn’t bother to show up)
does the landlord usually get everything he or she is asking for.
What All That Means
So in conclusion the mere fact that part of a lease states that the
tenant is responsible for two years worth of rent does not override a
state law that prescribes exactly how “early move-outs” must be handled
and thereby may allow a tenant to not be responsible for most or all of
that unpaid rent. Even simpler and staying on point- the mere fact you
sign a lease does not automatically mean that you will have to fulfill
it if it goes against the laws of your state.
Back to Landlords and Leases
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