I moved in on Jan14th and in the 6mos lease a agreement we signed the landlord agreed to have the back yard put in within 90 days time. This a brand new house so the front yard is in but not the backyard yet. I just renewed another 6 os lease as of July 14 08 and with the same terms and conditions and original one including the backyard within 90 days of Jan 14,08. I have addressed this issue with him several time with 1 time being via e-mail.. He keeps saying the owner of the 13 houses in this new community does not have the money. I stated that's not my problem. Im suppose to have a family reunion in August and need the backyard in for this. I have expressed this to him but he doesn't seem to be concerned. Is this a breach of contract since this is in writing outlined in the lease agreement. He says I can brake the lease and move for his breach of contract what I I want to know is there any legal action I can take? Withhold rent until its in? Hire someone to complete and bill him? Go to court? I don't want to move I just want the yard in.

Please help
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You do have a breach of contract so you can move. When say "put in back yard, I assume you mean to sod it, that right now its just bare dirt? If so, I'm not sure if a court would deem this a necessity.

What I would suggest is that either pay for the sodding and sue the landlord or sue him to try and force him to pay for it. The latter is going to be much harder.

The issue I can see is that the tenant renewed the lease with the yard not being put in. I'd think that the judge might look at that and say that the tenant knew what he was getting at that point, and if the yard had been that important, they would have moved/gone month-to-month instead of signing a new lease.

I agree with both previous posts.

I also wanted to add that I've overheard other landlord/tenant cases in court where there was a breach on the landlord's part. Because the landlord OFFERED to let the tenant out of the lease, the tenant was not awarded damages. The judge said that the tenant should have taken the landlord up on the offer to get out of the lease. If the landlord hadn't offered to terminate the lease and still didn't fix stuff, it would have been a different case.

But these kind of situations can't be predicted. It would all be up to the judge presiding over your case, should you choose to proceed legally. Their interpretation of the laws and of your lease.