I'm in a one year lease on a house and I've decided to buy a home instead of rent. I'll be closing on the house that I'm buying at the end of this month and I have notified my landlord verbally but not in writing yet. He said that I would be stuck in the lease until it was up so I'll be paying my new mortage and his. He had a realtor come out and put this house up for sell. Should I be stuck in this lease or is there a way to break it?

valinors_sorrow

Look over the lease document you signed... it usually stipulates what specific conditions must be present to void the contract. Another option you might have is to "sublet" (get someone to live in the rental and pay you rent that helps you in turn pay what you owe to the landlord). Frequently leases prohibit subletting however. If it does allow it, that realtor who sold you the house might be someone who could help arrange this or may know someone who can.

cheeky95

ok so it doesn't say anything in the lease about him putting the house up for sale. So since he has it up for sale is he breaking this lease in any way? Am I required to pay him the remaining months rent? And do I need to give him a 30 day notice still since we have verbally talked about this?

Fr_Chuck

No putting a house up for sale does not change your lease, the new buyer would be required to honor the lease if he buys it.

And normally only normally if properly written ( from the landlords view point) a lease does not allow you many ways out of it.

so yes, unless they allow you to help advertise for a rental, or unless you sublease ( if you are allowed to sublease) you could be held responsible for the entire lease.

They are normally required to try and rent the property after you move out but even so that would leave you with several months rent untill they found someone. I they actually try to rent it out and can't, you would be responbile till they did find a renter.

You may want to take your lease to an attorney in your area that does property issues and see if he can find something that may allow you some leverage.

excon

Hello cheeky:

You ARE going to break the lease. The question is, how much is it gonna cost? This situation is going to cost you some money no matter how you look at it. Your job is to minimize your losses. It seems to me, the most expeditious way out would be to give notice, and hold the landlords feet to the fire about re-renting it.

The Padre is right, they must attempt to re-rent it to "mitigate" your damages. He just can't sit back and collect rent on an empty house. Oh, he will try it, if you let him.

Yes, you must give written notice. Depending on your state landlord tenant law and the lease, you may be limited to giving notice only on the date the rent is due. In any case, give it ASAP. Send it by certified mail, return receipt requested. Make sure the house is re-rentable the day you vacate. Ask him to make a moving out inspection with you. Take pictures.

Ask him to let you know where you might find the ad he is going to run. Make sure he has a sign up. If not, take pictures.

You may very well end up in small claims court anyway. This doesn't sound as though it’s going to end happily. No matter. If you act forthrightly, you'll be fine. I suggest that you read your states landlord/tenant law. It's available on-line and it's not written in legalize. Who knows what kind of violations you might find or how many other ways there may be to extricate yourself from a lease.

excon

Hello valinors:

General principles of civil law do not vary from state to state. The following is from Blacks Law Dictionary:

"MITIGATION OF DAMAGES is a requirement that one, injured by reason of anther’s tort or breach of an agreement, exercise reasonable diligence and ordinary care to avoid aggravating the injury or increasing the damages.

The DUTY is not actually a duty in the sense that its breach will give rise to a cause of action against the person who violates. Rather it expresses the general rule that one who was wronged must act reasonably to avoid or limit losses or be precluded from recovering damages that could reasonably have been avoided."

The laws in Florida Sir, follow the same principles. In the alternative, I'll be happy to read a statute that says differently if you care to post it.

excon

LisaB4657

Excon, I couldn't believe that Florida didn't require that the landlord mitigate damages if the tenant broke the lease. So I started looking around online. And guess what? Valinors is right.

From the Florida statute, Title VI, Chapter 83:

83.595 Choice of remedies upon breach by tenant.--

(1) If the tenant breaches the lease for the dwelling unit and the landlord has obtained a writ of possession, or the tenant has surrendered possession of the dwelling unit to the landlord, or the tenant has abandoned the dwelling unit, the landlord may:

(a) Treat the lease as terminated and retake possession for his or her own account, thereby terminating any further liability of the tenant; or

(b) Retake possession of the dwelling unit for the account of the tenant, holding the tenant liable for the difference between rental stipulated to be paid under the lease agreement and what, in good faith, the landlord is able to recover from a reletting; or

(c) Stand by and do nothing, holding the lessee liable for the rent as it comes due.

(2) If the landlord retakes possession of the dwelling unit for the account of the tenant, the landlord has a duty to exercise good faith in attempting to relet the premises, and any rentals received by the landlord as a result of the reletting shall be deducted from the balance of rent due from the tenant. For purposes of this section, "good faith in attempting to relet the premises" means that the landlord shall use at least the same efforts to relet the premises as were used in the initial rental or at least the same efforts as the landlord uses in attempting to lease other similar rental units but does not require the landlord to give a preference in leasing the premises over other vacant dwelling units that the landlord owns or has the responsibility to rent.

Subparagraphs (a) through (c) of Paragraph (1) give the landlord's various options. Sure enough, (c) says the landlord can sit back and do nothing.

CaptainForest

So then the question becomes, cheeky95, where are you living?

valinors_sorrow

Glad to see some good research here... Is not a Sir but I can understand that confusion, lol... and the enormous variance of law from state to state is why I suggested the details of the contract be scrutinized as it is Cheeky's best clue as to the options and penalties, short of getting legal help.

In states where housing/rent controls are legally in place, the relationship between landlord and tenant can get even wilder... go see "Landlord Harrassing Me" post here.

cheeky95

I'm military stationed in Little Rock, AR. I don't see this getting taken to claims courts as if I have to I will pay the rent for the house until the lease is up in Sept. I would just hate to be paying two notes when I should only be paying one. What makes it even worse and not to throw a monkey wrench in the situation but my landlord is also my ex-brother in law. I've tried to remain in good standing with the guy and have invested into his house but kinda feeling screwed now since he's being a stickler about the lease.