Hi,

I am currently in a very sticky situation. I was supposed to rent an apartment with my girlfriend (with the lease starting on May 1st). Both of us applied for the apartment with the company, and both of our names are on the lease. She's out of town, so I went and met with the landlord and signed the lease. She was supposed to sign it in mid April when she came down, but we have since broken up and she is no longer going to sign the lease. Is there any way I can legally break the lease? Isn't there some sort of provision in contract law where I can legally escape from contract when "Performance of the contract becomes impossible or extremely difficult or costly by virtue of events occurring after the contract is formed"? I probably won't be able to afford the entirety of the rent for the 2 bedroom apartment myself, and her name is still on the lease, even though she hasn't signed it. The landlord says that even though she didn't sign it, because I did I'm still liable until they can find a replacement (or if they can't, I will be forced to pay). Is this true? Shouldn't the contract not have started because she didn't sign?

Thanks in advance,

UnluckyTenant

PS - I'm currently living in New Brunswick, Canada. I hope the laws aren't too different between Canada and the US.

Have you paid them any money yet ?

Also was the lease name and name or name and/or name.
Normally ifyou are not related to the other party and the contract would require both parties to sign to become valid.

They can of course sue and try to get you to pay, and it will be up to a court to decide.

IF you are not going to take the apartment, you should send them letter with return receipt informing them that the other party has decided not to enter into the contract and that since they have not signed it, there has been no contract up to this point. Also normally unless you have also paid any money to bind the contract it is not in effect either.

But you need to notify them and also expect them to sue you. They have nothing to lose in trying to win the money in court.

And if they write the contract it will be for their protection not yours.
Next you should have a copy of the contract and need to review it.

Best bet of all is to take a copy of the contract to an attorney.

And of course they will say you are still bound since they want money from you

Thanks for the quick reply, Fr_Chuck!

I haven't (directly) paid any money - I transferred my damage deposit with the rentalsman for the province from the apartment at which I currently reside to the apartment for which I was going to rent. I haven't given postdated cheques, or any money for first months rent - just $90 of the $800 damage deposit.

The lease is also in both names with an 'and'.

-UnluckyTenant

Ok, so money has changed hands, does not matter if it is only one dollar,

Of course the main issue is "if" the contract is valid, my opinion would be without the other party it would not be, and of course their opinion is that it is.

Thus it goes to court and a judge decides who is right, ( this is why we have attorneys and why courts are packed)

On the real side, the sooner you give them official notice you are not moving in, the faster they can rent the apartment to someone else.

And you have to be ready to loose, it could happen. It may well be just a bluff on their part, that they will hold you to it, trying to get you to move in anyway, and find a room mate. If this was a leasing agent they make money when you sign the lease, and don't want to lose the money,
If it was the owner or manageer they just want rent money.

There should be claused to break the lease for either party, but you will have to read all those small fine print normally on the back of rental leases to see what the exact terms are.

Hello UnluckyTenant,

Sorry to hear about your problems.

I am somewhat confident that NB laws in this case are similar to Ontario laws since we all fall common law (except for QB).


Case A: You do have a valid contract.

In which case, inform them now you want out of the contract. Then the landlord must try to find a new tenant to fill the place. That is about 6 weeks notice. I don't know what the rent market is like in the city in NB where you live, but here in Toronto, 6 weeks would be tons of time for a landlord to find someone new to move in.

In which case, you would owe nothing.



Case B: You do NOT have a valid contract.

In which case, sit back, as they can't touch you.

Fr Chuck brings up some good points as to why you may not have a contract.



Either way, inform them NOW that you do not wish to move in. That way, you are covering your derrière either way.

Note: AskMeHelpDesk beeps out "a$$" but not derrière.. I guess I could have tried behind.