I have an unfortunate situation where the "landlord" is also a long-distance roommate of sorts. We have a 12-month lease - utilizing a standard SC rental agreement form. However, less than 2 weeks of moving there, she has texted, called, facebooked, etc. Repeatedly with back and forth desires regarding her décor in the household as well as reminders of timeliness of rent (which she's gone back and forth regarding the date due), expectations on cleanliness (with boxes unpacked still 2 weeks in she noted the place must be "pristine" at all times), etc. The language was offensive, judgmental and condescending. Her calls came at 7:30 in the morning, after 7 at night when I'm trying to eat dinner with company, etc. This was a friend of mine who approached me first about moving in with her as a way to mutually help each other. But the drama and stress it has caused is far from endurable. I gave her a 30-day notice last Friday with October's rent paid. She's threatening to take me to court for the remainder of the lease agreement. I've consulted with numerous parties on this subject. Those in the rental industry say I'm well within my rights and the most she can do is keep her security deposit. One Realtor I talked to (as I'm having to research a new place to live, quickly), said she very well could be within her rights for the remaining rent of the contract. Does anyone have any experience with this? Trying to get the most feedback as possible. In short, I just couldn't live with that kind of stress in my life - not after just 2 weeks into a living situation.

No she cannot hold you to the balance of the lease unless she cannot fins a tenant to replace you.

If she takes you to court it would be up to the judge to decide whether she has created an intolerable situation. I think it's a judgement call that can go either way.

What if she doesn't (and I realize the difficulty of this to prove) make reasonable efforts towards finding a replacement?

Additionally, there are several landlord-duties she hasn't completed that she said she would, does that make a difference with anything? Like painting the place, cleaning the carpet, getting the dishwasher and ice maker fixed, a small bug spray problem, etc. Those things aren't the reason at all that I left, but they are things she said she would do and didn't.

One other thing I forgot to mention is the access by people I don't particularly want to have access - like a painter guy she trusts has a key to the place. Some former co-worker guy gave up his key but he still knows the access code to the garage which hasn't changed, things like that.

Yes you would have to prove she didn't make a good faith effort to rent.

Have you documented the requests for promised repairs? It may be enough, depends on the judge.

Many things were verbal regarding repairs. The first time she changed her mind about the due date for rent was verbal. The second time she changed her mind about it was via text if I'm not mistaken. After things became an issue, everything was over text and Facebook, some via e-mail. The latest responses via e-mail. I'm only responding to her now via e-mail for paper trail purposes. She's had her former co-worker friend call me but I let that go to voice mail.

She thinks she can get me for abandonment. She thinks the 30-day notice only applies to a month-to-month situation.

As a former friend and someone who's trying to have some compassion and understanding for her (from a distance, of course.. lol), I'd really like to tell her not to waste her effort on trying to take this to court - that most rental industry friends I have had said it's a waste of time and she won't win. At this point, however, I've simply reiterated that I have given her a 30-day notice effective 9/30/11 per the SC Residential Landlord & Tenant Act. That's it.

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Originally Posted by NoStress08

She thinks the 30-day notice only applies to a month-to-month situation.

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Actually, she's right. If you have a lease that has an expiration date, then you can't just break the lease by giving notice. You have to have cause to break the lease. And even with cause, you have to follow procedure to document the items that need repair or her breaches of the lease. While she may be annoying with demands for cleaning , etc. I don't think its enough to justify breaking the lease. Whether a judge will agree with me, I don't know. But if you don't have documentation of your requests for redress of grievances and those requests being ignored you may not win.

I do have documentation of a mention of the grievances.

My general, prevailing, common sense thought among all of this is that every rental agreement has to be, by nature, breakable. Any various life situations can arise that would cause someone not to be able to fulfill a lease agreement. There's typically a penalty for breaking it, but that is normally spelled out in the agreement, correct? Well anyway, I'll let you know what happens. I have another rental industry professional reviewing the lease for me tomorrow, but in general he still thinks I'm solid and she's not going to be able to do anything except keep her security deposit.

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Originally Posted by NoStress08

I do have documentation of a mention of the grievances.

My general, prevailing, common sense thought among all of this is that every rental agreement has to be, by nature, breakable. Any various life situations can arise that would cause someone not to be able to fulfill a lease agreement. There's typically a penalty for breaking it, but that is normally spelled out in the agreement, correct? Well anyway, I'll let you know what happens. I have another rental industry professional reviewing the lease for me tomorrow, but in general he still thinks I'm solid and she's not going to be able to do anything except keep her security deposit.

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A "mention" is not sufficient. You have to show that you detailed the breaches and gave the landlord time to repair them. Since you have already handed in a notice, its too late to do that. If you contact your local housing dept they can give you the rules that have to be followed to prove a breach.

And your "common sense" thought is wrong. A lease is a contract. You can be held to a contract if you break it without proper cause. While some leases do have early termination clauses, not all do. You CAN be held to the terms of the lease, if you breach it. There is a prohibition against double dipping, meaning the landlord can only sue for damages and if she finds a new tenant her damages are mitigated.

Again, I don't know how this will play out IF it gets to court. She will keep her deposit, if she decides to sue for more, it could go either way. I just don't think you have enough to show that you you followed the proper procedure for breaking the lease.

Knowing her, it will get to court. She's already threatened to do it.

Scott, how do you feel about these other people I don't know having access to the house because of her? (1) Her painter whom she says I can "trust" - he has a key, (2) her former co-worker, who turned in a key in front of me but still knows the access code to the garage which hasn't changed.

Also, are you speaking from experience mainly from a landlord perspective? I take it you've dealt with these situations a good bit?

As long as they do not enter without prior notice or in case of an emergency, its her house.

I'm speaking from knowledge of the law and real estate from both angles. I'm trying to give you the perspective of what the law says and how courts look at things.

Totally appreciate your perspective. Guess what though? I was at lunch with a friend who has like 48 rental properties he deals with, among his regular real estate work, and was telling him about this situation. Showed him a copy of the lease and guess what he found? The start date in the lease is "September 1, 2012"... NEXT year. The end date is BEFORE that... "August 31, 2012." She got the year wrong on the lease! So technically, our whole agreement doesn't even exist.

Also, and now I'm just sharing what I've learned about this subject, but he stressed the concept of "The Four Corners of the Agreement" - meaning that anything that's not on paper doesn't count. Which I guess we kind of discussed here already - verbal doesn't count, intentions don't count, etc.

He said on paper, as you're saying, that's correct that technically she COULD sue for the remainder of the lease 'owed.' However, in practice, it never works/never holds up in court. At least not here in SC. This is from him from a landlord perspective. He says you'll get your security deposit (as a landlord), but after that they expect you to mitigate your losses as all the paperwork says. That means try to rent it back out. However, if you're unable to rent it back out for any reason, it's tough luck and you should've asked for a bigger security deposit.

Lastly, he said years ago when he was 'meaner' he would report the remainder to a credit agency - just to mess up their credit. He never got anything back that way either, but that was just to be mean. They have to have your SSN to do that though. Being a "friends" situation to start with, she never obtained that information from me, so even if she figured out that route I'm good there.

Just sharing what I heard. Should work out OK - especially given that date being wrong on the contract. But if there are any other dramatic updates, I'll be sure to fill you guys in, for whoever cares to know!

Technically, yes, however, most courts will not void the lease on a clear typo. On the other hand, I would suspect, he knows the practical side of court rulings in your area, better than I do. I also totally agree about what's not in the contract doesn't exist.

As for holding you responsible for the vacancy, the rub there, depends on WHEN she files. She can't claim potential loss of earnings. So as soon as she files suit, the clock stops. Meaning if she filed suit on 11/1, she can't claim loss of rental for November, through August. But she could wait until the lease expires, then file suit and show how she has tried to rent it and failed. That's unlikely though.

Good point! Hadn't thought about that. Knowing her, she wouldn't wait for the lease to run out because I know she needs the money now. That's the one unfortunate thing about it, besides me being inconvenienced with having to move twice back to back, is the fact that she now will have to cover that part of her mortgage again until she finds someone else. If I thought she would actually treat them right, there are some friends I would definitely send her way to replace me that are looking for a place like hers, but I can't in good conscience do it knowing how she's treated me when I was supposed to be a friend! There's no telling how she would treat people she doesn't even know. I really hated to terminate the lease, but it really turned into a relationship I couldn't deal with. Still packing boxes and can't wait to get out.

UPDATE: she says she's sought legal advice who told her that the 30-day notice doesn't apply to the type of lease we signed or my circumstance. But she says she can tell I feel strongly about leaving and she wants me to be comfortable and happy so she'll accept my notice and allow me to break the lease.

I'm thinking the whole story isn't being told here, but it doesn't matter. I have my acceptance in writing, that's good enough for me. She seems remorseful over losing the friendship of someone she "loves and cares about" - but I still don't think you talk to or treat someone you supposedly are friends with or care about that way. No way in the world I could go back to being friends with her.

That's it though. Thank you Scott for all your help/insight/thoughts.

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Originally Posted by NoStress08

UPDATE: she says she's sought legal advice who told her that the 30-day notice doesn't apply to the type of lease we signed or my circumstance. But she says she can tell I feel strongly about leaving and she wants me to be comfortable and happy so she'll accept my notice and allow me to break the lease.

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Yeah right! Most likely she sought advice who told her she won't get very far so she's backing down.

Glad it worked out for you.

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Yeah right! Most likely she sought advice who told her she won't get very far so she's backing down.

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Totally agree. I totally think that also. Thanks for listening to me and helping me process it all!