I told the landlord I wanted to leave his property he said no I have to pay the remainder of the lease, a city inspector came out to inspect the house and he had 6 pages of violations and after 3 weeks did not attempt to fix anything so I started moving out.. I gave the landlord a 30 day notice that I was vacating his property, then 2 weeks later he sent a notice to pay or quit.. I have already left the property and have called him numerous times to give him the keys to his property and he is refusing all calls and not sure how to give him his keys...

YOu broke the lease.. he's going to sue you for the money you owe now...

Your only defense is present the documents showing the violations at that court hearing.

With them you might get lucky.

You however can not simply decide, oh there is a violation I can get out of this now... there has to be a reasonible period for the conditions to be corrected.

You broke the lease, he will not ( most likely) try to sue you for the money and value of the lease. Your defense will be copies of all of the health inspectors rulings, copies of letters where you notified landlord to fix these.
So it will be up to the judge if you owe the money or not. Just because of the violations you will not automatically have a reason to move out

Yes I know I broke the lease, I had been asking him months to fix the problems in the house and there was always an excuse.. but when the roof leaked for over a month and he kept giving me the run around that when I decided to leave.. he didn't even hold up anything on his part of the lease.. he was supposed to come and do quarterly inspections of the home and I hadn't seen him in over a year.. the house was seriously falling apart and it got to the opoint I was calling him every other week with a problem and he refused to fix things..

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Originally Posted by jessicahodge

yes i know i broke the lease, i had been asking him months to fix the problems in the house and there was always an excuse ..but when the roof leaked for over a month and he kept giving me the run around that when i decided to leave..he didn't even hold up anything on his part of the lease..he was supposed to come and do quarterly inspections of the home and i hadn't seen him in over a year.. the house was seriously falling apart and it got to the opoint i was calling him every other week with a problem and he refused to fix things..

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If it wasn't done in writing... it never happened.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Frankly I think you are nit-picking. For the landlord to serve a pay or vacate notice, you have to be behind in your rent. Whether the service was proper or not, you apparently have not paid your rent. So why not pay it or vacate?

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I am far from nit- picking and my rent has been paid early every month except for aug. because I left.. I gave him a notice that I was leaving and didn't pay for the month of August because I'm not living there. He has refused to pick up any of the 5 certified letters that I sent him.. I was confused as to why he is sending the pay or quit notice after I left and at this point refuses to accept the keys back..

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Originally Posted by jessicahodge

i am far from nit- picking and my rent has been paid early every month except for aug. because i left ..i gave him a notice that i was leaving and didnt pay for the month of august because im not living there. he has refused to pick up any of the 5 certified letters that i sent him ..i was confused as to y he is sending the pay or quit notice after i left and at this point refuses to accept the keys back..

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Your landlord is apparently claiming you didn't give sufficient notice and owe rent for August. That's my best guess. The pay or quit notice is part of the legal process.

Is there a lease, is this month-to-month?

Why does he believe you owe rent for August OR still reside there?

Would you quote the nit-picking comment? I can't find it.

Jessica, I think you are a bit confused here. Your post (#6) was moved here from a different thread. The post you are quoting there was from a response I wrote FOUR years ago to the person who started that other thread. So I did not say you were nit-picking. You made a mistake in where you were posting.

Now that I read your other posts, your mistake was not informing the landlord, in writing, that he was in breach of the lease and therefore you are considering the lease voided.

However, I agree with Chuck that I doubt if he will sue. You have the health dept's report to prove he created an uninhabitable condition.

As for the keys send them back via certified Return Receipt mail or via signature required FedEx or UPS.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Jessica, I think you are a bit confused here. Your post (#6) was moved here from a different thread. The post you are quoting there was from a response I wrote FOUR years ago to the person who started that other thread. So I did not say you were nit-picking. You made a mistake in where you were posting.

Now that I read your other posts, your mistake was not informing the landlord, in writing, that he was in breach of the lease and therefore you are considering the lease voided.

However, I agree with Chuck that I doubt if he will sue. You have the health dept's report to prove he created an uninhabitable condition.

As for the keys send them back via certified Return Receipt mail or via signature required FedEx or UPS.

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Yea I'm not sure how that quote from 4 yrs ago showed up , I didn't realize that until after I sent it that it was not even on my question... sry about that I'm not sure how that happen.. im new to this... but my next step is to send the keys certified because he will not answer my phone calls or respond to my messages..

No problem, The interface can sometimes be confusing to newbies.

Keep us posted on what happens

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Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

Your landlord is apparently claiming you didn't give sufficient notice and owe rent for August. That's my best guess. The pay or quit notice is part of the legal process.

Is there a lease, is this month-to-month?

Why does he believe you owe rent for August OR still reside there?

Would you quote the nit-picking comment? I can't find it.

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I sent him 4 notices via certified mail to 2 of his businesses and 1 home address and he refused to pick them up, so I sent 1 regular mail and even though I know he wouldn't respond I know he got it, but I think he's acting like he never got it and that's why he sent the pay or quit notice... I was out of the house by the 1st.. there is a lease and I know I was wrong for breaking the lease but in my eyes and like I told him I was not going to continue live like this with my 2 kids.. I really wish I could post pics up here of the house... the nit picking comment was a mistake I'm not sure how it showed up for me to see but I thought it was on my question until I sent it and looked @ the date.. sry