I am leasing a house in Missouri. Yesterday my landlord came to the house to inform me that the lease will not be renewed when it expires in Nov because he and his wife are going to move into the house themselves. Next a contractor showed up and the landlord informed me that they will be putting a 16" x 50" addition on the south side of the house. Their plans include a new bedroom, a new bathroom and expansion of the master bedroom. Groundbreaking is scheduled for NEXT WEEK.

What the hell? Can he really do this while I am living here and paying rent? They'll be digging up the yard, taking out walls, shutting of the water for hours at a time, it's crazy. I thought I was entitled to "peaceful use and enjoyment of the premises" or something like that. In addition to living here, I work out of my home. I am an independent sales rep for an out of state company so I maintain an office in the home. (Landlord is fully aware of this). I spend about1/2 to 2/3 of my work week on sales calls and the rest doing product research for clients and administrative work in my office. This is really going to disrupt my life.

Do I have any recourse? Can I legally prevent him from doing the work? Is my only option to move out early? If I do move early, would I be breaking the lease? Or will he have already broken it by turning the property into a construction zone?

Well I'll tell you, I bet this is all designed to get you out early. So, if you go to the LL and tell him if he will let you out of the lease you will be happy to move as soon as you can find a place.

However, if you want to stay, you will have to go to court and get an injunction against his starting construction until you have moved. I think you WILL get such an injunction.

Well I guess I get to disagree with Scott today, it will depend on the terms of your lease, get it out and read it, if it allows and gives the landlord rights to do maintenance and improvements to the property with "proper" notice. Then normally with a 24 hour notice they may have the legal right to do so.

Of course you should also be entitled to any expense that this may cause you. Cost to cover property and also entitled to costs of bottled water if they are shutting your water off, and of course they are liable for any damage to any of your property. You should make sure they are clear about this also.

But if your lease allows them to make improvements I doubt you can stop it. So time to get your lease out. You can of couse go to the landlord and tell them no, you will not allow them to do this and not put up with the problems. And see what happens there, and before you sue, you should go and talk to them about it, and see what happens.

Chuck has a good point. If the lease permits this level of renovation you might be stuck. But I also think you are entitled to reasonable living conditions. And what you describe would create intolerable conditions.