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emkay · Feb 6, 2006, 06:02 PM

This is my first time writing, but I need some legal help. I live in Ca. and had a 6 moths lease... but it was terminated after 4 months. Because my landlord told me that I was only allowed 14 guest within the 6 months that I stayed there. When in fact the contract states that I can have no guest stay more then 14 consecutive days. She was having a problem with it so we talked about terminating the contract and we agreed to it. There was no signature letting me terminate the contract but she did send an email agreeing to do so. Now, its been about 2 months since I have left and she feels as if she is allowed to keep the deposit and expects me to pay two more months of supposed owed rent. Throughout the time I stayed there, she also never mentioned a leaky roof until it rained but never fixed until the second rainstorm... I had damaged clothes and I had mention to her about it but I had felt bad about her having to replace a pair of my jeans, so I never told her about it. What can I do, because now I believe she is trying to sue me... Is the email proof enough that she let me go from the lease?

RickJ · Feb 7, 2006, 06:05 AM

Wow, there are many issues of interpretation here... but in short:
1. the damages issue is separate... and pretty much a dead end since it was not reported to the City.
2. I think the language of the email agreeing to terminate the lease will be a big part of how a judge or referree would rule. If you could copy/past the text of it here, that would help.
3. The landlord can potentially do great harm with little to no expense (harming your credit, filing for a judgment, etc.) so you should try hard to reason with him and get him cooperative.

If he does report this to the credit bureau you'll have to dispute it through them... and if he files for a judgment then you'll want to show up in court with his email (if the language of it helps you).

Bottom line: let's see what his "agreement" looks like; we can help you with a way to approach him from there.

You can also browse the California Landlord-Tenant Laws, but I think in a case like this, we will not find something addressing your issue specifically.

emkay · Feb 7, 2006, 09:07 AM

Anyway, as you know when I told you guys that
> that
> > > I would not hold you to your lease, it was in
> > > reference to guests. Which I thought was
> settled.
> > > But in any case I will still release you from
> the
> > > six month lease, but instead of moving into a
> > hotel
> > > on 11/28, I wanted to know if you wanted to at
> > least
> > > continue until Dec 28th?

This was part of the email she sent me.