[coursebear]

I live in Alabama. My partner and I rent an apartment which is in his name and I'm on the lease as an occupant. It's a nine month lease and we're in the middle of it right now. We plan on moving greater than 50 miles from where we live now because of his schooling and a new job. I was told we just had to give our landlord a 30 day written notice to vacate the apartment. Can our landlord take action against us? Do we have to have a new job lined up before we move? Also, we have upstairs neighbors who constantly make noise, especially slamming dresser drawers which have woken us up at 5am. The building is not well built and we've complained to our landlord numerous times. They said they've sent letters to the neighbors advising them to keep the noise down; it goes down for a few days then goes right back up. There is an after-hours courtesy officer who is supposed to take care of matters after hours but after the first call to him, he does nothing! When I check with the office the next day they say he had no reports from the night before, OR says he's called us back or stopped by our apartment, neither of which is true. Besides moving, what else can we do?

Jack

[excon]

I was told we just had to give our landlord a 30 day written notice to vacate the apartment. Can our landlord take action against us? Do we have to have a new job lined up before we move?

Hello jack:

I don't know who told you stuff, but the stuff that counts is WRITTEN in your lease - NOT what you were told.

I'll bet there's nothing in there about being able to cancel a lease if you move far away... Nope. Those provisions AREN'T in leases. If you were a landlord, would you do that?? No, you wouldn't.

Yes, of course your landlord can sue you for the balance of your lease.

excon

[ScottGem]

Alabama doesn't have much in the way of landlord tenant laws (Section 39-9) What it has is very landlord centric. So, whoever told you you could terminate the lease becuae you are moving away told you wrong.

You have three choices;
1) offer the landlord a buyout
2) sublet
3) find a replacement tenant