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zeedoggle · May 10, 2007, 12:53 PM

I need to break my lease. I have given almost 3 months notice and LL is fine with my finding a new tenant to cover the remainder of lease. However, other tenants (different "unit") want a friend to move in, and their friend's desired move in date will not meet my needs. Nothing has happened yet, but I am worried that they will convince LL that I need to fulfill dates of lease to accommodate their friend. I am confident that I can find someone else to replace me on the dates that I need otherwise.

So I went back to the signed lease, which is between me & LL (not those other tenants). I don't really understand why LL split house into two separate leases, but I am starting to think that doing so is illegal. After some research, I am fairly certain the apartment is illegal and violates some building code provisions. At the same time, we do not have too many unrelated people living under one roof. What are the rules of thumb for determining whether an apt is legal or not?

I want to know what this means in the state of VA. Does the lease still apply if the unit is illegal? Is it even worse than I thought and not only does the lease not apply but do I technically not have any tenant rights? Should I be concerned now that I suspect it is not a legal apartment? I am curious about the law and the implications of this situation. I am mostly crossing my fingers that the LL lets me find someone to take my place and the illegal apartment issue becomes their problem.

Lowtax4eva · May 10, 2007, 12:59 PM

I don't understand, so this is a house with 2 tenants and 2 units, why would this be illegal? Are you each renting a room or a floor. As long as there are 2 distinct units he can have 2 tenants.

zeedoggle · May 10, 2007, 01:10 PM

Why would it be illegal? That's what I thought when I moved in. The big reason I think it's illegal is that I was describing where I lived to someone I know who used to live in that same neighborhood and she described the situation as sounding "illegal."

The houses in the neighborhood are zoned for single family. It's more like each renting one floor of house. We do not have separate apartment numbers & we share utilities. We do have separate kitchens. I have one entrance and in reading about the reasons illegal apartments are illegal, I realize now that if there were a fire in the hallway where my entrance is, it would be challenging to get out (Windows do not open fully). I would have to smash them. Thinking about fire exits was not foremost on my mind when I moved in, and I'm realizing now that that's why govts regulate apartments. That and for revenue.

ScottGem · May 10, 2007, 01:12 PM

Even if there is only one unit and you share common areas, like a kitchen and bathroom, it wouldn't be illegal to have separate leases with each tenant. Or rent it that way.

ScottGem · May 10, 2007, 01:13 PM

If the house is illegally subdivided all it means is the LL would be in trouble if he took you to court. Probably why he is so amenable to you breaking the lease.

Lowtax4eva · May 10, 2007, 01:16 PM

It sounds like a situation of someone renting a room, you can read up on the required safety codes and you may be able to refuse to pay the rent until the building is brought up to code. You would need a lawyer for this as you can't just stop paying, the money gets held in an account until the building is to code.

I've heard of a lot of people renting rooms in someone's home and I've never heard that the home needs to be zoned for this.

If the landlord verbally agreed to end your lease early just get it in writing, then you don't have to worry about all this

Fr_Chuck · May 10, 2007, 01:21 PM

I do understand completely what you are saying, there are many "illegal" rentals.

If a home is zoned single family then there can only be one family living there, you can not rent out various rooms to different people, or sub-divide it into more than one physcial unit.
They will have to have the property zoned into multifamily units or into a rooming house arrangements.

If they do not have it zoned property, they can not legally rent it out to mutifamily. If they are renting illegally most courts will find the lease is not binding. But it will be up to your housing court.

zeedoggle · May 10, 2007, 01:30 PM

And... for both lowtax4eva and Fr_chuck--I definitely don't want to even go there. I just want to work out an agreement that works for everyone. However, I do have more leverage to make sure my needs are covered if the ll is unlikely to sue. And Fr_chuck, but that's why it's tricky. If the house were just rented as a whole to four roommates, I think it would be legal. It's the divying up of space that doesn't work, right?