[megadith]

I moved into a house with an attorney who leases the home, and 2 other roommates who sublease from her. I signed a 6 month sublease contract. In 2 months 3 other roommates left due to disagreements with this attorney, breaking their sublease contracts. She panicked and had me sign a messy handwritten statement as I was entering the bathroom one day, which I thought said I would help her find a replacement should I leave and break my contract. I never received a copy of this agreement. Later after giving my 30 day notice, I found that the agreement stated I can no longer give 30 days notice, and that I am responsible for the cost of the room and finding a roommate that she signs a written agreement to accept. I moved out mid month because I couldn't take living there anymore. I am finding a suitable replacement and am paying rent next month per my 30 days notice agreement in the original sublease contract. Am I held accountable for the handwritten document that I signed in direst? Do I really have to pay rent for a room that she absolutely does not want to fill, and that I will be responsible for paying rent for the next 4months? She has turned down every person I have found as a potential replacement. She also has 2 pending lawsuits from 2 of her sublettors from withholding their security deposits. Is she legally able to do this? She is not the landlord, and seems to be operating a business under the title of sublease.

[ScottGem]

Yes she IS the landlord. By subletting the extra bedrooms, she is establishing a landlord tenant relationship.

Unless you can prove duress, then you DID sign the agreement. You should not have signed anything until you had read and understood it. Especially something drawn up by an attorney.

On the other hand, she has to make a good faith effort to rent the space. If she has turned down several viable tenants, that may show bad faith.

I'm a bit confused about the 30 days notice. Did the original lease give you an early termination clause that simply required 30 days notice? Normally early term clauses are uncommon in leases.

But the bottomline is if you signed an addendum that states you cannot cancel the lease before the 6 months are up, then you may be stuck. What I would do is move out, stop paying and tell her to sue you for the balance. If she does, show proof to the court that she rejected viable tenants. If you lose, you aren't much worse off.

[Fr_Chuck]

Duress? Did she threaten you, did she use force, was she blackmailing you.

So you could have said, let me read it, or even said, sorry no I won't sign.

[megadith]

Yes, I could have, should have, would have, but that is aside the point now.

I appreciate your input ScottGem.

I will investigate options. I have another viable replacement this week to try out.
Reviewing the lease contract, there were also some errors. I agreed to a 6 month lease. The lease contract said "6 months" at the top, then included an 8 month span: Jan 1st-August 31st, and it also stated the house shall contain no more than 4 adults and 2 dogs. She included another dog to the mix with the last sublettor who just moved in, so there are now 3.
Does this change anything, or just make it more confusing?
In the meantime, I will never go along with simply browsing a contract and believing that it contains info that had been hammered out with that person previously. No matter how nice and honorable they seem to be. Warning to all!!

[ScottGem]

Well, you might get her on the conflict between the terms. If the 6 months was preprinted but the date written in then probably not.