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ilrusso718 · Dec 2, 2010, 02:24 PM

I have a 4 family house that I recently purchased, there is a tenant with a lease agreement that gives a lot of my rights away. For instance, there is a pargraph crossed out , that states that I can not bring him to court for being a nuisance. I have complaints from 3 tenants regarding this tenant. Can I still take him to court on hold over?

cdad · Dec 2, 2010, 03:11 PM

What do you mean "crossed out"? Does it have your initials by it? Did you approve its removal? Simply crossing something out doesn't nullify it.

AK lawyer · Dec 2, 2010, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by ilrusso718

I have a 4 family house that i recently purchased, there is a tenant with a lease agreement that gives a lot of my rights away. For instance, there is a pargraph crossed out , that states that i can not bring him to court for being a nuisance. I have complaints from 3 tenants regarding this tenant. Can i still take him to court on hold over?

Interesting question. First, you say that a paragraph in the lease (between the tenant and the former owner, I assume) which is "crossed out". The cross-out was initialed by the former LL?

If the crossed-out language says you "can not bring him to court for being a nuisance", it suggests to me that you can bring him to court. If what you mean to say is that the crossed-out portion recited that LL can sue tenant, it would be redundant: LL could sue whether any language in the lease mentions the subject.

Anyway, if you bought a rental property subject to a lease prohibiting suit for nuisance against the tenant, I suspect that this language would be invalid. There might be something that says as much in your state's landlord-tenant act.

If you need to sue, do so, letting the chips fall where they will.

cdad · Dec 2, 2010, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by AK lawyer

Interesting question. First, you say that a paragraph in the lease (between the tenant and the former owner, I assume) which is "crossed out". The cross-out was initialed by the former LL?

If the crossed-out language says you "can not bring him to court for being a nuisance", it suggests to me that you can bring him to court. If what you mean to say is that the crossed-out portion recited that LL can sue tenant, it would be redundant: LL could sue whether or not any language in the lease mentions the subject.

Anyway, if you bought a rental property subject to a lease prohibiting suit for nuisance against the tenant, I suspect that this language would be invalid. There might be something that says as much in your state's landlord-tenant act.

If you need to sue, go ahead and do so, letting the chips fall where they will.

Also as part of law you can not give up rights. Knowingly or unknowingly.