breaking a lease before moving in

[1977renter]

I just signed a lease. I received the keys but did not do an inventory checklist with the landlord yet. I examined the property in detail yesterday and discovered several serious problems with the property. The sewer is not properly connect and is leaking onto the basement floor-the plumbing is poor. There is mold in the basement indicating that the leak has occurred for sometime. The water heater is leaking. The previous tenants used the heating ducts as a place to throw trash and cigarette butts. I looked above the ceiling tiles in the kitchen and was horrified by the amount of mouse feces. I now just want to break the lease and not move in. As I have not taken residence and the lease does not begin until the first of the month what are my option to void the lease.

[jjones8601]

First and foremost, what State?

Secondly, immediately call the city health and building inspectors for a free evaluation of the property.

Call the city and see if it needs to be registered as a rental. If it does, find out if it is registered correctly. Depending on your state, see if a “CO” Certificate of Occupancy is required. If it is, see if has been certified correctly. Also check the citys Central Appraisal District website. See if the LL has it homesteaded illegally or any other exemptions not obtainable on a rental.

Even before that, send a certified letter to the LL stating your findings and the actions you are taking, as noted above. Be concise, but let the LL know you either want all health and mechanical violations corrected, (this will be provided by the health and building inspectors reports) or you will find the LL in breach of the contract and therefore wish to terminate the lease without penalty.

You need to start this process immediately because you want all of your findings before the first of the month when your “lease” begins.

Finally, review the lease you signed and look up tenant law from your states online website. Be sure the site you find online ends in .gov or maybe sometimes .org. I did live in a city that the city page was .net however, the building and health inspectors websites were .gov.

Good Luck. Tenants have rights. Let me know when your process has begun. I would like to follow along and see how it is going.

Do not forget… Please let me know the state this property resides.

Why did you not inspect the property before you signed? (SIGH!) By signing and accepting the keys to a property, you have taken possession of the rental (whether you have moved in or not). You need to send a certified letter to the LL immediately stating al the violations you have found and request immediate emergency repairs. Leaking sewage is an emergency, although pest infestation is not (and the LL can be allowed more time to handle this problem).

Rental registration, having a CO, or homesteading violations may get you no where. They are civil violations and may not void your lease. Depending on your area, these may only be minor fines or citations to the LL and may not affect your lease at all. Other areas consider these major items and could void it. But without knowing your area, we can't say which this is. (In my area, these would be simple penalties that would net a $200 fine and an order to have the inspection done and set the paperwork straight. They wouldn't affect your renting.)

Send this letter tomorrow, certified mail, return receipt requested, and keep a copy for your records. Call the health or building inspector departments and get those citations issued to the LL to get him moving quickly. Check your state laws on rent withholding. Since you have already taken possession, you may have to give the LL the appropriate amount of time to repair these things before you can avail yourself of rent withholding or termination. But if you don't send a letter, you have no proof of any of this or that you notified him of the condition and can't even start the clock on these.

[jjones8601]

Dear "Guest",

Though your comment holds some water, you are totally wrong with some aspects.

1) Pest infestation is an immediate response to control by the LL. Mice and other rodent excrement may carry diereses not to mention rabies.
2) In many states a lack of a CO will nullify a rental agreement. If you do not have a CO, the LL can not rent it or you as a tenant are not obligated to occupy it. For all we know, the dwelling is condemnable… Would that not affect the lease agreement? Hence the need for a CO in most states/counties.

Other than that, you basically wrote exactly what I did. Were you just bored?

Yes, pests carry diseases and aren't healthy to live with. But since pests cannot be eliminated with only one extermination, these are not considered emergencies. They cannot be handled and "cured" within 72 hours. It may take several months of treatments to successfully eradicate pests. Hence my answer that courts don't consider this an emergency. They cannot be cured within the 72 hour window that most states' laws allow to cure emergencies. Even a health department will give the LL several chances to eradicate before they condemn a place for pests. So these cannot be considered an emergency in the eyes of a court.

A CO is a civil action. It is an inspection. Only a few states have stringent regulations to require these inspections. Even when an inspection was to have been performed, it can often be done after the fact. They just haven't followed the civil procedure to get the permit and paid the fee. It doesn't condemn a place. Why would you think that? In many states, this would have no effect on the tenant's obligation under the lease. The LL's failure to follow civil code doesn't alleviate the tenant from all obligations under his contract. Be wary of thinking that it will. Only in a few highly urban areas will this work.

As for bored??? While I do agree that a certified letter must be sent, it should be sent RRR or it may not provide the proof of receipt that the tenant will require. I saw this no where in your answer and felt the tenant needed this information. Without sending it RRR, there is no proof the LL actually received it.

You advised the tenant to immediately have the city inspection done, then later advised to send the notice to the LL. State laws say you must inform the LL of needed repairs in writing BEFORE you can take further legal remedies. Having the inspector issue a report is not the same as you requesting repairs. Send the letter first. Then call the health dept. or inspector. Doing these in the wrong order might get the problem fixed. But if it doesn't, he may have eliminated his chance for legal remedies beyond this, and will have to start over. Beyond that, do you have a problem with someone agreeing with you?

[jjones8601]

I forgot about this post.

Look, it is very simple. If a dwelling is not legal when a contract, either verbal or written, is entered into, any damages due to inhabitability fall on the LL. If a CO is required and one does not exist will nullify a lease.

It’s like saying to the legal system, “Look, that drug dealer sold me fake drugs. I want to press charges”! Uhhhhhhhhh NO! It does not work that way.

Actually it does. Anyone who sells fake drugs is just as guilty of selling drugs as someone selling the real thing. They are charged with intent to sell the same way and can be convicted the same! Happens all the time.

If the LL is notified in writing of the problem and does nothing, you can terminate. If he does takes steps to eliminate them, even though they are still there, you can't. As long as he is making an effort to handle his responsibility, you cannot terminate. The onus is on the tenant to be sure the unit is acceptable and meets their requirements prior to renting it. The onus is on the LL to make timely repairs after notified in writing. Simple as that.

[jjones8601]

OMG! What are you a LL or on crack?

If it is an illegal dwelling when a contract is made, there is no contract. It is that simple. I would roll over you in court and you would be lucky if I did not own your dog, house and any future earnings when I was done with you.

Your position is weak and you would lose... as I assume you do regularly in life.

No, it is not that simple. Perhaps where you live it is as you say. But not in other areas.

The "legality" of a rental is a civil issue, not a criminal issue. A unit is not truely "illegal", but is merely unlicensed or unzoned. Some states allow a civil issue to void a lease, others firmly do NOT. In places such as NYC, an unlicensed, unregistered, or "illegal" rental would void any lease. In other, less urban states, this means only a small fine and a reinspection, and does not void a lease in court. In those areas, a judge doesn't care if there are other civil issues and doesn't consider them. This happens all the time. I've seen many "illegal" units (no CO, not inspected after a building permit issued, not zoned for 2 family, not registered as rental property) have their leases upheld in court. Nothing happened to these LLs except the fine and an order for a reinspection, or a requirement that the rental be registered. A civil issue does not trump a legal contract in all areas.

Unless the poster is in an area where the registration of the property is of utmost importance, this is not an issue when deciding the terms of a lease. Since we don't know what state the original poster is in, you can't apply your state's or city's rules to them. Only the poster can look up the statutes in his area and see which apply.