Horrible Landlord

[amgal68]

Indiana - I broke a rental lease after 8 months of the lanlord not honoring ANY of his obligations as a lanlord, per the Indiana Statues. Unfortunately I did not have the money to hire an attorney to take him to court first, so now he is suing me. I plan to dispute this case in small claims court, but I may lose. I refuse to pay this an man ONE RED CENT!! If I file Chapter 7 banruptcy, will this qualify to be discharged? Please help.

Hate to hear that anyone won't honor their obligations. Hopefully, you did follow the statutes to terminate to the letter? Did you send written letters by certified mail, return receipt requested, to prove that he was notified and when he was notified? Did you them allow him up to 30 days (for non-emergency repairs) to do this work? Was the work needed items that affected habitability (electric, heat, hot water, etc.)? If you did, great! Collect all your documentation of these things and prepare for court. Remember to countersue for your deposit and any other monies to which you are entitled.

If you didn't, you need to be able to prove the 3 points above in court. You need to prove he was notified (phone calls and e-mails won't hold up in court without the provider records of transactions back and forth). You need to prove he had adequate time to repair after he was notified. You need to prove that the items affected habitability. These are the 3 rules that termination must go by. Collect your documentation now. Good luck.

If at all possible, you don't want to file BK. That will ruin your credit for the next several years. Even if it is discharged, the record of the suit will still show up on court records for any future LL to see. They will deny based on that, even if you still owe nothing. LLs don't want to rent to applicants who have been sued by former LLs.

Good advice! Applies in my situation as well.