Break lease due to health problem

[td2306]

My father in law is 70 years old, on Social assistant, his wife works part-time only. Recently, he had a major heart surgery and had a hard time going up the stairs at his apartment. He put in a 30-day notice and moved out of the apartment into a housing. The landlord requires a full year of payment (according to the contract). We tried to negotiate but they refused to do so. He just received a letter from them asking for the full year of payment or else (collector, lawsuit).

My questions are:

Can he break the contract base on his health condition?
With almost no income, except from social assistant, no asset, if he is sued, can they garnish the money from social assistant?
What is the best way to deal with this situation? (He cannot afford a lawyer, obviously).

Thanks,

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

This health condition of your father is not a legal reason to break a lease; however, your landlord cannot simply sit back on their rear end and expect dad to pay an entire year (or whatever is left on the lease).

The landlord has an obligation to make an honest effort to rerent the unit. As a very general rule, a court will give the landlord two months to get an empty unit rerented. Thus, a few months is what your dad will likely end up being responsible for.

Social security (and I'm assuming this is what you mean by social assistance) cannot be garnished by the landlord for owed rent. These benefits can really only be garnished for owed child support and alimony.

Quite frankly, I'm betting that the landlord is bluffing; they know if they sue your father for breaking the lease it is highly unlikely they will ever see any judgement they may be awarded.

Gail