westykessler
New Member
Aloha!
This is a mess and so I'll start from the beginning: We informed our landlord on 1/6 that my husband is being transferred to another island for his job. We asked if we could stay in the unit until 2/15 and that we wanted to discuss the options available to us since we understood that we were breaking the lease (we were willing to find subletters to rent the house until the lease expired if she would agree to that). Our landlord said that she needed to talk to her brother (the actual owner of the house) and that she would get back to us. After talking with her brother, she gave us three options:
1) Pay the rent owed to her until May 2006 (the end of the lease)
2) Find subletters like we first suggested (but she stated she didn't want us to do that), or
3) Pay the rent for the entire month of February and forefit the security deposit as a penalty for breaking the lease.
She told us to talk it over and get back to her.
She came by again the next night to ask my husband what he had decided. She told him that she was going on vacation on 2/5 and that she wanted to start putting ads in the paper so that she could rent it by the time she left. My husband told her that we weren't sure what we would do as of yet but that if we took option 3, we would still need to be in the unit until 2/15. Upset, our landlord starting telling him all the things we would need to do before we left the unit (some things were just totally ridiculous like: tenting the home for termites, washing the siding panels on the outside of the home and painting the inside of the unit when the unit itself wasn't newly painted when we moved in).
After that evening, we were leaning towards just staying in the home until the end of the lease with my husband living with his father on the other island so that we wouldn't be out so much money (and to make things easier for all parties). But that would be our last resort! We were also going to ask my husband's employer if there was any way they could help us with the difference in rent seeing as he was doing them a favor by taking this job transfer. We were going to update our landlord the following day but didn't get to see her in the morning.
That day my landlord's sister stopped by the house to ask if she could bring her friends over Thursday afternoon to view the house (they are interested in renting it). At first I agreed despite the less than 48 hours notice (mandated by Hawaii law), but quickly recanted when I realized that I still needed to hear back from my husband regarding his employer's decision. I asked the sister to have our landlord call me so that I could fill her in on what we were planning on doing (staying until May unless we could get help in our rent). My landlord's sister said okay and left.
After speaking with my landlord that night, we were still nowhere closer to a decision. That Thursday, the landlord's sister stopped by around 3pm to tell me that she was bringing her friends over at 5:30. When I told her it wasn't a good time for me, she said that "its okay if the house is a mess- they just want to see inside" (note: the house wasn't a mess but I do have 4 kids and had some laundry that needed to be folded). I asked if they could come the following evening but she said that they couldn't so I relunctantly agreed to let my landlord's sister in.
When it came time for her to show her friends inside, not only did they come by, but another unannounced party came inside as well (the sister asked if I was expecting company; when I said no, she said, "Oh, well (landlord), must've told this other party to come by as well".). My father-in-law was at my house during their visit and while I was cordial during the walk through, I made it clear to my landlord's sister that I wasn't happy with what had just transpired (I felt like I was forced to let them in and didn't agree to the second party walking through while my kids were in the house).
Does this constitute unlawful entry? I feel it does because I did not recieve the required 48 hours notice of entry AND felt like I was forced into saying yes. I also did not agree to the second party walking through. Not only that, but at the time, we were planning on finishing up the terms of our lease (we have not given written notice as of yet).
This is a mess and so I'll start from the beginning: We informed our landlord on 1/6 that my husband is being transferred to another island for his job. We asked if we could stay in the unit until 2/15 and that we wanted to discuss the options available to us since we understood that we were breaking the lease (we were willing to find subletters to rent the house until the lease expired if she would agree to that). Our landlord said that she needed to talk to her brother (the actual owner of the house) and that she would get back to us. After talking with her brother, she gave us three options:
1) Pay the rent owed to her until May 2006 (the end of the lease)
2) Find subletters like we first suggested (but she stated she didn't want us to do that), or
3) Pay the rent for the entire month of February and forefit the security deposit as a penalty for breaking the lease.
She told us to talk it over and get back to her.
She came by again the next night to ask my husband what he had decided. She told him that she was going on vacation on 2/5 and that she wanted to start putting ads in the paper so that she could rent it by the time she left. My husband told her that we weren't sure what we would do as of yet but that if we took option 3, we would still need to be in the unit until 2/15. Upset, our landlord starting telling him all the things we would need to do before we left the unit (some things were just totally ridiculous like: tenting the home for termites, washing the siding panels on the outside of the home and painting the inside of the unit when the unit itself wasn't newly painted when we moved in).
After that evening, we were leaning towards just staying in the home until the end of the lease with my husband living with his father on the other island so that we wouldn't be out so much money (and to make things easier for all parties). But that would be our last resort! We were also going to ask my husband's employer if there was any way they could help us with the difference in rent seeing as he was doing them a favor by taking this job transfer. We were going to update our landlord the following day but didn't get to see her in the morning.
That day my landlord's sister stopped by the house to ask if she could bring her friends over Thursday afternoon to view the house (they are interested in renting it). At first I agreed despite the less than 48 hours notice (mandated by Hawaii law), but quickly recanted when I realized that I still needed to hear back from my husband regarding his employer's decision. I asked the sister to have our landlord call me so that I could fill her in on what we were planning on doing (staying until May unless we could get help in our rent). My landlord's sister said okay and left.
After speaking with my landlord that night, we were still nowhere closer to a decision. That Thursday, the landlord's sister stopped by around 3pm to tell me that she was bringing her friends over at 5:30. When I told her it wasn't a good time for me, she said that "its okay if the house is a mess- they just want to see inside" (note: the house wasn't a mess but I do have 4 kids and had some laundry that needed to be folded). I asked if they could come the following evening but she said that they couldn't so I relunctantly agreed to let my landlord's sister in.
When it came time for her to show her friends inside, not only did they come by, but another unannounced party came inside as well (the sister asked if I was expecting company; when I said no, she said, "Oh, well (landlord), must've told this other party to come by as well".). My father-in-law was at my house during their visit and while I was cordial during the walk through, I made it clear to my landlord's sister that I wasn't happy with what had just transpired (I felt like I was forced to let them in and didn't agree to the second party walking through while my kids were in the house).
Does this constitute unlawful entry? I feel it does because I did not recieve the required 48 hours notice of entry AND felt like I was forced into saying yes. I also did not agree to the second party walking through. Not only that, but at the time, we were planning on finishing up the terms of our lease (we have not given written notice as of yet).
