Here is the situation and we have contacted our attorney who will be talking with us tomorrow.
In October 2009, my husband and I rented a home on a two year lease. At the end of April I received a call from our landlord that the home we were renting was in jeopardy because of a lien from the State Attorney General. As such she needed us out of the home by July. As a real estate agent she was willing to help us find a home. I told her I would need to discuss with my mother who would have to help us with purchasing a new home (we have poor credit). The landlord proposed that at closing she would give us 3 months rent toward closing costs. Also, the landlord informed us she was going through a divorce. Also, the downstairs bathroom is a 3/4 bath and in late January my daughter had to stop using it because of a major water leak issue due to improper installation of the shower pan. With landlord permission we had the pan removed and the shower hasn't been fixed and still is not fixed as of today. I informed her in this conversation (which I confirmed via email and ALL of this is documented via emails that we have) that she needed to get the shower fixed.
I checked with my mother and she said that she was uncomfortable with this "lady" handling a real estate action because it sounded "fishy" to my mother-in-law. Also, last December and last late January the mortgage company came by with default notices on the property. Our last rental had gone into foreclosure on us and in the lease and via email the security of the home was very important to us and we were promised it was secure. We approached the landlord and she stated that the previous renters had not paid 3 months rent and that had put them behind. She was hoping to add the missed payments to the end of the loan but we never heard back from her whether she was successful.
My mother agreed to help us buy a home since my father lives with us because of a health issue that she cannot meet. The landlord emailed us an invite to an open house, a listing of homes for sale in the area and set a date for us to go looking with her. In our reply email we informed the landlord that we would be proceeded to find a home to live in with my mother's real estate agent since her mother was helping us, this was a condition. We would ask for the next 3 months rent to be waived and applied to our closing costs. The landlord said that there was one thing she would try to save the house and would let us know. We informed her via email we would proceed per her conversation. We never heard back from her.
We found a home to live, the closing date is June 21st and we informed our landlord when we paid the rent that we would be out on July 21st. We have never stopped paying the rent in all of this. She informed us via email that she never broke the lease and we are still bound by the lease but she would offer us a buyout.
In our state if we abandoned, we are responsible for the rent until the property is rented to a new tenant (a landlord cannot collect duo rent payments). Like I mentioned we have contacted our attorney. My husband thinks a letter from our attorney stating that 1. she did break the lease and wanting us out by July 2010 in email and only changed her mind when we did not use her as a real estate agent to buy a property. Can't say go and then not communicate and when the renters (us) find a new home, say stay. 2. In lieu of this, we will offer her July's rent (we have paid June's already) will handle the advertising of the home for new renters on a 15 month lease which replaces ours and she can keep our security deposit which is equal to a month's rent. Thus she has two months rent 3. I can run credit checks for free at my work and the owner is fine if I run them so I will offer to run the credit checks on candidates and when we have two for her to choose from she can decide who she would like and meet them.
Homes like the one we are in are renting at the price we are paying within two weeks of being advertised. There will not be a problem finding stable renters for this property. She will have to fix the shower.
We might make a case for failure to fix the shower, and failure to fix faulty electrical wiring in the basement (the outlets have never worked right and were wired by her ex-husband). The soft water softener is not working, we reported that in March and it hasn't been fixed and so the case could be made for not making timely repairs. In addition since we have it in email that she wanted us out that would be considered a breaking of the lease by her part.
We feel by offering these terms which is basically in compliance with our state law if she wanted to try to say we have broken the lease. If she agrees with our terms we would want confirmed in email and in writing.
So what is your opinion? Did she break the lease? Is offering a settlement since it seems she just wants a wad of money out of us worth offering or do we have a case that the lease was violated, and were out of here? There is not way I am paying this lady the $20,000 she thinks she is entitled. Thoughts and comments would be appreciated.
In October 2009, my husband and I rented a home on a two year lease. At the end of April I received a call from our landlord that the home we were renting was in jeopardy because of a lien from the State Attorney General. As such she needed us out of the home by July. As a real estate agent she was willing to help us find a home. I told her I would need to discuss with my mother who would have to help us with purchasing a new home (we have poor credit). The landlord proposed that at closing she would give us 3 months rent toward closing costs. Also, the landlord informed us she was going through a divorce. Also, the downstairs bathroom is a 3/4 bath and in late January my daughter had to stop using it because of a major water leak issue due to improper installation of the shower pan. With landlord permission we had the pan removed and the shower hasn't been fixed and still is not fixed as of today. I informed her in this conversation (which I confirmed via email and ALL of this is documented via emails that we have) that she needed to get the shower fixed.
I checked with my mother and she said that she was uncomfortable with this "lady" handling a real estate action because it sounded "fishy" to my mother-in-law. Also, last December and last late January the mortgage company came by with default notices on the property. Our last rental had gone into foreclosure on us and in the lease and via email the security of the home was very important to us and we were promised it was secure. We approached the landlord and she stated that the previous renters had not paid 3 months rent and that had put them behind. She was hoping to add the missed payments to the end of the loan but we never heard back from her whether she was successful.
My mother agreed to help us buy a home since my father lives with us because of a health issue that she cannot meet. The landlord emailed us an invite to an open house, a listing of homes for sale in the area and set a date for us to go looking with her. In our reply email we informed the landlord that we would be proceeded to find a home to live in with my mother's real estate agent since her mother was helping us, this was a condition. We would ask for the next 3 months rent to be waived and applied to our closing costs. The landlord said that there was one thing she would try to save the house and would let us know. We informed her via email we would proceed per her conversation. We never heard back from her.
We found a home to live, the closing date is June 21st and we informed our landlord when we paid the rent that we would be out on July 21st. We have never stopped paying the rent in all of this. She informed us via email that she never broke the lease and we are still bound by the lease but she would offer us a buyout.
In our state if we abandoned, we are responsible for the rent until the property is rented to a new tenant (a landlord cannot collect duo rent payments). Like I mentioned we have contacted our attorney. My husband thinks a letter from our attorney stating that 1. she did break the lease and wanting us out by July 2010 in email and only changed her mind when we did not use her as a real estate agent to buy a property. Can't say go and then not communicate and when the renters (us) find a new home, say stay. 2. In lieu of this, we will offer her July's rent (we have paid June's already) will handle the advertising of the home for new renters on a 15 month lease which replaces ours and she can keep our security deposit which is equal to a month's rent. Thus she has two months rent 3. I can run credit checks for free at my work and the owner is fine if I run them so I will offer to run the credit checks on candidates and when we have two for her to choose from she can decide who she would like and meet them.
Homes like the one we are in are renting at the price we are paying within two weeks of being advertised. There will not be a problem finding stable renters for this property. She will have to fix the shower.
We might make a case for failure to fix the shower, and failure to fix faulty electrical wiring in the basement (the outlets have never worked right and were wired by her ex-husband). The soft water softener is not working, we reported that in March and it hasn't been fixed and so the case could be made for not making timely repairs. In addition since we have it in email that she wanted us out that would be considered a breaking of the lease by her part.
We feel by offering these terms which is basically in compliance with our state law if she wanted to try to say we have broken the lease. If she agrees with our terms we would want confirmed in email and in writing.
So what is your opinion? Did she break the lease? Is offering a settlement since it seems she just wants a wad of money out of us worth offering or do we have a case that the lease was violated, and were out of here? There is not way I am paying this lady the $20,000 she thinks she is entitled. Thoughts and comments would be appreciated.
