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Answers (8)
- Doris Turner, "BisbeeRealtor"
- Contributions:97
As a property manager, I feel for you. Some owners can be a real pill. Another way to approach your dilemma is to take Ghandis words to heart 'no one can hurt me without my permission'. Obviously your landlord is a very unhappy person and not letting things bother you will take a lot of hard work. Until you are able to move, kill him with kindness and teach your children to do the same thing. Right now, you are passing on your anger to your children, this is not worth it. You know that they won't remove the snow, so you get up earlier and do it, while whistling or singing. I'm guessing that your garage space is part of a double garage? You know that you need to check that the garage door is closed before you go to bed, just do it. This does not make you a doormat, you are choosing to let someone else be a jerk without having an impact on you or your children. Hang in there.
- sunnyview
- Contributions:25139
How much time do you have left on your lease? You cannot legally force the landlord to be a nice person, but you can force them to follow the lease or they are in breach not you. If they are not doing snow removal, they may be in breach. Using you electricity, they may be in breach. Threatening you or making it unsafe to live there, also may be breach. You need to document the problems in a certified letter with photos, dates, times etc.
I heard that you are afraid of the landlord. I understand that he is physically intimidating. You also need to document that in writing. State that you are afraid of him and that you don't want problems you just want them to follow the lease. Explain briefly that you are a single mother and that you will not live in a place where you feel your safety is threatened. If this landlord threatens you, pushes you, yells at you etc. Call the police and tell them you want to file a restraining order. If the court believes you and if threats are made, you may be able to ask the court to move his sorry b*tt out of his own house and give you a restraining order.
In Racine, you can get free or reduced cost legal help here. There is an excellent tenant rights handbook for your area here. You can fix this, but you need to know your right, you need a paper trail and you need a plan for legally proving that the landlord broke the lease first. Hang in there, make you plan and it will be ok. Lordy how I hate bad landlords.
- craines13
- Contributions:1
I don't know what the laws are in your state, but where I live if the landlord re-rents out a property after you leave, they can no longer demand rent from you. If they are already collecting rent they can't claim a loss. Maybe you could let them know it isn't working for you anymore and ask if you are able to find a good renter to take over if they would let you out of the lease. Maybe offer to take pictures and post it on a local free classifieds website or Craigslist. Anything they say, get it in writing, document and try to have a witness to the conversation since he is bullying you. Its hard to be nice to people like that but killing them with kindness might get you what you want. Sometimes you have to be creative and anticipate what their key issues are and use those to your advantage. I've been there and it sucks, best of luck!
- George Frazier III, "catsfire1"
- Contributions:35
Even though you cannot afford a lawyer you can go to lawyer websites which like realtor websites have areas where you can ask questions. I would target the ones in your state and see what feedback you get. I would also check and see which ones offer free consultations, try to target lawyers that handle real estate cases, some handle a percentage of real estate cases others none at all. If you are truly fortunate you will happen on a lawyer that handles a lot of tenant landlord disputes. If you were here in New York I would put you on to my guy. By the way since each state is different in their real estate laws my guy cannot advise you.
There are somethings you can do that are pretty universal.
1 You should keep a log showing date, time, type of incident, action taken and response, create a paper trail so to speak. In this way if you go to tenant landlord court you can show the judge that you have made earnest attempts to deal with the problems as they surfaced.
2 Go over the lease with someone that understands these things, even though they are usually written in plain english you can get confused as to what is really a violation of the lease.
In reading your statement, I have to say I did not see anything that violates the leases that I have worked on. I do see things that are annoying and of an inconvenience like when you have a bad roommate. You did not mention anything such as denial of electricity, water or heat, things that are usually straight out violations of a lease. Sorry if this is not good news but in order to vacate the lease a judge is going to need a clear cut violation.
Good luck.
There are somethings you can do that are pretty universal.
1 You should keep a log showing date, time, type of incident, action taken and response, create a paper trail so to speak. In this way if you go to tenant landlord court you can show the judge that you have made earnest attempts to deal with the problems as they surfaced.
2 Go over the lease with someone that understands these things, even though they are usually written in plain english you can get confused as to what is really a violation of the lease.
In reading your statement, I have to say I did not see anything that violates the leases that I have worked on. I do see things that are annoying and of an inconvenience like when you have a bad roommate. You did not mention anything such as denial of electricity, water or heat, things that are usually straight out violations of a lease. Sorry if this is not good news but in order to vacate the lease a judge is going to need a clear cut violation.
Good luck.
- kwell
- Contributions:3
It only got unbearable this past year year. I always let things not bother me too much the past two years because moving is an expense, then in 09 the landlords insurance had to pay out money to me because of a huge mistake my landlord did. I lost thousands of dollars of property. They denied the mistake and were proven to be neglect. Ever since then they have been horrible. If it was this bad years back I never would of resigned.
- wetdawgs
- Contributions:26833
Sorry you are in such a difficult situation. Breaking a lease is tough. Sometimes there are legal clinics that will give no or low cost consults. When is the lease up? If you've been there for almost two years, why have you renewed the lease if it is such an uncomfortable situation?
A number of things you are concerned about, such as construction noise after 7 am, are covered by local laws and not landlord/tenant issues. For example, In my community it is legal to start construction at 7am without notifying neighbors any day of the week.
A number of things you are concerned about, such as construction noise after 7 am, are covered by local laws and not landlord/tenant issues. For example, In my community it is legal to start construction at 7am without notifying neighbors any day of the week.
- kwell
- Contributions:3
July - If I could afford an attorney I wouldn't be renting. These landlords can afford one, they own a few properties.
- YourLocalHomeTeam
- Contributions:115
Ouch, sorry for your situation. Breaking a lease can be tough, it can be done. When is your lease end? I guess I would contact an attorney.
Is it legal to break your lease if you landlord is making your life miserable?
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