Breaking a Residential Lease in Texas -

Factual Questions
1

Do I have a leg to stand on?

Okay – here’s my situation. I rented a house with one of my good friends and we are both signed a 12 month lease in July of this year. I need out, here are my reasons:

  1. About 4 months into the lease, my roommate decided to purchase not one but TWO full size Doberman’s which now live in the house. (He didn’t bother asking me what my opinion was, or anything prior to them ‘moving in’)

  2. His girlfriend stays over 3-4 nights a week and she has her own key to the property and basically comes and goes as she pleases. (They’ve called me once or twice to letting me know she’s coming over, but basically I don’t have a lot of expectation of privacy)

  3. I work from home. When I’m on the phone cold-calling clients, it pretty much destroys all sense of professionalism when I start with “Hello, My name is…with <barkbarkbarkbarkbark> going on in the background.

I find that for the amount of money I’m paying in rent and utilities, I’m not getting the privacy or the environment I need in order to a) keep my sanity and b) do my job.

Basically, I feel that I’m not getting my money’s worth having to live with 3 extra roommates.

I’m afraid that the homeowner could just say “it’s your problem, not mine, you figure it out”.

What can I do? I could really use some help in how to approach this…

MUCH thanks in advance…

2

What does your lease say about pets and additional tenants? You may be able to get the landlord to do something if your roommate is violating the terms of the lease.
Guests shouldn’t have a key to the property.

3

Yeah, sorry to say but your landlord could indeed say “Your problem not mine.” Also what sucks even more is YOU’LL be responsible for half the damages caused by the dog. Although you could get that money back in small claims court; but still, what a frick’n hassel.

All Texas leases have a pre determined lease breaking agreement. There are various kinds. Hopefully you didn’t sign one that says your responsible for the rent untill the owner can find another renter or your lease is up.

You can however tell the landlord you want out and how much do you need to pay. I’d especialy do this NOW if you feel your room-mate is going to cause significant damage to the property. Because when you you tell the landlord you want out by such-n-such date, s/he is obligated to check the property for damages so s/he can charge you for half of them-- as damages were on that date and not the date your roomate decides to leave.

This is one of those life’s lessons things. Carefull who you room with. But I guess you know that now, don’t ya? :wink:

Anyway, good luck to ya…

4

There was a good thread on this forum about breaking leases awhile back. I don’t know much about it personally but from my understanding in most jurisdictions if you break the lease the landlord has to make a good faith endeavor to find someone else to fill that spot, and once he does you are definitely not responsible for paying the monthly rent anymore.

There’s also ways you can force an eviction and in that case you only would have to pay damages to the property I’d think.

5

I suppose when you look at it, all of my reasons are the result of my roommate, not the landlord or the lease. Can I claim something like my roommate acted in bad faith by creating an environment that I cannot live in?

I think my only hope is to appeal to the homeowner, explain my situation and try to work something out.

I’m responsible for the dog damage? I never agreed to live with them, or bought them or anything… how can that stick?

D.

6

Well, when you signed the lease agreement you agreed to be responsible for the (half) the damages occured to the property. As opposed to just damages you caused.

You can do as you suggested above. But this would have to be a suit againt your roomate in small claims court. Your landlord not liable for whom you choose to room with.

However I will say this. Any landlord with half a brain will work with you as you seem to be the only beacon of logic in this menagerie. This is assuming that your room-mate did not tell the landlord about the dogs.

7

All of your problems are with the roommate, not the landlord. While others have said a reasonable landlord would work with you, I can think of one big reason a reasonable landlord wouldn’t work with you. If the landlord doesn’t think he’ll be able to get his money out of the other guy (damages and the balance of the rent), he’s not going to let you off the hook very easily.

Speaking of damage… you’re probably not liable to the landlord for half the damages, you’re probably liable for all the damages, plus all the rent. The lease probably states something along the lines of you each being totally responsible. If your roommate doesn’t pay his half, the landlord can come after you. It would then be up to you to go after the roommate. If you move out without getting yourself off the lease, the roommate could stop paying rent, trash the house, get evicted, and ring up a huge bill for the whole mess - and you could be responsible for the whole thing.

If the two of you moved out, the landlord would have the responsibility to attempt to rent the house back out to minimize the amount of rent you would have to pay. I’m not so sure he has that same responsibility to find your roommate a new roommate if you move out only. I doubt it.

Are the dogs a violation of the lease? If they are, don’t be surprised if the landlord starts threatening to evict both of you.

If the you and your roommate were neighbors in an apartment building, and your roommate was causing problems and the landlord wasn’t doing anything about it, you’d have cause to break your lease because the landlord has the responsibilty to provide a safe, habitable environment. But, since you two are roommates in the same house, you both are responsible for what goes on in the house.

Have you talked to your roommate about wanting out? Maybe his girlfriend would move in and take over your half of the lease? Whatever you do, don’t move without the landlord officially removing you from the lease, because regardless of what agreement you might work out with your roommate, the landlord can come after you as long as you’re on the lease. You would have to sue your roommate to get anything you paid to the landlord back.
What’s the income situation with you and your roommate? If the landlord was to evict your roommate (presumably for the dogs) and let you stay, can you manage the rent on your own, at least until you find another roommate? Can your roommate handle the rent on his own? If so, the landlord would be more likely to let you out.

Your first step should be to talk to your roommate. Maybe his girlfriend would move in. Maybe he knows someone else. Maybe he’d just be happy to get rid of you and would pay all the rent himself. If you can work out something with him, going to the landlord to make it official will be a lot easier.

If that doesn’t work, go to the landlord and explain your situation. If he does agree to let you out, make sure you get something in writing. Also make sure you have a total list of what you’re expected to pay in damages and rent, in writing, before you leave.

Now, if you can’t work things out with the landlord, be prepared to move anyway. The landlord might decide to start eviction proceedings against the both of you if he has reason to believe he’s not going to get his money.

Your other option would be to try to evict your roommate yourself. I’m not really sure what rights you might have there. You might also be able to sue your roommate under some sort of breech of agreement to force him to take responibility for the entire remainder of the lease. I’m not a lawyer, so I’m just guessing here.

One last possibility, if you ever wanted to be on TV, you could take this whole mess to People’s Court.

8

You’re stuck. You should have said something definitive when the dogs came in and the GF got a key, but you didn’t, so now you’re stuck.

Your only hope legally is to sub-lease the space to another person at an attractively discounted rate (with LL OK) or for the LL to terminate the lease and toss you both out if he didn’t know about the two dogs and/or doesn’t approve of them.

Alternatively you could tell the roomate that he’s got a choice, the dogs go, or he goes (and you sublet) , or you go and let him deal with the consequences.

9

Lam out.

Leave no forwarding address.

You’ll lose your deposit, sure, and quite possibly your friend. On the other hand, you’ll have peace and quiet, your buddy will have his dogs and his girlfriend, and the legal hassles to come will be HIS problem, which, quite frankly, it sounds like he richly deserves.

10

You’ll also end up with a big honkin’ black mark on your credit reports for the next 7 years.

Before you do anything, discuss the matter with your landlord. Speaking as a landlord, we are not all money grubbing ogres.

11

Yep. The magical legalese for this is the term “joint and severally liable.” If you see that on a contract, it means you’re responsible for any amount, up to including all of it.

12

Your beef is with your roommate, not the landlord. You want to break the non-agreement you had with your roommate. :dubious:

13

I agree with all of you. After talking to a lawyer friend of mine, he basically states this:

I think my best bet is to explain my problems to the homeowner, forfeit my deposit ($1000) as a bargaining chip, and try to get out of this lease as amicably as possible.

Lawyer response:

Sadly, I doubt you can get out of your lease. Your problem is not with your landlord, it’s with your co-tenant (obviously). There may be provisions in the lease regarding pets, houseguests, and extra keys to the property. If a pet deposit is required, but hasn’t been paid, you could inform the landlord. Problem is, you’re also liable for paying the deposit. If the girlfriend is staying too many days in a row, and if those stays violate a lease provision, you could (again) inform the landlord, but (again) you’re just as liable as your roommate.

As far as solutions go, you may want to check and see if you’re allowed to sublease. Beyond that, sounds like you need to have a conversation with the roommate about the amount of rent you’re paying, keeping the dogs outside, etc. Tough situation you’re in, but as I’m sure you can see, none of it is your landlord’s fault.

The Texas Property Code details the rights of landlords and tenants (check chapter 15). If you can find it on-line, you may want to look up the requirements for “constructive eviction.” Basically, a threat to your physical health or safety on the property constitutes a “constructive eviction” from the property (or the unsafe portion thereof), resulting in a diminished (or eliminated) obligation to pay rent. Maybe you can make something up. I noticed some water damage in the house. Say mold, maybe? The thought of paying to send someone out to run tests may be more of a pain in the ass than your landlord wants.

Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful. Tenants just don’t have many rights when it comes to disruptive roommates.

14

Bolding mine. This guy sounds more like an asshole than a good friend.

You haven’t told us what you’ve actually said to your roommate about this whole situation. Have you made it clear to him that the dogs and the excessive girlfriend visits are unaccaptable to you? Did you tell him that when it all started? Has he shown any willingness at all to address the problems?

15

Well…see. that’s the thing. He was one of those “good friends” that you hung out with once or twice a week…but living 24/7 is a completely different deal. Obviously he’s not going to get rid of the dogs or the girlfriend…so what’s the point? Best get out now before the relationship goes completely down the tubes, right?

I think my best course of action is getting things straight with the homeowner first, THEN break the news to my roommate.

D.

16

Are your finances such you can buy out your roommate?

The key to getting rid of your roommate I think is getting rid of the girl friend. The dogs are no problem, let them out the building some day when he’s not home. If they come back, then load them in the car and drop them off somewhere.

Now the girl friend. Is she allergic to anything? Cat hair, peanuts etc. If so, bring some of that into the apartment. Or drop hints to the girl friend he’s sleeping around, yada yada yada.

17

Why are you ignoring all the good advice you’ve been getting? Even a lawyer has told you your beef is with your ROOMMATE. Your landlord has absolutely NO legal or moral obligation to you. Even if he wanted to be nice to you out of pity, he would be unable to change the terms of your lease without your roommate’s consent, since you BOTH signed the contract. He also would not be able to sublet the place without your roommate’s consent for the same reason.

So why do you want to bug the landlord about this? He is not the roommate police and it’s unfair for you to expect him to do your communicating for you. It sounds like you are totally chicken about talking to your “good friend”. Why is that, exactly? You haven’t even tried, by your account!

You need to:

  1. Find out if the dogs are a violation of the lease. If so, the landlord can require him to get rid of them or move out. If they aren’t a violation, then you must talk to your roommate about possible remedies, which may include you moving out and finding a replacement.

  2. Ditto about the girlfriend.

If you’re afraid to confront him face to face, write a letter, explaining it is easier for you to verbalize your issues that way.

If you’re feeling particularly passive-aggressive, you could always print out this thread and give it to him.

Is there more to this story than you’re telling? Why are you being such a doormat?