I currently live in a studio apartment in the city. The building is rather old (50+ years) and seems to always have some sort of problem. Lately, I have been condo shopping and there is a strong possibility of me moving out. The problem lies in the fact that my current apartment lease isn’t up until the end of july. That is four months at about $600 a month. Additionally, beginning this January, there has been hot water problems throughout the building. Many residents have complained about not having sufficient hot water. It’s pretty bad in my case, as sometimes I can only manage to take a “warm” shower. This problem has been documented and management has stated on many occasions to fix it. Well for residents such as myself, the problem still isn’t fixed. It has been more than 3 months and it doesn’t seem as though they will ever fix the problem.
My question is, do I have any rights as a resident to break my lease legally as a result of this matter? Is there any other method of legally breaking a lease without a fine (due to management’s faults)? Is it possible for me to break the lease without needing a lawyer or spending any amount of money?
As with a lot of laws in the USA it seems that your situation may be dependant on the state you live in (and i’m not talking about ‘squalor’ or ‘palatial’).
This website will give you links to your appropriate state laws, hopefully you should be able to find the information you need there or if not a number to call.
You may be able to walk away from the lease legally on “implied warranty of habitability” reasons. In California, an ongoing condition of no hot water would be a valid reason to claim the place is not fit for the occupation by human beings.
Check with your state and local government for the details.
I echo what they’ve said. You may have a basis to walk away from your lease. I don’t know what the law in your state is, or what your lease says, so I can’t give you a definitive answer.
As to resolving this without sinking all your dough into legal fees: Call your city’s fair housing office. They may be able to help you with cheap/free advice, although if your breach of the warranty of habitability claim doesn’t involve mold, rats the size of Cadillacs, and drive by shootings, they’re unlikely to be sympathetic (bigger fish to fry). But it’s worth a shot.
The other thing to do is call your local courthouse and ask if there is a landlord-tenant self help office or something like that. Some courts have them, and sometimes lawyers volunteer time. Your local bar association is another resource for free/cheap help, although they generally are more likely to help the “needy” crowd than the “I’d rather spend my money elsewhere” crowd.
But consider this: if you spend the equivalent of a month’s rent on a lawyer to save you four months rent, you’re still ahead.
Check your Yellow Pages for Sentinal housing. They are a non-profit group that handles disputes between landlords and tenants, and should also be well versed in what the laws regarding habitability are in your city.
This may sound absurdly obvious, but have you asked your landlord if he’d be willing to shorten the lease? As a former landlord I was approached with that request and it was usually no big deal.
I just helped a friend that was having some serious life problems break her lease and the landlord was very understanding.