Ok, the gist of it is she’s from Indy and moved to Nashville, TN to live with her husband (some sort of long story irrelevant to this particular issue). I’m going to quote the info she gave me and see what your opinions are on what she should do. I appreciate your help. Thanks in advance.
I offered this advice:
*Get a loan from a friend or a family member (sucks, but how bad do you want out?)
*Try to get the leasing people to let you make payments on the $1500
*Pack up and ditch the place. They will sue for the $1500 and then some, but the courts will let you make payments. But that will be a great big black mark on your credit
Check out www.modestneeds.org
Check out local women’s shelters
Rent and utility assistance:
http://www.nashville.gov/mac/comm_progs.htm
Assistance dealing with emotionally abusive spouse: (scroll down to Nashville)
http://www.hud.gov/local/tn/homeless/shelters.cfm
Assistance with evicting unauthorized tenant:
http://www.las.org/ - legal aid
http://www.attorneygeneral.state.tn.us/ - in my experience, the state attorney general’s office is excellent in answering general law questions
General social service assistance:
http://www.nashville.gov/sservices/index.htm
That said, she really is screwed. If the landlord considered his income in approving the lease then he should be on the lease. If they did not consider his income in approving the lease, how the heck did she get one on her own? Is she working? If she has an income, the landlord should be more than willing to work out payment arrangements with her - it’s cheaper than eviction. If she’s not working, she needs to get with social services ASAP. Then she needs to DTMFA.
Legal Aid of [insert county here] can usually help with housing issues/questions. Depending on the exact law in her state/city, it might not be all that easy for her landlord to evict her.
Can’t she sublet the apartment? Then, if she could get a sublettor to replace her deposit, she’d have her deposit back and solve the apartment issue with one fell swoop.
I was going to say this too. I know you said the management was being difficult, but some cities (like New York) require landlords to take subletters, maybe check the laws there? Also, if you give the landlord a choice between a subletter and nothing, they’ll probably take the subletter. Is craigslist popular there? She could put up a nice add with pictures, and maybe even offer the partial month for free, if its cheaper than the $1500.
Just some ideas, to add with everyone else’s advice. I hope she can get out of there soon.
I’d say contact the nearest woman’s shelter. If they can’t help, I’d say fuck the lease and get a bus ticket home before his behavior escalates to physically abusive. If I were her, I’d break the lease then try to arrange payments. I think they’re unlikely to sue her for the money if she is honestly trying to pay it back. If they do sue her, then that’s still (IMHO) better then being stuck in that situation.
That’s my take as well. Who the fuck cares about the lease and the finances when you are broke, getting out of an emotionally abusive marriage (that can escalate quickly), hundreds of miles from your family, and your mental health is in jeopardy.
No sensible person would stay in an abusive situation just because of a lease. She’s not seeing too clearly right now, which is why the advice to seek help is important.
Generally speaking, landlords are legally obligated to mitigate rental losses–that is, if she breaks the lease, the landlord must make an attempt to re-lease the apartment. When a new tenant is found, she is no longer liable for the remainder of the lease–only for the portion where it sat empty. Legal Aid and/or the tenants union should help explain this.
Tell her to get out and seek help now. Credit is much easier to repair than physical/emotional damage from her relationship. Find a women’s shelter or take that $200 and get a bus ticket home, whatever she needs to do. Sell the furniture to make up the $1500 to pay the landlord or something.
This is just an idea, but what if she told the landlord that she had to move out due to abuse? I would think the landlord wouldn’t want to be on the hook for anything happening to her.