Letter From Landlord- wwyd?

Dear Jeepmom & JeepDad:

We are in recipt of your letter informing us of your intention to vacate the property rent at 000 Overpiced, House, IL approximately the middle of August.

The lease that you signed in December 2005 does not expire until December 2006. Therefore, you will be accountable for any rent from the day you vacate until the property is re-rented.

As we get nearer to the date that you plan to vacate, we would apprreciate a couple of days notice of the specific date.

Thank-you,

Jerk LandLord

We pay rent 15th-15th. We are now turning in the keys 9/14/06.

So, will this hold up in court?

I would check you states renters laws to see what your rights actually are.

The first thing you need to do is check your lease. In virtually
every lease agreement, there is a clause stating how much (if any)
rent you must pay if you break the lease (breach your contract) before
the end of its term. Your lease is legally binding on both sides - if
your termination of contract clause states that you must pay XX
months rent or the remainder of the lease, I'm afraid you're probably stuck. (My own lease
agreement says that if I break my lease with 30 days notice for any
reason, I am obligated to pay for the *entire remainder of the lease
term*, or until the house is rented out again, whichever comes
first.)

If you do not have a copy of your rental agreement, your landlord is
legally obligated to provide one at your request:

"Civil Code Section 1962, 1962.5, and 1962.7 now require that
landlords must provide to tenants a copy of the rental agreement or a
written statement of its terms. (Upon request of the tenant, once a
year). Also required is that the rental agreement must disclose how
and to whom rent payments should be made."

In an article at Real Estate Today, a couple poses the question of
breaking a lease because they are moving into a house. Counselor of
Real Estate and Certified Property Manager Robert Griswold had this to
say:

"[...]you are responsible for the balance of the lease term yet the
owner must mitigate your damages; he must make a reasonable effort to
re-rent the property under the same or similar rental terms. You can
be held responsible for the (reasonable) actual advertising and other related
costs (credit checks, etc.). But, you are not responsible for the rent once
the house has been re-rented."

You signed the lease and yes the landlord can hold you too it till the property is rented again....

Read over your lease real closely and see requirements of breaking lease.....

Make sure your signature is on the lease......... not just a copy of a lease agreement.

Unfortunately, this does happen when you sign a lease... Their going to force you to live there till the lease runs out or pay anyways.....

It will hold up in court, plus added court expenses, etc.....

Here's something you may be able to offer the landlord. When my wife and I left our very first apartment into our first home, we left 3 months before the end of our lease agreement. Then, we got a certified letter stating what we owed them. Well, considering we owed them $1980, and we just bought a house, it was almost impossible to pay that off with one payment........so........we contacted them to work something out. The first thing was that our security deposit covered one month, but we still owed $1320.....so.....what we worked out with them was an agreement that we would pay so much per month until the balance was paid off. Of course, this had to be done in writing......basically, we had to provide a letter of good faith. This could be a good end result for you and for your landlord.

The contract is barely one at that. There is nothing on it really.

It's one shet that states:

JeepMom & JeepDad
Lease agreement
Dec 15, 2005-Dec 15,2006
XXX Crappy House
Mycity, IL

$800/month

It was the loosest lease I have ever seen. There was nothing to it. If I can find it I will scan it and post it.

Post a copy of it for us to look at...... may not be binding at all...........

Court wants to see documents.............. not a joke of a document.....

Its a simple piece of paper, no double/triplicate copies. It's not even a "go to office max and fill in the blanks" it's something he typed up in MS Word. There is no out statements.

I've figured out what we are going to do and I'll post it here once iget it all typed out.

We will be terminating our lease for XXXX XXXXXXXX on September 14, 2006. The original date of August 14, 2006 for moving out is no longer valid. This is giving you two months to re-rent the house. We will not be paying any money beyond the rent covering August 15-Spetember 15th month.

We have asked for four months for issues to be addressed with this house and they have not been taken care of.
• Screens are missing in 5 windows. This has lead to increased cooling bills as I could not open all of the windows in the house to accommodate proper air flow. My child is allergic to bug bites (as documented by her physician) so I am not able to open windows without screens in fear that my child would be bitten by a bug.
• There has been an ant infestation in the house. They have been found in the living room, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, and dining rooms.
• The left-hand window in the dinning room is broken. My youngest child has been injured repeatedly on the opening arm for this window.Adding for here, this window is at floor level
• The front screen leading into the house is sharp and has holes. This again is another safety hazard for my children.
• Fecal matter has repeatedly backed up into the bathtub. When the maintenance man has come to de-clog the toilet he has never cleaned and properly sanitized the mess. This has lead to illnesses in the house.
• The toilet has never been properly installed after the second repair. Caulking is missing.

At this time I am also requesting a copy of the lease agreement.

If he decided to evict us dh works with a guy that has a trailer that we could live in until we close on the house.

Yes, and anything else you can find to add to this that needs his repairs..... he is the landlord, responsible for repairs.......

Will give him something to think about............

Might work............. hope so..............

PS If he files eviction notice................. he breaks the lease, not you....

I know the pictures are huge but I wanted you to be able to read them.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v151/TaylorsMommyJen/lease1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v151/TaylorsMommyJen/lease2.jpg

Okay,

The lease is on a "month to month basis" only........

If you leave before the 12 months period, ONLY THEN is the DEPOSIT is non-refundable.......

Sorry about the landlords luck................. he cannot collect anymore rent or future rent that you might have paid.......

He can only take your security deposit (300.00) and cleaning fee (200.00)....... nothing else.....

Heck, you can live there, pay no rent and make him evict you since its a month to month contract.

Bad looking lease in my business..................

A contract cannot state "month to month basis" and then stipulate 12 month lease...........

Also notice the dates under monies rec'd. 12/15/05 to 1/15/05 that makes no sense. Did he mean 06 or 07? I don't know. The next paragraph says month to month. I would take it as month to month? If he meant 07 that's 13 months, not 12. If he meant 06 that's month to month, not 12 month.

I'm tkaing out the part about not paying any more money. Here's the new top-paragraph:
We will be terminating our lease for XXX XXXXXXX on September 14, 2006. The original date of August 14, 2006 for moving out is no longer valid. This is giving you two months to re-rent the house and to fix the following issues allowing to re-rent the house prior to our vacating.

The dates only reflect that your rent is paid till the next month and that he received a deposit and cleaning fees from you also...... and yes he made that typical year end date error......

Yes, delete the part about not paying any more money, just give him the date of moving and turning in the keys......

You probably won't get your deposit back.... but that's the way it goes sometimes......

Just make sure he don't try to charge you MORE for damages...... you have already got a depost down for any damages.....

This is a month to month agreement. The clause that they will keep your security deposit is not valid in most states. In fact in some states, keeping will subject the Landlord to having to pay you TRIPLE damages.

You are fine. They may sue, but if they do, just bring the contract to court.

First....It does state month to month. We have a lease, and it CLEARLY states, 12 months....nowhere does it say month to month.
Second...uhmm?? have you lived there for more than one year so far? Those dates? Have you signed a curent lease?....because those dates are not even vailid!! it say 05...? he messed up in the dates!! .kinda hard tro hold up in court, I would think...LOL

PLUS..I can't find where is says ..IN WRITING if you break the lease you are responsible for the "remaining months" of the lease? It says costs will occurm and the deposit will be forfited,...... but not nery clear there!!

Again I think the landlord screwed up by stating..."month to month"...that was the first thing that was COMPLETELY different from a yearly lease.

Also here is an idea... make sure you have a digital camera and take picutres NOW -TODAY of any damages. Send him a letter NOW-Today and report the damages...if he doesnt reply or fix anything, there is another grounds for breaking the lease.....at least it gives you some leverage. Also it covers you butt so he doesn't turn around and say you trashed it.

good luck

Yep, this can legally be considered a "month to month" lease.

Partly because of the dates the landlord listed. AND,........... There's no total $$ value attached to the lease.

Our Lease specifially states the time frame from June 1, 2006 to May 31, 2007, AND there's a total $$ amount associated with the lease. Basically, 12 months rent total.

If your Lease had said the Lease value was $9600 ($800/mo x 12 months), then for sure, it would be a 12 month lease. If you left early, you'd owe the difference between the $9600 and what you actually did pay in rent/mo.

The way this lease is worded, if you leave before the 12 months is up, you simply forfiet your security deposit. That's your total financial liability.

Well, doesn't matter anymore the deal just tanked.

We are on to another house hunt.

The owner is now claiming to have cancer and this is just too much stress on them. They can not put a roof on prior to close but the ywoudl sell for $89K plus $5K rebate, the bank says no way(Bank said roof then closing no matter what).

So, they won't puyt the roof on, the house goes back on the market and everyone looses out.

Yea, the realtor sent me a list there are some prospects on it for sure.

Yea, the realtor sent me a list there are some prospects on it for sure.

Although it must be disappointing now, JeepMom, it's quite possible you may have narrowly dodged a real 'money pit'. It raises my red flag when your homeowner promises, "Sure we'll fix the roof", but suddenly now days later they "have cancer and just can't deal with it." Just doesn't ring true to me. Wonder what's really going on with that house?

You WILL find a house for those lovely children of yours to enjoy growing up in, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit if it's an even better house than this one!Hang in there and post house photos here of the ones you're considering - heaven knows we aren't a very shy group around here. You'll have plenty of "should or shouldn't buy" opinions to pick through! lol! :D Good luck in your search!

Although it must be disappointing now, JeepMom, it's quite possible you may have narrowly dodged a real 'money pit'. It raises my red flag when your homeowner promises, "Sure we'll fix the roof", but suddenly now days later they "have cancer and just can't deal with it." Just doesn't ring true to me. Wonder what's really going on with that house?

I too followed her other threads, the facts sure SWAYED all over the place. no mtg, max'd out mtg, paying for roof, now there not. I question if the TALL tales are coming from the seller or if Jeepmom really doesn't have a good handle on things. Lots of great questions were asked by scammer, she couldn't answer any of them. I truly think she has no clue on what assessed value means or is, STILL. This is not an individual that should be buying real estate without major assistance from parents or husband. We all do dumb things, I want breast augmentation prior to filing, but Jeepmommy is the classic definition of a "FART IN A SKILLETT, and takes the cake in front of anything I was contemplating. She needs to slow down, breathe, and listen to people. I truly hope she finds a nice place but this deal she put up on the board, could have sunk her for the second time.

Umm excuse me?

I do know what I am doing with real estate purchases. I did answer scammers questions. The only one I didn't answer was the roofing code and that's because I don't know what it is.

The what's the story was comming from my realtor and my own personal ASSUMPTIONS, there were never concrete facts and I don't recall ever posting it like it was.

Do you really think my husand has nothing to do with us buying a house?

Assesed is different than appraised. I mentioned NOTHING of an assestment.

Keep your fake tits out of my threads. Real estate is real unlike the fake tits you so depserately want to scam a dr out of.

Okay you guys this is getting out of hand...leave the mud-slinging and crude remarks out of these posts...those comments are totally unwelcome and uncalled for. Regardless of the reason(s) the bottom line is she lost the house and that is very disappointing but I am sure there are lots of other houses. I have to agree though if the house I was going to purchase had a clause that said it could be sold for xxxxxx after the owner does this, that or the other, I am waiting until he does the this, that or the other. I work for an agency that fields a zillion complaints from consumers who moved into apartments with the landlord promising to do and those things somehow never get done. I even talked with a lady who rented her apartment AT NIGHT and claimed that in the light of the day it was a dump...and it was what the night before? Sometimes people have all the best of intentions but the majority of times they are gambling the consumer will rent the apt or buy the house and then take their own sweet time(if at all) getting things repaired. IN the future though Jeep Mom dont put your signature on anything like that so called rental agreement until you read it carefully. Hundreds of people buy cars from some fast talking saleperson and after their sign the contract realize they have bought too much car and want to get out of the contract. It is called buyers remorse; the contract is valid unless the dealership is willing to void the contract and what do you think the chances of that are? The lawyers who work for our agency have told us that despite the fact the wording in the agreement is garbled you still signed it. It is a good idea to take pictures but next time take them when you first move in. A man won his case in court because he did that. The landlord tried to deny the place was a disaster but the tenant proved his case big time...those digital cameras are a godsend.

I was smart and have pictures from every month proving how many months it's been like this.

Umm excuse me?

I do know what I am doing with real estate purchases. I did answer scammers questions. The only one I didn't answer was the roofing code and that's because I don't know what it is.

The what's the story was comming from my realtor and my own personal ASSUMPTIONS, there were never concrete facts and I don't recall ever posting it like it was.

Do you really think my husand has nothing to do with us buying a house?

Assesed is different than appraised. I mentioned NOTHING of an assestment.

Keep your fake tits out of my threads. Real estate is real unlike the fake tits you so depserately want to scam a dr out of.

Hey your the one that wrote the stuff, sorry if I sound harsh. My opinion of your real estate abilities is probably the same as what people think of the stupid thing I asked. We all act or do stupid things, I admit mine, look how bad people jumped on my goofy idea, please go read all your posts again, it is embarrassing if I posted that circus. Please don't take any insult to this, and consider forums as a way to bounce ideas, with a argumentative and debatable style. People are allowed to put up opinions all over these boards on the internet. Just because I think your goofy too, doesn't mean I think badly of you, I appreciate you teaching me how to post foto's. I promise not to heckle you anymore regarding this comical real estate adventure. But, please don't tell me I can't read them anymore, you are on my list of unintentional comedians and I love reading your posts and look forward to seeing them.

Ladies, please!

You guys normally get along so great, please try and keep the peace!

although I have to admit the "keep your fake tits out of my thread" statement was freaking hilarious!

Ladies, please!

You guys normally get along so great, please try and keep the peace!

although I have to admit the "keep your fake tits out of my thread" statement was freaking hilarious!


She brings them up in every thread. I could post that a squirel farted and she'd find a way to bring up her boobs.

I don't get what's so commical about the house buying process. I wonder if she has ever bought a house. Normaly hosue buying is not a quick and easy process.

We had the offer accepted. We did the inspection. They fixed some inspection stuff. Then we went back and forth about the roof. Then they backed out of the deal. We are getting our earnest money back. It happens all the time and I don't understand why my misfortune(or goodfortune depending on you look at it) in loosing this house is funny. Yes, real life experiences happening here ya know.

For what it's worth we're taking a look at a house we looked at when we started this whole mess. The sellers are motivated as they are no longer in the house. It's in good shape as far as we can tell just needs some updating.

Ladies, please!

You guys normally get along so great, please try and keep the peace!

although I have to admit the "keep your fake tits out of my thread" statement was freaking hilarious!

A little light hearted teasing never hurt anyone. She wil get a nice house, in fact my guess, if she SHOWS patience maybe this one. House she likes isn't within code, owner is forced to fix it. She would be smart to lay in the weeds and wait. But my hunch is she thinks the money is burning a hole in the bankers pocket, and has to do a deal. The worst thing any of us could wish on her, is she jumps from the skillet to the frying pan, and gets herself into another financial problem. But again, love is blind.

She brings them up in every thread. I could post that a squirel farted and she'd find a way to bring up her boobs.

I don't get what's so commical about the house buying process. I wonder if she has ever bought a house. Normaly hosue buying is not a quick and easy process.

We had the offer accepted. We did the inspection. They fixed some inspection stuff. Then we went back and forth about the roof. Then they backed out of the deal. We are getting our earnest money back. It happens all the time and I don't understand why my misfortune(or goodfortune depending on you look at it) in loosing this house is funny. Yes, real life experiences happening here ya know.

For what it's worth we're taking a look at a house we looked at when we started this whole mess. The sellers are motivated as they are no longer in the house. It's in good shape as far as we can tell just needs some updating.

Perhaps you missed it, Realtor six years.

JeepMom,.............

I'm so sorry that this deal has gone sour on you. But am also hoping that a new window in time brings an absolutely wonderful home to you and your family.

Broke,.............

JM's story hasn't been out of line. Last fall, after only a month on the market we almost got a fabulous offer. Too good to be true. Within $2K of full asking price. No contingencies. Supposedly excellent credit. Yah dee yah dee yah.

The gal was in town, the guy was in PA. She signed everything, the Realtor faxed all the paperwork to him. He supposedly signed everything on the offer and faxed it all back. All BUT the last page. THE most important page. It wasn't an official offer without that signature page.

Turns out, they didn't have the credit to shop in our price range. Last I heard, instead of looking at $300K houses, they were shopping $100K. All too wierd and all too true.

Next offer, early November, before Thanksgiving, Sprint Corporate relo. Tell me Sprint was not paying all costs??!! The buyers wanted us to pay all their closing costs AND they lowballed the offer TOO. They pestered with us, counter offer after counter offer. Same thing over and over. Low ball price, seller pays all closing costs.

Next offer was a contingency. The Hubby really wanted the house. The Wife didn't. And she saw to it that they did not buy our house. She had a Real Estate "friend" of hers come and do the CMA. They, wife and RE friend, over priced their house $15K-$20K above what the market would bear. No showings. 3 months pass. No sale. During the prime spring season. And the guy did not know. Once their contingency expired, wife allowed for the price to drop on their house so they could sell it. That guy's wife screwed not only him but us as well.

We go into Foreclosure and get saved by an offer made a week before the Auction. Our Lender's Foreclosure Tech literally called the Court House on Auction day and cancelled the sale.

Odd things really do happen in Real Estate deals. What JM has gone thru is totally believable. First the sellers will fix it, then they want to escrow the money. Realtors know things like that can and do happen every day.

I did tell dh that if he really wanted to salvage the hosue we could go find the roofing code and tell them that the roof is out housing code. He said forget it. We both think that if we went back and showed them the code they would just pull the house off the market totaly.(Which they should) I may look up the code to give my realtor to pass onto thier realtor.

We're going to look at a house today. I'll take the camera because there aren't any with the listing. We've looked at it before. It's higer priced, smaller garage, bigger yard. PRIME location. It's about 5 min from where dh works. It has the country club street name but you don't have to join because it's not on the property. The big problem we see so far is the entire house needs paint and cleaned. The kitchen and bath both need updating. Like I said I'll take the camera and post pictures.

I did tell dh that if he really wanted to salvage the hosue we could go find the roofing code and tell them that the roof is out housing code. He said forget it. We both think that if we went back and showed them the code they would just pull the house off the market totaly.(Which they should) I may look up the code to give my realtor to pass onto thier realtor.

We're going to look at a house today. I'll take the camera because there aren't any with the listing. We've looked at it before. It's higer priced, smaller garage, bigger yard. PRIME location. It's about 5 min from where dh works. It has the country club street name but you don't have to join because it's not on the property. The big problem we see so far is the entire house needs paint and cleaned. The kitchen and bath both need updating. Like I said I'll take the camera and post pictures.

Great, the problem rests were it should, on there shoulders. Talking tough and saying they will pull the house off market is BS. They want to sell it, its vacant, watch they will find money to fix it, and they can raise the price all they want. In the end it will change hands close to your offer price.

The first house has people in it.

The second one, the one we are looking at today is vacant.

Dear Jeepmom & JeepDad:

We are in recipt of your letter informing us of your intention to vacate the property rent at 000 Overpiced, House, IL approximately the middle of August.

The lease that you signed in December 2005 does not expire until December 2006. Therefore, you will be accountable for any rent from the day you vacate until the property is re-rented.

As we get nearer to the date that you plan to vacate, we would apprreciate a couple of days notice of the specific date.

Thank-you,

Jerk LandLord

We pay rent 15th-15th. We are now turning in the keys 9/14/06.

So, will this hold up in court?

doesn't sound good so far........12 month contract you entered

The first thing you need to do is check your lease. In virtually
every lease agreement, there is a clause stating how much (if any)
rent you must pay if you break the lease (breach your contract) before
the end of its term. Your lease is legally binding on both sides - if
your termination of contract clause states that you must pay XX
months rent or the remainder of the lease, I'm afraid you're probably stuck. (My own lease
agreement says that if I break my lease with 30 days notice for any
reason, I am obligated to pay for the *entire remainder of the lease
term*, or until the house is rented out again, whichever comes
first.)

If you do not have a copy of your rental agreement, your landlord is
legally obligated to provide one at your request:

"Civil Code Section 1962, 1962.5, and 1962.7 now require that
landlords must provide to tenants a copy of the rental agreement or a
written statement of its terms. (Upon request of the tenant, once a
year). Also required is that the rental agreement must disclose how
and to whom rent payments should be made."

In an article at Real Estate Today, a couple poses the question of
breaking a lease because they are moving into a house. Counselor of
Real Estate and Certified Property Manager Robert Griswold had this to
say:

"[...]you are responsible for the balance of the lease term yet the
owner must mitigate your damages; he must make a reasonable effort to
re-rent the property under the same or similar rental terms. You can
be held responsible for the (reasonable) actual advertising and other related
costs (credit checks, etc.). But, you are not responsible for the rent once
the house has been re-rented."

correcto mundo

Keep reading. :)

You signed the lease and yes the landlord can hold you too it till the property is rented again....

Read over your lease real closely and see requirements of breaking lease.....

Make sure your signature is on the lease......... not just a copy of a lease agreement.

Unfortunately, this does happen when you sign a lease... Their going to force you to live there till the lease runs out or pay anyways.....

It will hold up in court, plus added court expenses, etc.....

yup

Scammer, the actual lease is posted.

I know the pictures are huge but I wanted you to be able to read them.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v151/TaylorsMommyJen/lease1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v151/TaylorsMommyJen/lease2.jpg


good girl let me look

I know the pictures are huge but I wanted you to be able to read them.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v151/TaylorsMommyJen/lease1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v151/TaylorsMommyJen/lease2.jpg


Mo to mo and then also a twelve mo commitment? what the hell is that? Ever see those people driving down the road taking two lanes and you can't pass. I am screaming pic a lane buster, as I lean on the little annoying Porsche horn. Then they give you a dirty look as you go by. My guess is you will go right by too. Judges sigh with tenants, landlords need to do a good job, and convey things in a upfront manor with tenants. They are held up to the laws, more than tenants are. Confusing language, and the judge will probably sigh with you. But that is not a promise, you have a crappy lease, why did you sign this thing like that. Mo to Mo leases can jack rent up any old time.

We were in town for 2 days and had to find something. We were living 4 hours away at the time.

The dates only reflect that your rent is paid till the next month and that he received a deposit and cleaning fees from you also...... and yes he made that typical year end date error......

Yes, delete the part about not paying any more money, just give him the date of moving and turning in the keys......

You probably won't get your deposit back.... but that's the way it goes sometimes......

Just make sure he don't try to charge you MORE for damages...... you have already got a depost down for any damages.....

Insist on a walk through upon vacating, I think your downside is $300, so what. Your country folks right?, that is two tanks of gas in a F250 pickup.
Protect yourself, walk through with la ndlord, agree on damages if any. Write down and agree on what the disputes are. If he wants to chase you in court let him, bad thing is he can attach to your house a judgement. But again, I think lease sucks, and you win. This is typed very fast, and quickly,i gnore my bad grammer.

i'm outta here, u seem like a nice lady, only jab i would make is slow down a tad, you will get in less scrapes, If you wanted a twelve for your family, great, but mo to mo allows him to raise rent. If you wanted a mo to mo, then I would have balked at twelve on there. Although, I think the thing, really says, your a mo to mo, and doing it for twelve, and if you break you lose your deposit, thats it. Omnly problem with this is, what happens if he started hiking the rent? slow down.......

I am meeting with a lawyer today about the lease. He's looking at it for free as the initial consultation.