gregg6170 said:
The reason I'm asking is that when we rented we informed the landlord we wanted to rent for a year and we were then going to look for a home. After a year the landlord said that if we give notice we could break the lease. Unfortunately she passed away and the family does know of our agreement, (Yes, There was nothing written). Well we had a grease fire and the firemen stated that the law requires the landlord to provide extinguishers.
I'm buying a home and The family is trying to collect on the remainder of the lease.
We also informed the landlord that we had a renter to move in after we moved out but they decided to put the house on the market and sell it, they are in know hurry to sell since they thing they have 3 months of payments left.
Thank You
Gregg
OK
grease fire: your responibility. fire extinguisher may have lessened the damage but ultimately the damage is on you.
extinguisher: there may be local codes that require it. if so, call the fire marshall and report it. the cheap and simple fix is the LL will put one in. Not justification to break the lease.
breaking the lease: are you allowed to sub-lease? If so, rent to the gut what wants to for the remainder of the lease, then it is up for grabs but you are out of it.
If you do leave early, with nothing written, it will be a tough row to hoe in court to prove the verbal agreement. If you do leave, the LL
has to try to re-rent which would mitigate the damages. If he reufses to re-rent, he cannot claim the loss of rent against you. The fact you have a ready renter (is this renter acceptable to the LL though?) it would seem your liabilities would be minimal; Loss of deposit, plus normal moving out espenses (cleaning etc.)