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Breaking a lease, PLEASE HELP

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mibli

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Minnesota

My fiance and I signed a year long lease starting June, 1 2005 and ending one year after that. About two weeks after living here he started forming a rash. We have lived together for four years prior to this event in apartments in Duluth while we went to college. Disregarding it as poison ivy or oak or something he dealt with the itching and irritation for about three weeks until it covered his whole body. We were only on temporary health insurance waiting to be married so we did not see a doctor until about July, 6th when we finally went to urgent care. At this point it was horrible... he was given steroids and an antihistamine for the itching. He made it through our wedding on the 16th and the following week hoping his rash would clear up. It was still bad. We went on our honeymoon from July, 23 through the 30th and we thought we finally beat this rash. We were out of our apartment for a full week and he was almost completely healed when we came home. We went back to work and living in our apartment for almost a week when the rash came back as bad as ever. My new husband went to the doctor with his father, when this rash once again covered his whole body and kept him awake all night. This time the doctor prescribed steroids, antihistamines, and antibiotics because part of the rash on his body had become infected. He had an appointment to meet back with this doctor in a little more than ten days. We were optimistic that he would finally get better but had to give up this hope even before his follow-up visit. At this time my husband's family believed that my husband must be having physical reactions to our environment (the carpet, insulation, water, air filters?). We weren't sure, but since we lived together over four years prior to being married and have the same furniture and detergent and all cleaning supplies that we have always used, this was the only "difference" in our lives. We decided to try to find out if this could be what my husband was reacting to, so for one full week we moved in with my husbands parents. Three days after living at his parents he saw a dermatologist who took a skin graft to determine if it could be psyriosis. There is no record of this disease in his family, but the symptoms seemed to match. They also prescribed a topical cream. He began to recover but felt it was more from the environment change than the cream. We stayed at his parents house for a full week. His skin went back to a regular color and he could finally sleep at night. The last two nights we stayed at his parents house he slept over twelve hours. When he had his rash he averaged about five hours a night. We have now been in our apartment again for five days while he was still using this topical cream. The rash is back and he isn't sleeping again. Today we also got the results from the biopsy, which only concluded that it was "psyriosis like". This tells us nothing because even if it were psyriosis, the reaction could be triggered from allergies to the environment. We have decided to move back in with his parents because he can't live under these conditions. Our lease has no health issues specified for reasons to break a lease. Is there anyway we can break a lease with a doctors note or by going to court? We can't live here with this condition and there is no way we can afford more than one rent payment. Is there any legal advice you can give me? We would be willing to go to court if this is a valid claim.
Thank you for your time,
Please give us any information you think might help us.
 


mibli

Junior Member
We are planning on talking to the leasing office tomorrow morning, I was trying to figure out what rights we have or if there is a good way to present this issue. I did call them once about two weeks ago to ask what kind of carpet was in the apartment and all the woman said was that it was a stain resistant carpet.
 

shortbus

Member
Every residential lease contains an implied warranty of habitability. If the carpet is making your husband sick, it is arguably not habitable. The landlord either needs to correct it or let you out of your lease.

A lot depends on Minn law. Hire a good landlord/tenant lawyer and let him do the work.
 

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