Breaking a Lease

[Diania Kennedy]

My daughter signed a lease with 11 other girls to live in a sorority house in PA for 2 semesters. She paid for the first semester. One of the girls started harassing her continually including threats to do bodily harm. Because this started to cause her emotional distress, she called the landlord and informed him that she had to move out or asked him to evict the girl. He refused. She moved out owing the rent for the second semester. Now she hears that the landlord will sue her and also the girls want to sue so they can get their deposit back. It was stated in the lease that the landlord was to protect the tenant from other tenants. Any leg to stand on here? Thanks

 

[LL]

Not much. The time to have demanded performance by the landlord according to the promise in the lease, namely it was stated in the lease that the landlord was to protect the tenant from other tenants, has past, and your daughter just left.

You could have sent a letter notifying the landlord of the situation and demanding that the landlord perform, or your daughter will move out. That would have given him notice, plus an opportunity to "cure" the problem. That's an essential part of a contract violation. The two choices that your daughter offered him,"she called the landlord and informed him that she had to move out or asked him to evict the girl", neither one offered him opportunity to cure the problem. Thus, he would plead that he had no notice, that he had no opportunity to cure the breach.

Try sending a letter, not to the "girls" but officially to the sorority, saying it was the sorority's responsibility to make a wholesome residence for all the girls, and that it is unreasonable for them to have forced your daughter into leaving and also want her to continue to pay rent. Send a copy to the college dean that is responsible for sorority life.