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Can I Break My Lease?

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freegem

Junior Member
I am renting a house in Texas. The driveway has a brick retaining wall on one side. The wall fell into my driveway several months ago during a rain storm and still has not been fixed because the landlord says she cannot afford it. Now I have found a house I would like to buy, but my landlord wants to charge me two months of rent in order to break my lease. The portion of the brick retaining wall that remains is still leaning and I believe more of it could fall given the right conditions. I have children who walk by this brick retaining wall every day. Could I use this as a reason to break my lease? We have requested several times for the wall to be repaired, but with no success. It has been several months now.
 


Gail in Georgia

Senior Member
Let's be honest here. It sounds as if you are looking for a legal reason to break your lease without having to pay the lease breaking fee so you can buy a house and attempting to justify a leaning/falling brick wall in the driveway as making the house "uninhabitable".

Reasons for breaking a lease in Texas:


When Breaking a Lease Is Justified in Texas

There are some important exceptions to the blanket rule that a tenant who breaks a lease owes the rent for the entire lease term. You may be able to legally move out before the lease term ends in the following situations.
You Are Starting Active Military Duty

If you enter active military service after signing a lease, you have a right to break the lease under federal law. (War and National Defense Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 App. U.S.C.A. §§ 501 and following.) You must be part of the “uniformed services,” which includes the armed forces, commissioned corps of the national Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), commissioned corps of the Public Health Service, and the activated National Guard. You must give your landlord written notice of your intent to terminate your tenancy for military reasons. Once the notice is mailed or delivered, your tenancy will terminate 30 days after the date that rent is next due, even if that date is several months before your lease expires. State law may provide additional rules for early termination due to active military duty.
You Are a Victim (or the Parent of a Victim) of Sexual Assault or Stalking

State law (Tex. Prop. Code Ann. § 92.0161) provides early termination rights for tenants who are victims of sexual assault or stalking, provided that specified conditions are met (such as the tenant securing a protective order).
The Rental Unit Is Unsafe or Violates Texas Health or Safety Codes

If your landlord does not provide habitable housing under local and state housing codes, a court would probably conclude that you have been “constructively evicted;” this means that the landlord, by supplying unlivable housing, has for all practical purposes “evicted” you, so you have no further responsibility for the rent. Texas law (Tex. Prop Code Ann. §§ 92.056, 92.0561) sets specific requirements for the procedures you must follow before moving out because of a major repair problem. The problem must be truly serious, such as the lack of heat or other essential service.
Your Landlord Harasses You or Violates Your Privacy Rights

Texas does not have a state law that specifies the amount of notice your landlord must give you to enter rental property. If your landlord repeatedly violates your rights to privacy, or does things like removing windows or doors, turning off your utilities, or changing the locks, you would be considered “constructively evicted,” as described above; this would usually justify you breaking the lease without further rent obligation.


Gail
 

freegem

Junior Member
I see. So if I tried to claim that the property was uninhabitable solely based on the leaning brick wall, then I would likely lose that fight in small claims court?
 

Gail in Georgia

Senior Member
" I see. So if I tried to claim that the property was uninhabitable solely based on the leaning brick wall, then I would likely lose that fight in small claims court? "

Yes. Have you discussed working with your landlord to attempt to find a suitable tenant to replace you instead?

Unfortunately, buying a house is also not a legal reason to break a lease without paying the lease breaking fee.

Gail
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
I see. So if I tried to claim that the property was uninhabitable solely based on the leaning brick wall, then I would likely lose that fight in small claims court?
How tall is the wall and how avoidable is it to walk close enough to be hit by falling bricks or dirt. If its a 6ft wall and you have to walk close to it to enter the home could be one thing...but if its a two or three foot wall and easily avoidable, that's entirely another.

If the wall is all that would prevent the house above you from sliding into the house you live in, in a mudslide, that is one thing...if its basically landscaping, that is entirely another.

In other words, what is the REAL danger, if any.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
The portion of the brick retaining wall that remains is still leaning and I believe more of it could fall given the right conditions. I have children who walk by this brick retaining wall every day.
You're so full of it - if you were really afraid that the wall could fall at any moment, then you wouldn't let your children walk right next to it EVERY DAY. :rolleyes:

Gail's right - you're just trying to figure out how to wiggle out of your valid lease.
 

freegem

Junior Member
Sorry for the delayed response.


STEPHAN: The requests are in our text message conversations, so I guess that counts as having them in writing.


Gail: Yes, we have come to the agreement that finding a replacement tenant will allow to us break our lease without paying.


LdiJ: The height of the wall ranges from 4 feet to 1 foot tall. It is possible to avoid walking by the wall.


Zigner: You are correct. I am basically just looking for a way to break my lease without paying $2,100, but the children do still go near it. We can tell them to stay away from it as much as we want, but they'll still walk near it and climb on it because they don't realize how much of a danger it is.


Who would be liable for an injury if the wall did fall on someone? Would the home owner be liable since we have requested to have it fixed several times?
 

STEPHAN

Senior Member
The requests are in our text message conversations, so I guess that counts as having them in writing.
No. I can fake a text message in 1 minute. Registered mail with return receipt and a witness for a copy of what was put in the letter counts. Start a paper trail.
 

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