Lease option ?

[trubrit]

I am in a house that i moved into with the option to purchase, since i have moved in i have discovered that there are major problems with the house and in addition my spouse and i are separating/divorcing. We have another 4 months in which we must honor the lease. Recently we were asked by a neighbor if we had ever been inspected, we discovered that in our City within our County in Maryland you must have a license to rent your property and that the property must be inspected at least every 1/4. Does anybody know if, because there may not be a license (we have not been inspected, ever)are we able to break the lease....? I do not wish to send out any red flags by going to our local council who in turn may alert the owner. I really want to move out as soon as possible.

 

[HomeGuru]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by trubrit:
I am in a house that i moved into with the option to purchase, since i have moved in i have discovered that there are major problems with the house and in addition my spouse and i are separating/divorcing. We have another 4 months in which we must honor the lease. Recently we were asked by a neighbor if we had ever been inspected, we discovered that in our City within our County in Maryland you must have a license to rent your property and that the property must be inspected at least every 1/4. Does anybody know if, because there may not be a license (we have not been inspected, ever)are we able to break the lease....? I do not wish to send out any red flags by going to our local council who in turn may alert the owner. I really want to move out as soon as possible.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Interesting strategy but usually the County just gives a slap on the wrist to landlords. Check to see if your landlord has a license and when the last time (if ever) the home was inspected. You are entilted to move out early only if you have a problem, put the landlord on notice of a major problem affecting the health and safety of the occupants and the landlord refuses to do anything. Ex: sewer line backing up into the home or lights sparking all the time. If these conditions are not fixed after proper written notice was given to the landlord, you can break the lease and move out early.

 

[Tracey]

Read the MD statute on L's duty to repair. I won't quote it, as it's quite long. You can find it at § 8-211 Real Property. I doubt this will work, since you didn't mention any repairs that need to be done.

Your best bet is to find a replacement tenant. If you do, L has no damages & loses no rent. You even get your security deposit back.

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This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws.

 

[trubrit]

There is actually a few things that are in need of repair, 1. we are unable to use the bathtub because when it drains the water comes through the ceiling. 2. we have an exhaust fan in the kitchen that leeks water whenever it rains, was really bad when the snow created an ice-dam, 3. the dishwasher floods the kitchen floor everytime we use it, and 4. during the recent winter, ice-damming formed over the family room and when it melted it looked as though we had pretty waterfalls over all 9 windows, all the water came inside, needless to say the damage has created a nasty eyesore that we have continually asked for repairs on, we have a date set for Aug 15, almost 6 months after the fact. The other stuff was reported to the L within the first few weeks of living here, still we wait, unfortunately none was put in writing to L.

 

[trubrit]

after re-reading the reply from Home-Guru I realised that yes we have a major problem, our lights are continually blowing the trip switches, whenever i use the microwave it blows the entire kitchen and sometimes the family room. we have tried to tell L there is an electrical problem but they are in denial.....one evening i was watching TV with my daughter and our table lamp suddenly threw a flash that looked like it extended at least 1ft out of the lamp itself, top and bottom, this blew all the lights and the tv, when i flipped the trip switch and went to investigate the lamp, i felt certain it was not of any more use, but when i plugged it in it worked fine..?..anyway i believe i will now move forward and request an inspection in the hopes that they will not fix anything and then i will be able to move out.....thank yu home-guru and als to tracey.

God Bless you both

 

[HomeGuru]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by trubrit:
after re-reading the reply from Home-Guru I realised that yes we have a major problem, our lights are continually blowing the trip switches, whenever i use the microwave it blows the entire kitchen and sometimes the family room. we have tried to tell L there is an electrical problem but they are in denial.....one evening i was watching TV with my daughter and our table lamp suddenly threw a flash that looked like it extended at least 1ft out of the lamp itself, top and bottom, this blew all the lights and the tv, when i flipped the trip switch and went to investigate the lamp, i felt certain it was not of any more use, but when i plugged it in it worked fine..?..anyway i believe i will now move forward and request an inspection in the hopes that they will not fix anything and then i will be able to move out.....thank yu home-guru and als to tracey.

God Bless you both<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Do not use the lamp anymore. The microwave problem is probably due to an overload at the 15 amp breaker kitchen circuit. Electrical conditions such as those that you have described are not something to take lightly. Hire a licensed electrician to fix the problems immediately and deduct the repair amount from your next rent payment. Notify your landlord in writing that you had to do this as an emergency to mitigate shock and fire hazards. Have the elecrician document the unsafe conditions on the invoice. Play it safe and do not get burned by your landlord.