Litigious Landlord puts new clause in lease binding tenant to pay his legal bills!?

[hering]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ

Thank you in advance...
I am a NJ tenant having resided in my unit for 5 years with no written lease in place.
Landlord has raised rent and is asking me to sign a lease which contains the following clause...

Attorney's Fees... In connection with all the Tenants defaults and all litigation involving either of the parties and this lease, tenant shall pay to landlord all reasonable fees, costs and other expenses which may become payable as a result thereof or in connection therewith including reasonable attorneys fees and expenses. Tenant will also pay landlords attorneys fees and expenses even if the tenant initiates the litigation or in connection with the defense of any and all counterclaims or cross claims by tenant. in connection with disputes arising from the negotiation of a new lease or lease extensions and/or for any and all appeals. Any provision in this lease affording landlord attorneys fees shall be considered as additional rent."

landlord is too litigious for me to want this in there... he will not willingly omit it. is this a situation where i can either sign or be evicted.. do i have a defense? I cant find any case law with regards to this..
thank you again.

 

[BL]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ

Thank you in advance...
I am a NJ tenant having resided in my unit for 5 years with no written lease in place.
Landlord has raised rent and is asking me to sign a lease which contains the following clause...

Attorney's Fees... In connection with all the Tenants defaults and all litigation involving either of the parties and this lease, tenant shall pay to landlord all reasonable fees, costs and other expenses which may become payable as a result thereof or in connection therewith including reasonable attorneys fees and expenses. Tenant will also pay landlords attorneys fees and expenses even if the tenant initiates the litigation or in connection with the defense of any and all counterclaims or cross claims by tenant. in connection with disputes arising from the negotiation of a new lease or lease extensions and/or for any and all appeals. Any provision in this lease affording landlord attorneys fees shall be considered as additional rent."

landlord is too litigious for me to want this in there... he will not willingly omit it. is this a situation where i can either sign or be evicted.. do i have a defense? I cant find any case law with regards to this..
thank you again.

Without a lease , you are month to month and if you do not sign a lease , the LL will most likely give you notice to vacate , or the LL already may have informed you as such.

Generally a court will not enforce a clause or part of it that goes against State landlord/tenant Laws.

If you did default or were served with eviction , the LL would generally be able to have those cost added to a Judgment .

If you paid late and were served a pay or quit , then paid it's reasonable for the LL to recover that cost .

I'm not sure how the court would rule if you initiated court against the LL .

If you won , it's highly unlikely you would have to pay the LL's cost.

Is there any thing you can do ?

Either move or sign the lease and if legal action occurs take your chances that the clause or part of it can not be enforced under the Law.

Look up you State's LL/Tenant law and see if there is mention about clauses that are unenforceable .

If so approach the LL about changing the clause according to Law.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ

Thank you in advance...
I am a NJ tenant having resided in my unit for 5 years with no written lease in place.
Landlord has raised rent and is asking me to sign a lease which contains the following clause...

Attorney's Fees... In connection with all the Tenants defaults and all litigation involving either of the parties and this lease, tenant shall pay to landlord all reasonable fees, costs and other expenses which may become payable as a result thereof or in connection therewith including reasonable attorneys fees and expenses. Tenant will also pay landlords attorneys fees and expenses even if the tenant initiates the litigation or in connection with the defense of any and all counterclaims or cross claims by tenant. in connection with disputes arising from the negotiation of a new lease or lease extensions and/or for any and all appeals. Any provision in this lease affording landlord attorneys fees shall be considered as additional rent."

landlord is too litigious for me to want this in there... he will not willingly omit it. is this a situation where i can either sign or be evicted.. do i have a defense? I cant find any case law with regards to this..
thank you again.

Honestly, I would move out before I would ever sign a lease containing a clause like that.

 

[You Are Guilty]

People! You're slipping. Note the state again.

http://www.lsnjlaw.org/Housing/Landlord-Tenant/Leases/Pages/Ending-Leases.aspx#.Un6sTXC9KSM

NOTE! Before you end or break a lease, you must understand a basic rule about landlord-tenant law in New Jersey. Because of the Anti-Eviction Act, you cannot be evicted simply because your lease ends. As explained in The Causes for Eviction, a tenant can only be evicted if the landlord can prove one of the good causes for eviction under the law. The ending or expiration of a lease is not a good cause for eviction. This means that, however long your lease, you do not have to move just because your lease has ended. It also means that, unless you or the landlord end your lease, all yearly leases and month-to-month leases automatically renew themselves. The only exception to this rule is if you live in a building with only two or three apartments and the landlord lives in one of the apartments.

 

[Sloop John D]

I know a few states have laws that say if a landlord puts a provision in the lease that says the tenant will owe attorney's fees for any litigation, it becomes enforceable against the losing party, whoever that may be. In other words, the landlord can't make a provision stating that you owe him attorney's fees if there's a dispute but he doesn't owe you anything. If he loses, he has to cover the attorney's fees, regardless of whether or not this is explicitly stated in the lease agreement.

I don't know if NJ is one of the states that carries this rule but you could probably find out pretty quickly with a google search.

 

[You Are Guilty]

I know a few states have laws that say if a landlord puts a provision in the lease that says the tenant will owe attorney's fees for any litigation, it becomes enforceable against the losing party, whoever that may be. In other words, the landlord can't make a provision stating that you owe him attorney's fees if there's a dispute but he doesn't owe you anything. If he loses, he has to cover the attorney's fees, regardless of whether or not this is explicitly stated in the lease agreement.

I don't know if NJ is one of the states that carries this rule but you could probably find out pretty quickly with a google search.

I don't think NJ is one of the states with a statute like that. Off the top of my head, you have CA, NY, NC, FL and WA. But it's been a long time since law school so I suppose its possible, if not likely, that other states have adopted similar statutes since then.