Help me deal with this horrid landlord

May 19, 2008 7:34 PM

Please help! My landlord management company refuses to let me terminate my lease early. What can I do?

I need to move from a studio to a 1BR due to a severe lack of space which is affecting my mental well-being. I have lived here for 2.5 years and my landlord will NOT let me out of my lease early unless I move into another one of his apartments. (He owns many buildings in the neighborhood.) I have offered every option I can think of - from finding a tenant to take over the lease to not moving until they have secured someone for the apartment. They do not seem willing to budge at all. The property manager has told me NOT to post any public ad on craigslist or anywhere and that they themselves will find a tenant; only then will they consider letting me out (and probably only if I rent another apt from them). I doubt that they will even look. Is it just me or does this not seem reasonable at all? Is this even legal? They said that if I leave they will sue me for the rest of the rent until my lease ends. Can they do that if I find them a more than suitable replacement tenant so that they do not incur ANY damages? At this point, I do not even care if I lose my security deposit. Why would a landlord want to keep a tenant who wants to leave so badly? What can I do?

posted by pinksoftsoap to law & government (25 comments total)

Where is your apartment located? Rental laws vary from state to state.
posted by xotis at 7:46 PM on May 19, 2008

Brooklyn, NY
posted by pinksoftsoap at 8:04 PM on May 19, 2008

Are you permitted to sublet? If so, try to find someone to sublet your place and use the money they pay you to pay your rent for the studio. Then, find yourself a new place and enjoy.

Also, have you tried talking to the landlord directly, rather than working through the (unreasonable) property manager? I can't imagine that you want to move into another one of his apartments, as he really doesn't sound like someone you want to have a continued relationship with....
posted by zachlipton at 8:07 PM on May 19, 2008

How much longer do you have on the lease?
posted by crapmatic at 8:15 PM on May 19, 2008

No, they said I am not permitted to sublet. My lease ends the end of October. The property manager has been talking directly to the landlord so I imagine he's just enforcing what he's been told.
posted by pinksoftsoap at 8:17 PM on May 19, 2008

Actually, this situation doesn't sound all that unusual to me. Maybe I had crappy landlords, but the "you're legally responsible for all of your rent payments, whether you finish out your lease or not" part was fairly standard in every lease I've ever had. Especially with a high-volume landlord; they're generally the least flexible in my experience.

I doubt that they will even look.

I doubt it too. Looking for a new tenant if they don't absolutely have is an unnecessary expenditure, and most business owners probably try to avoid those. Placing conditions and leveraging threats of legal action is the cheapest way of trying to get you to just finish out the lease like you said you would. They might not follow through with it if you were to leave, but they might. Do you know anyone else who has broken a lease with this company? If they don't follow through with legal action, you might be able to get away with leaving. Although....that might be exactly the reason they're being firm about this - so they don't develop the reputation of being lenient with early termination. I imagine it can be a slippery slope from "ok, just this once" to a nightmare of every tenant thinking they can just leave whenever they please. It's easier and probably makes more business sense (i.e. is cheaper) to draw a line and stick to it.

Is there a reason (outside of how they're handling this situation) you wouldn't just move into a 1-bedroom owned by your landlord? I would think that would make the most sense.
posted by boomchicka at 8:19 PM on May 19, 2008

Boomchicka has the right answer: a compromise on moving to another property owned by the landlord.
posted by Pants! at 8:27 PM on May 19, 2008

I am currently in almost the exact same situation. (Check out my last AskMeFi post.) I spoke to four lawyers, the landlord, and a bunch of friends. The solution? You aren't going to like it.

Legally, the landlord is not allowed to unreasonably deny your ability to find someone else. But they can make it a complete and utter pain in the ass. You could sue, but suing would potentially put you on the NYC blacklist, and if you lose, you'll owe the money AND have to pay lawyer's fees. BTW, I called four lawyers, and all four were asking for at least $2000 to write a couple of letters and allocate me 5-10 hours. Blacklisting makes it very, very hard for you to find another apartment, and there are various horror stories littered across local newspapers that describe situations where even when the tenant won, they were never removed from the blacklist, and had to find out the hard way, and eventually got themselves taken off. And if you're evicted, your credit history is destroyed in the process.

I would seriously consider either sucking it up, or working very hard to move into one of the landlord's apartments for the time being. Try to get it so that you wouldn't have to extend your lease, or if you did, for only 3 to 6 months. MeFiMail me with your property manager's name if you'd like; we might be fighting the same person. My roommate told me that he talked to a bunch of people in our building and they were all being dicked over by the mgmt. company. His theory was that the mgmt. company is taking a calculated risk by forcing people to stay within the terms of the lease. Not enough people will fight (legally) to make the lawyers' fees so high as to make this policy too expensive to enforce.

BTW, I'm not a lawyer, and please don't construe my saying "I've spoken to lawyers" as representative of a legal opinion. Maybe the four people I spoke to are idiots. I don't know.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 8:44 PM on May 19, 2008

Do you have your lease? What does it say?
posted by Falconetti at 8:46 PM on May 19, 2008

My lease mentions nothing regarding early termination but it does mention that subletting is not permitted unless with express written consent of the landlord.

zachlipton has the reason right about why I don't want to move into another one of their buildings - I just don't trust them.
posted by pinksoftsoap at 9:00 PM on May 19, 2008

From a cursory google it appears the landlord must produce her reasons for not allowing a sublet (regardless of what the lease says) and if the reasons are not 'reasonable' then the tenant may go ahead and sublet and if the landlord evicts the tenant may recover damages in court. I havent found any info on what constitutes reasonable grounds for prohibiting a sublease but I imagine it involves credit risk etc. Google around more. But yeah it looks like unless youre willing to find a lawyer and engage in legal battle youre stuck. I would also look for any sort of state housing authority that might help.
posted by norabarnacl3 at 9:14 PM on May 19, 2008

Have you checked into the maximum penalty allowed for breaking the lease? In some leases, you have to keep paying rent until they find a new tenant, BUT, they are obligated to attempt to find a new tenant as soon as possible.
posted by fructose at 9:22 PM on May 19, 2008

you signed a contract. abide by it.
posted by swbarrett at 9:29 PM on May 19, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

While swbarrett's answer is no help at all to you right now, it does point you in the right direction for the next contract you enter into. The point of a contract is that it's an enforceable up-front agreement between two parties; it has no force at all until both parties have signed. You can and should check any contract you're considering being bound by for terms and conditions that have caused you grief before, and negotiate variations to those before you put your name on the dotted line. The mere fact that a proposed contract is pre-printed and supposedly "standard" doesn't make it immutable.
posted by flabdablet at 11:43 PM on May 19, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Oh, and if your current lease does not make any specific mention of early termination, then whatever standard conditions apply in your area will presumably be what applies to you. Contact your local tenant's association for advice.
posted by flabdablet at 11:47 PM on May 19, 2008

And don't just roll over. It seems to me that you have some options, and that your manager's instructions to avoid posting an advertisement is probably an attempt to hornswoggle you into failing to exercise them.
posted by flabdablet at 12:02 AM on May 20, 2008

More from the same source. Pardon my MAS.
posted by flabdablet at 12:08 AM on May 20, 2008

I used to be a tenants' rights counselor; I don't know anything about the law in New York, and I'm not a lawyer so I can't give you legal advice, but here's some general suggestions.

Do everything you can to document your situation. This includes keeping a written log of any communication between you and your landlord plus any other significant events, as well as communicating in writing when possible (email counts, but if you send a letter, it's best to do so in a way you can prove, i.e., with a certified letter). Also keep track of your efforts to find someone to sublease, if you choose to do so.

Don't trust what your landlord tells you about your rights and the law. Landlords frequently try to intimidate and confuse their tenants and sometimes have no idea what they're talking about. Here's one site that seems, upon a quick perusal, to be a good resource. (There's a section on subletting which may answer some of your more specific questions.)

It's definitely possible that your landlord could sue you. As others have said, I would suggest contacting a tenant's association in your area. You might also try contacting Legal Services NYC, which, according to their website, "provides free high quality legal help in civil matters to low-income people throughout New York City." If you qualify, Legal Services can be a way of getting representation without paying huge sums of money.

Oh, and Why would a landlord want to keep a tenant who wants to leave so badly?

Money. An unfortunate number of landlords don't care at all about the well-being of their tenants.

Also, about the "you signed a contract so just deal with it" argument. Just because it's in your lease doesn't mean it's legal. I've talked with many tenants who had illegal clauses in their leases. And their are plenty of other laws (state laws, local housing codes, federal anti-discrimination laws) which supercede a lease. It's definitely important to read your current lease (and future leases) carefully but don't treat it as the ultimate authority.
posted by overglow at 12:31 AM on May 20, 2008

You have 5 more months, and I assume a security deposit coming back to you provided you took care of the place.

Why are you fighting this? You signed a legally binding contract, so make it work and be glad it's not a longer period till your lease is over.

Keeping your integrity and record straight will save you more in the long run than trying to weasel out and get blacklisted. Plus it's a waste of your time and money running around trying to get a lawyer to "get you out of your lease." Or trying to find a replacement tenant, or trying to fight with management.

Remember, the lease protects you as well, like from just getting tossed out for no reason.
Sit tight, don't make waves, abide by the rules and the contract.

October will be here before you know it. Spend your energy finding your new dream place.
posted by cvoixjames at 5:45 AM on May 20, 2008

Hey, I had a landlord who refused to let us out of our lease despite the fact that we were moving three states away for my roommate to go to graduate school. (The compromise that was brokered wasn't really very great for us.)

Insisting on enforcing your lease strictly is normal. Not letting you sublet or find a new tenant to take over your lease is not uncommon. The part where they'll let you move to another apartment by the same landlord is actually quite generous by landlord standards.

I agree that it would be less stressful to just wait out your lease. At least you're not suffering through the last few months of a lease in the depth of winter, cooped up.
posted by desuetude at 6:30 AM on May 20, 2008

zachlipton has the reason right about why I don't want to move into another one of their buildings - I just don't trust them

But it sounds like they didn't start giving you a hard time until after you requested to leave their properties entirely. Is there some other reason why you didn't just ask to switch to a 1-bedroom apartment from the get-go? What I'm getting at is this - if there's a real reason you don't feel you can stay in their properties specifically (e.g. they don't keep their properties maintained or secure, a verifiable health risk they won't abate, etc.), you might be able to parlay that into a valid reason for lease-breaking.
posted by boomchicka at 7:49 AM on May 20, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

boomchicka

I did inquire initially if they had a 1 BR I could move into; they said that if anything came up they would call me. Weeks passed, they didn't call and I suspected they weren't even going to try (at least not very hard). I found another place and suddenly they are insisting I move into one of their open 1 BRs. They will play their cards so that only they have control.
posted by pinksoftsoap at 10:51 AM on May 20, 2008

Well, that's one interpretation. Another is that they will play their cards to minimize the amount of work they have to do.

If you were initially OK with the idea of moving into one of their 1BRs, and they now have one available and it's OK for you, and you're already aware that your own mental well-being is not all it could be, why not just give them the benefit of the doubt, take them up on the 1BR, and move out when your lease is up if they do in fact screw you over?
posted by flabdablet at 10:58 AM on May 20, 2008

They will play their cards so that only they have control.

So what's more important to you - getting into a 1-bedroom, or proving your landlord wrong? Because it sounds like your priority has shifted somewhere along the line. I suggest you identify your main goal here and proceed accordingly. FWIW, I still don't think your landlord has done anything out of the ordinary as far as landlords go. Is it great behavior on their part? Of course not; there's a reason landlords have a reputation for being cheap and shady. But you have to decide how much you want to fight to prove them wrong. Frankly, if you're really suffering, it's probably not worth it. So why not take the 1-bedroom they're offering you and be done with it?
posted by boomchicka at 12:10 PM on May 20, 2008

If I were in your shoes I would just ride it out. Granted I do not know the exact circumstance, and only you can decide.

But when you are looking for a new place, your might-be landlord will ask for references from your most recent living place. They will then ask said reference: "did he pay his rent on time? and "did you have any problems with tenant?" and finally "would you recommend this person?"

something to think about.

BTW, as a landlord myself, I get calls like that all the time, concerning past residents applying for housing.

don't burn any bridges!
posted by cvoixjames at 12:19 PM on May 20, 2008