Apartment and Rental Properties - Terminate Lease Questions

We signed a lease in Burke, VA back in Dec 06 for the rental of a townhouse for $1750 a month with one months security The landlord agreed to replace the refrigerator (broken, damaged exterior/interior missing parts, replace the bathtub in the upstairs bathroom (delaminating, poor condition, dirty appearance), repair broken tiles in bedroom bathroom, repair leaky toilet and repair or replace carpet in livingroom and stairwell due to severe pet odor and several other misc repairs that are needed. She has sent an unskilled (actually undocumented, problem because spouse holds security clearance and a cleared govt job) laborer over to address the issues who only did more damage to the TH and did not repair the problems and his son threatened me because I refused to give them entry one day because they where 5 hours late and it was 5:30PM and I was leaving to pick spouse up from train station, this is after missing scheduled appointments on two other occasions. Here we sit nearly 8 months later and nothing done as stated and we wish to terminate for cause. What recourse do we have and what recourse does she have, we gave her a 30 day notice of intent yesterday and she is threatening to hold us liable for the townhouse rent and make negative cedit entries to our credit reports. We have documented all communications with the landlord and digitaly photographed all problems (actually entire townhouse) prior to moving in. We have never been late in our rent payment in fact we are always one week early and it is paid by direct allotment. We have contracted a professional cleaning team to clean the house upon departure. I have made several repairs to the house myself such as she painted over all the outlets and switches and several where unusable (clogged with paint) so I replaced all the covers and a couple of the recepticals that where bad. Repainted the stairwell with paint she provided because it was two different shades of paint and unsightly. Talking with the association president, the landlord has been a problem to the neighborhood, dosnt comply with mandatory repair orders and has rented to unsavory clients in the past (leased to a family of 4 and had 10 adults plus children living there) who the association had evicted. We are paying a premium price for what is usually a very nice well maitained professional commuter townhouse community and expect to maintain the quality of life we are paying for.

Read your lease for specifics. Generally, you do not have cause to terminate a lease because repairs like this were not made. If this is true, the landlord is entitled to all rent and possibly a fee for a lease break until the unit is rented again, though they are required to make a good faith effort to get it rented on your behalf. If in doubt, a consultation with a local attorney is probably well worth the money.

It sounds to me like you have a strong argument for a "constructive eviction". Let me explain a couple of legal concepts.

First of all, you are in the area of "landord tenant law", meaning your state will likely have a statute on the books for landlord/tenant issues. Some states even have certain courts that are the only courts that can hear such a case.

In any event, the first guiding principal is what does your lease say. A lease is like any other contract and both sides usually receive some benefit and or some burdens. This is part of what is legally known as part of the "consideration" for the contract, i.e. promises made on both sides in addition to money changing hands.

So both the lease and the law are going to be the guiding principles for a court to follow if it gets that far.

As a tenant, you have a right of "quiet enjoyment" meaning among other things, the place has to be habitable, tenants next door can't be overly noisy and the LL can't come and change a lightbulb in your unit at 2 in the morning. You should have a paragraph in your lease covering this. The landlord on the other hand also has a reasoable right of entry/reentry. The have this right to come in and fix stuff that needs fixing. The key here is "reasonable".

So looking at your facts and applying the law, it sounds like you have done more than your part to uphold your agreement. And it sounds like the LL is a villian. That being the case, you can vacate the premises and take your chances in court. The LL may try to sue you for breach of the lease, but that is when you raise your defenses of breach of contract on the LL's part, for failure to fix under the lease agreement and breach of quiet enjoyment. You also argue your were costructively evicted and had no choice but to leave after having given the LL every opportunity to honor the contract.

It really will all boil down to the facts and the law and whether you get a reasonable judge. Typically, courts find in favor for the LL, but you have some pretty good facts.

Having said that, the LL may not even try to sue you for breach, if they think the judge will kick their fanny. But if they don't sue you, don't expect them to honor your lease and give you your deposit back. In that event, the ball is in your court to sue them for the deposit, in which case the LL will try to say it is your fault and they are justified in keeping the deposit.

If it were me, I would consult a lawyer who knows and practices this law and decide what to do. I would probably move out and maybe even sue the LL for the deposit. Most states have severe sanctions for landlords who wrongfully keep a deposit. You also have to make sure the LL doesn't mess with your credit score. Pull an Equafax to make sure. You are entitled to one free credit report every year under a federal law passed a couple of years ago. And both you and your spouse can get seperate ones.

Good Luck!

The landlord is dragging her feet, so you drag yours. Don't pay the rent and move out at end of month. let her sue but I doubt she will. If she damages your credit report, get an attorney and sue her. Just as there are laws to protect LL, Tenants have them too. But I would not wait for her to act first. See an attorney right now, show all your documention and lease and before and after pictures of your repairs if you have them. A letter from an attorney stating that he or she is prepared to represent you, should be enough to get her to back off of threatening to damage your credit.

Next time you see a house for lease, have it stated in the lease that any deposits are to be withheld until all repairs are completed in a professional manner. If they balk, then walk away.