What happens if you have a breach of lease?

Question

I live in south carolina and I am wanting to move out of the house I am in. I live in a small trailer park full of spanish people. We have a lease for a year. We are supposed to wait until Sept. to move. Well, the landlord told us that if we found somewhere nicer place we could just let him know and that would be fine, well now he is saying that we have to stay the whole year. We have had problems with water bugs here and we have called the cops on our neighbors twice for beating each other. We have a reason to leave. Is there any way that we could just leave and not get in trouble for it or be fined for it?

That's fine if he keeps the deposit.

That's fine if he keeps the deposit.

I forgot to mention that there is a drug dealers living up about 2 houses and our toilet has been leaking and we told him about it and he still hasn't came to check it out. We also lied for him because he is going through a divorce. He said that we are paying 375 but we really pay 475. He didn't want his wife to get his money

Answer 1

You will lose your security deposit. In a standard lease this is included in the fine print. There is nothing you can do legally to recover it.

Just be nice to the landlord about leaving and maybe he will cut you a break.

Answer 2

If you just leave you will have breached your lease. A lease is a contract - where two parties agree to do things. You agreed to stay for a year. Therefore, if you leave sooner without the landlord's permission he can sue you in housing court for the rent for the rest of the year. I do not think that problems with water bugs and loud neighbors is justification enough to break your lease. Ask your landlord if you can leave if you find someone to rent the property. Be careful because even if you find someone to rent the house, you will still be liable for any rent until the end of your lease in the event your sub let tenant fails to pay rent.

Answer 3

So far, I see no reason that you can breach the lease. But, with all the fighting and beating each other around there, if the cops are called out enough and your in fear of you life or bodily harm, then he needs to have some security there. If you leave, you still have to pay the rest of the money on the lease. I do not think there is a fine.

Answer 4

You won't get into trouble and you won't be fined. This is a civil matter, not a criminal one. You will, however, have to pay. The landlord can sue you for the rent that he loses between the time you left and the time he finds another tenant. He is required to mitigate his damages by actively looking for a new tenant (he can't just let it sit empty and charge you for it). He can also sue you for any money he spends to get it rented (newspaper ads, etc).

If you feel that you are justified in moving, you need to give him a chance to correct the problem. How long you have to give him is whatever the judge defines as 'reasonable'. You need to send letters of complaint by certified mail. Keep copies.

If he ever does say you can move without penalty, get it in writing. Your lease is a written contract and cannot be modified verbally.

You might get out of the lease if you offer to pay one or two month's rent as a penalty. Again, get it in writing.

Answer 5

in accordance to what you reported right here the owner did not destroy the lease. The truth "take care of the grounds" could have a very huge interpretation. also, the owner isn't obligated to stick with training out of your physician. even in the journey that your landlord did breach the lease this is not likely that you may want to be able to dodge paying previous lease led to by an blunders in calculating your earnings or what number of human beings were residing contained in the unit.