Question about legalities of vacating an apartment in Tennessee?

Question

I lived in an apartment for 10 months on a one year lease. My car was broken into and the person that did it started threating my family since we called the police on him. I told the aparment management of this problem and there was also a police report made on the matter.

The apartments didn't want to let us cancel our lease and move, so we moved anyways because we didn't want to deal with the threats. Now they have placed a judgment on my credit for the two months plus concessions. Should this be legal for them to do this to me since we were being threatened while we lived there? Is there something I can do to make them remove this? Or should I hire an attorney to see if there is something that can be done about it?

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!

As an added note. I had no idea about any judgment. I never received any correspondence from the apartment community. I just happened to find out about it when applying for credit. And I no longer reside in Tennessee.

Answer 1

It is probably worth your while to consult with an attorney.

Leases are enforceable, legal instruments and both parties are bound by it's terms. However there are legal exceptions.

Have you tried sitting down and talking with the apartment management about your problem?

Answer 2

Sadly this is completely legal. Unless the landlord was the person making the threats, your situation is not grounds for breaking the lease. When you break a lease without good reason you can be held liable for the remainder of the lease term or until the landlord gets a replacement tenant whichever comes first.

If it's gone to judgement, you really waited too long to do anything. You should have responded to the suit and made your case to the judge. Although the law is on the landlord's side on this one, you might have pulled a sympathetic judge who could have lessened the damage. If anything, you could have forced the landlord to prove that he hadn't got a replacement tenant -- and if he had your liability for rent would have stopped on that date. By failing to respond to the suit the landlord got a default judgement. Unless you can prove that the landlord didn't file the case properly there's little chance for any relief upon appeal.

An attorney probably can't help but many will offer a free initial consultation so at least you'd know where you stand.