My landlord lost the lease and wants me to sign a new one! Should !???

Question

Help! I don't know a lot about leases but I really smell a rat with my landlord. She wants us to sign a new lease and hasn't told us why (we are assuming she lost it). She never even gave us a copy like she said that she would. I am afraid that the new lease won't agree to the previous terms (she is telling me that she doesn't want me to have a pet even though the first lease said that I could). I will not sign this new lease unless it agrees to the terms of the first one that we signed, and I will not pay.

Here is the big what if:
IF I don't sign this new one, will I still be obligated because I signed the first one? Can she all of the sudden "find it" and make me pay the rent even though I do not live there? Is there some kind of form (download-able online) that can nullify the first one that I can tell her to sign?

She told us that she would give us a copy, and we trusted her to, but she never did. This is the main reason we are in the situation that we are in.

Answer 1

First off, you should always make sure you have a signed copy of your lease.

Now, in theory you can't be made to sign a new lease until the first one expires; unfortunately you don't have any proof that there WAS another lease. (If it was month-to-month, then she can change it at any time anyway) Hopefully you've been paying your rent by check or another traceable method. When a lease expires, it stays in force on a month-to-month basis until a new one is agreed to or one party gives notice. If the new lease she wants isn't acceptable to you, tell her that you will consider the old one to be still in force until she gives you 30 days WRITTEN notice to move out (then save that notice - you're no longer obligated to pay rent after you move out)

You may end up getting screwed on your security deposit, depending on what documentation you have.

Answer 2

The question is, why didn't you demand to have a personal copy of the original lease in your possession before signing it?

If you don't have a copy of your original lease and your landlord claims she doesn't have a copy either, then it legally doesn't exist. Yes, she might later find your original lease if you take off on her and then you would get in trouble for breaking it. But without it, you are now considered a month-to-month tenant, and if you don't sign her new lease she can serve you a written 30-day notice and ask you to leave the apartment (if she does that, of course, then she can't produce the first lease and sue you because she's the one who broke it by kicking you out). If you do sign the new lease, the old one would be cancelled out, as you can't have 2 concurrent leases running on the same apartment. If she does let you leave the apartment, it would be a good dea to get it in writing just so she can't later decide to "find" the old lease and try to claim you broke it.

Answer 3

if you follow through with the terms of the first lease that you signed, then no, she can't make you pay more, but if you leave before the original signed lease expires, and she finds it, you can be made to pay rent for the remaining months that were on the lease. stick to your guns, get her to fix the new one so that you are allowed the same things as the first lease, has the same dates, or as close as you remember, maybe check your checkbook to see when you paid the security deposit and 1st months rent, and then sign, but dont let her change things, unless it is someone moved in and she wants their name on it also.

Answer 4

if your plan has continuously been to open a daycare, and you have been renting this place with that reason, then i could say which you should get the 9K back (because of the fact he of course can no longer shop the deposit, and this is clever that your realtor costs be refunded because of the fact the owner is the single breaking the hire). The 3K for the day care stuff isn't some thing i think of he could would desire to pay back, except this is tied to the tackle. once you detect a clean spot to open the daycare in, you will would desire to have finished that, so that's funds which you're able to would desire to spend the two way. As to the lost time searching for different properties... that's in basic terms been 3 weeks, and the hire did no longer commence till December. So i could ask for one greater 1K to disguise that, for a entire of 10K. in my opinion, if I have been the owner, i could have made the greater desirable insurance your duty as component to the hire, because of the fact you are the single that needs to run a corporation out of the abode. in case you definitely need to stay with this place, i could ask approximately protecting those expenditures. in case you do no longer decide to tackle this landlord from now on, be conscious that the different landlord would o.k. ask which you would be able to have some severe insurance regulations, with the intention to indemnify them. you decide directly to run a daycare, and that i could hate to be the owner if, God forbid, a baby gets heavily injured on your care. because of the fact you're no longer the only guy or woman who would be sued if so.

Answer 5

MAYBE. You should look for another place to live.
If it has been a year since your last lease, then you must sign a new one. If you don't sign a new one and it has been a year, you must move.
If it has been less than a year, (or less than the period your lease was set for - say it was a 6 month lease) then you do NOT have to sign a new one until it has been one full year (or period).
Trust your gut. If you smell a rat then look for a place to live that is rat free.

Answer 6

I would only sign a new lease if it is an advantage to you. She does not need a lease to enforce the rent payments, etc. Without a lease you are on a month to month basis.

Answer 7

well read the new one and if you dont agree then dont sign it and find another place to live.
always get a copy. make them give you a copy always. anytime you sign dont leave without a copy

Answer 8

do you have a copy of your old one? if so copy that and give it to them if not tell them they are beat you signed and they lost it their problem.