Can a lease be brokenif a major problem was not disclosed?
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Can a lease be brokenif a major problem was not disclosed?
I signed a 1 year lease signed 9 months ago. Problem is the 3rd floor apartments dryer vents down on you from your balcony ceiling. This makes it impossible to enjoy/use your balcony or even have a window or your patio door open because of dryer heat. Constant cleanup of lint , can’t put plants where I want to. And 12 of the 13 buildings have this poor design. Also, 2 months after I moved in the washer flooded my unit and for 4 days I had to endure huge dry out fans constantly running under the pulled up carpet. Management never asked if anything was damaged and never offered to reimburse me for extra electric cost. No repairs have been done.
Asked on August 27, 2011 Texas
Answers:
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
If a major issue concerning the integrity of an apartment was not disclosed by the landord or his/her agent and they knew about the problem before the lease for the apartment was entered into, the tenant can rescind (cancel) the lease if he or she desires.
However, in your fact situation, the dryer venting issue although an inconvenience and annoyance for you, does not appear to be the type of a problem that would warrant the cancellation of your lease.
As to the issue of flooding of your unit due to the flooding of your washer, although this was another inconvenience and annoyance for you, that problem does not warrant the cancellation of your lease as well.
Examples for a lease cancellation would be if the rented unit was deemed uninhabitable by a public health issue, a fire occurred destroying the unit or making the rented unit hazardous to live in, or the presence of dangerous and hazarous material in the unit warranting it being deemed a danger to health and the like.
The problems that you have experienced with your unit warrants consideration by your landlord of a rental rebate to you.
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