How to break lease without being sued?
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How to break lease without being sued?
I’m a single lady. I moved to a neighborhood about 4 months ago. My truck was stolen out of the drive last month. This weekend someone broke into my back privacy fence. I’ve contacted property management company as well as owner of property to see what could be done on lease or moving to different residence to finish lease. Due to having air condition unit repaired in July, owner has told me not willing to let property management comany break lease. I informed thethat I’m sacred to even go outside in the day. My neighborhood is all black and I’m white. What can I do?
Asked on September 7, 2010 under Real Estate Law, Oklahoma
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 14 years ago | Contributor
There are grounds to break a lease without liability, but they all depend on the landlord itself breaching or breaking the lease in some material (important) way; the landlord's breach then gives the tenant the right to terminate (if the landlord doesn't correct the breach; the landlord is almost always given the opportunity to "cure" the problem).
However, the landlord is not responsible for a bad neighborhood; the fact that the neighborhood is unsafe does NOT give you the right to break a lease, since that is not something in the landlord's control (and furthermore, it's something you can and should have researched before moving in). If the landlord does not provide reasonable security for that sort of building in that sort of neighborhood--e.g. if it's a walk-up building, does not have locking external doors and a buzer system; if it's an elevator/lobby buiding, does not have a doorman and/or security guard; does not have locks on the doors of individual units; does not provide proper lighting in common areas) then that might be grounds for terminating, since that would be a significant failure of the landlord. But if the landlord is providing the normally expected security for that type of building, the landlord is not responsible for the surrounding area.
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