Getting Out Early

[alysonleanne]

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Pennsylvania

We are in a situation here. We rented a townhome in May of 2009 and have recently renewed our lease at a higher rent price. We paid a security deposit of the same amount of rent, which was placed into an escrow account. Now, our situation is...

We only signed our lease for a second time due to there being no real houses that fit our needs. The rent was raised (despite us telling him that if the rent was raised, we could no longer afford to live there), and while we thought we could do it, the rent exceeds 30% of our income, which was the guideline to rent the house in the first place. Now, we're not in any hurry to get out (we're getting married in three months and would prefer to wait, but are looking), but lets say we find a great place and want to leave. I know that if we just up and leave, we forfeit all security deposits and owe him rent for the entire lease up until the end (June 1, 2011). Lets say we tell him we're planning on moving because we can no longer afford the rent. We give him time to find another tenant and allow him to show the place while we're still living there. Would we be able to get our security deposit returned and get out of paying the remainder of the lease? We're not rich, so we can't afford that; I'm just wondering what our options are.

Again,

Thanks for your help in advance.

[LawResearcherMissy]

Would we be able to get our security deposit returned and get out of paying the remainder of the lease?

Only if the landlord agrees to it. There is no law to force him to agree to your terms.

You signed a legally binding contract, and are obligated to honor it. If you do not honor it, your landlord can take you to court for your obligation, AND keep your security deposits.

It would be in your best interests if, in the future, you did not take on obligations you know you cannot afford.

[alysonleanne]

It would be in your best interests if, in the future, you did not take on obligations you know you cannot afford.

Missy:

We can afford it. We told him that in the hopes that the rent would not be raised. The taxes didn't go up, the cost of living did not go up, but he said the rent went up every year. We're kind of sick of paying what we pay for the place we have. We want out. If he's going to continue raising the rent without reason, then something is wrong here.

[SChinFChin]

Missy:

We can afford it. We told him that in the hopes that the rent would not be raised. The taxes didn't go up, the cost of living did not go up, but he said the rent went up every year. We're kind of sick of paying what we pay for the place we have. We want out. If he's going to continue raising the rent without reason, then something is wrong here.

If you signed the lease, then it doesn't matter how sick you are over the "too high" rent, you're stuck with what you signed. The world is full off people who just signed a contract, say to buy a car, then a week later, see it advertised for a much lower price. Once, I only thought stuff like that only happens to me, but it doesn't mean the car dealer has to cancel my deal just because someone happen to put in a "bait and switch" ad.

I'm a landlord, and unfortunately, at one time, I let people sucker me into such sob stories, and once, I had a tenant paying $800/month for an apartment, and he told me over a four to five year period that business at his bosses shop is slow, he's paying close to 40% of his income on rent, blah, blah blah. Finally, I someone moved downstairs, a similar apartment, and market rents were $1,000.00

So the wife and I looked at each other, and we were mad at ourselves for letting this go on, and now, how are we going to tell this guy we have to raise the rent to $1,000/month.

One problem we also have is we find tenants often compare notes, and imagine I rent the upstairs for $800/month, and I have the nerve to charge $1,000/month downstairs. If I did that, I'm looking for a nasty riot, and a mad tenant burning down my place.

I finally went to the guy paying the $800, and frankly told him I can't afford to carry him. Yes, I bought the place years ago, and raising the rent meant putting another $200/month in my pockets, and I know that bothers a lot of the "the landlord is a crook" crowd. But hey, why should I scrimp on my vacations, which I did a the time. I didn't exactly go into the rental business to be a "social welfare agency".

At about the same time, I had another guy paying $800/month. wasn't raised for six years, I was doing a refi, and the banker asked me why I am charging these ridiculous rents, as at that time, these units goes for $1,200. Yeh, it's another sob story. I had to show a higher income, so I gave this tenant 3 months at the rent of $800/month to find a similar apartment. He came back begging to sign a lease for $1,200 because everywhere it was going for $1,300. And he was just done telling me a few month before he can't afford $800/month.

Bottom line is, you got to do what you got to do, and the landlord has to do what he has to do.