Landlord Terminate a Lease

[John-NYS]

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

Hi
As a landlord, I just signed a year lease with a tenant where the start date is still in the future. I am currently occupying the rental residence. I have since found out that that the house I was going to move into will not be available. Is it possible for me to break the lease prior to it beginning?

The lease states it is for a term of year and will renew automatically unless terminated in writing. In another clause, it states that "All parties agree that termination of this Agreement prior to the termination date will constitute breach of the tenancy and all Securioty Deposits and one month's rent shall be forfeited to the Landlord as liquidated damages plus you will be charged the cost of restoring the property to rental condition plus advertising and rent loss incurred until the new resident moves in. Your liability for rent loss is limited to thirty (30) days after restoration is complete."

It does not state anything for when the landlord terminates early though. I believe that a lease cannot be terminated early unilaterally, however, this lease is very one sided, pro landlord. I am wondering why it doesn't provide for landlord terminating early?

John

[SChinFChin]

You are right leases normally does not spell out penalties for landlord's non performance so a tenant would have to sue for actual damages.

At this point, rather than making it a big legal deal, call this tenant up and say a snag came up, and your move is delayed, so can he go find himself another rental. To be fair though, I would offer this person carfare or gas money. As a long time LL, I also find July and Aug to be the best months to find apartments, so it would be least disruptive.

From a practical point of view, if you can't move, you can't move, and this lessee can't come in and make you move, and actual damages for him is minimal as he didn't incur any moving expenses. I find if you take a kind approach, it's less likely someone will get all upset and sue.

Technically, to cancel a lease, you'll have to execute a "release of lease" form, else the tenant is still legally obligated, so if you want to make it official, execute a release and send it on to the tenant.

[John-NYS]

Thanks for your response. If they do decide to sue, what can they sue for, assuming I mail them the signed release of lease form?

John

[SChinFChin]

Thanks for your response. If they do decide to sue, what can they sue for, assuming I mail them the signed release of lease form?

John

Actual damages that they can prove.

As an example, I have people flying in from out of state to look over rentals, sign a lease, then go back home, and prepare for the move. So if they have to make another flight in, stay in hotels, meals, rent a car to run around once again, then these are actual expenses.

On the other hand, if this person is moving from a few blocks away, all he has to do is run around look at a few more apartment, sign another lease, then this person's actual damages would be a lot less.

Or you can have a situation where this tenant notified the landlord of his moving date, the LL already signed a new lease with the next tenant, so he has to move, and if it's a last minute thing, he might be left in a lurch, and have to move to a hotel while looking for the next place. His actual damages would be his hotel bill less what he would've paid you in rent.

Just this past year, my sister and her husband had to sell his mom's home, as mom's going to the nursing home, and they have to take care of Medicaid. A buyer was found, a closing date set, and the younger brother in his 50's who never had a job, scrunged off his mom, then refused to move. The eviction took over a year.

Meanwhile the sale fell through. The buyer sued because he sold his home, moved out, and already made arrangements with the movers to truck the stuff. The buyer sued for actual damages as he had to move to a hotel, start his search all over again, pay another set of appraisal fees, home inspection fees, loan application fees etc.

You don't know what scenario it is till you get hold of the lessee to find out. If could range from a no big deal, to one big expensive disaster. I recall in one case, one guy picked out his place to do a relocation, then went away for a big long deserved vacation, only to be told his new rental may not be available when he comes back and his belongings are packed, in storage, and scheduled be on route. So, shouldn't this guy deserve some consideration??

Depending on what scenario your lessee falls under, you may even in fact find it cheaper in some cases to move to a hotel yourself compared to paying damages.

Now, this is unless you have some clause in your lease that limits your penalties if you cannot perform, and I rarely find leases containing them, as it is unusual that a landlord has a place for rent, then expect something to come up. On the other hand, I would be highly suspicious if I was a renter if a LL brings up a scenario where the place would be unavailable.