Landlord Is Using Home And Garage For Storage Space

**ohiobackground** · 07-01-2008, 07:44 AM

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Texas I just leased a house in Frisco, TX The owner has left behind 7 pallets of bricks in the garage and i can't park my $50K truck in a garage becasue of these bricks. I am paying $2295 and the leasing company said it's his house and he can leave them if he wants and the house was leased as is..... He also has left a lot of stuff in the attic in the garage and locked it. Wants to come by this weekend to get some stuff out and I won't be here. I understand they have a right to access the property but is this right to have him use this 3600 sq ft. home as his storage space when my name is on the lease ??

**wally** · 07-01-2008, 05:48 PM

The problem here is that while it may be leased "as is", your landlord has not completely surrendered the property to you which is a breach. Also, with the bricks in the garage, the garage is almost virtually useless. Arguably, the landlord hasn't surrendered control of the garage either. Alternately, implicit in every lease is that the property is being leased for its lawful and intended purpose. If you can't use the garage, then the landlord is in breach one way or another.

Keep in mind that the breach is probably not substantial enough to allow you to terminate the lease without some liability now that you have moved in. You could probably have terminated the lease and not moved in without liability. Depending on how long the breach continues, you may be entitled to an abatement or temporary reduction in rent because of the breach.

I assume you just moved in since today is the 1st. If the breach isn't cured in a couple of days you may want to serve notice on the leasing company of the breach to CYA. If it continues for any length time, you may want to consult an attorney.