Landlord Made a Verbal Lease Agreement but We Never Agreed
My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Nevada
I had put the utilities in my name but my Fiance never put anything in her name. We never signed a lease agreement and sen the landlord a message that upon further review of the written lease that we did not accept the terms of the lease because there was no mention on how to break the lease and the lease was not dated properly. Now the landlord is saying that our verbal agreement was binding despite the fact that we never moved in and also never signed the lease that he sent us. He said that there were multiple incidences that showed that we intended to rent the property including putting the utilities in my name and paying out of our own cash for painters and landscaping prior to moving in or signing a lease.
It all boils down to if this "verbal contract" will hold up in a court of law or not. What can we do or is it even worth fighting?
Re: Landlord Made a Verbal Lease Agreement but We Never Agreed
Quote:
Quoting NRS 111.205. No estate created in land unless by operation of law or written conveyance; leases for terms not exceeding 1 year.
1. No estate or interest in lands, other than for leases for a term not exceeding 1 year, nor any trust or power over or concerning lands, or in any manner relating thereto, shall be created, granted, assigned, surrendered or declared after December 2, 1861, unless by act or operation of law, or by deed or conveyance, in writing, subscribed by the party creating, granting, assigning, surrendering or declaring the same, or by the party’s lawful agent thereunto authorized in writing.
2. Subsection 1 shall not be construed to affect in any manner the power of a testator in the disposition of the testator’s real property by a last will and testament, nor to prevent any trust from arising or being extinguished by implication or operation of law.
So an oral lease is potentially enforceable as long as the term does not exceed one year.
If the lease term is longer, there's a possibility that the landlord will argue that your acts constitute partial performance and take the agreement outside of the statute of frauds.
Was your change of heart truly based on something in the lease? If so, what? There is no reason a lease has to include a provision for early termination, and a clerical error in a date is easily remedied, so it's sounding like your objections were a pretext.