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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
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    Question Can We Hold Our Landlord to a Lease Extension by Email

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

    After signing a one-year lease in February 2012, the owner told us that the guest bathroom had flooded on the previous tenants below. He said that if we were willing to stay an extra year (increasing the length of the lease to two years) that he would be willing to fix/remodel the guest bathroom.

    Later in August, the owner asked if we’d ever thought about owning the property and stated “In case you are wondering, I would not sell the unit until after you decide to move out in any case.” We expressed our interest in renting over buying, and asked for our lease to be extended for another year.

    In August 2012 we came to an agreement with the owner via email to extend our lease to February 2014.

    He wrote: “Please go ahead and ask [the property manager] if you may extend the lease expiration out 1 year from the current expiration. When she asks me, I will say OK.”

    We verified the extension agreement with the property manager via email at which time she verified that we wanted the lease extended from the date it was set to expire versus from the point of that email in August. Following that, she replied with “Okie Dokie.”

    Soon after, the guest toilet flooded, causing substantial damage to the downstairs neighbor’s property, two months later we were asked to pay 50% of the damages (September 2012). We declined as the insurance company agreed we weren't at fault and that the issue was due the toilet itself. We then instead asked the owner and property manager that we be compensated for paying two months full rent without use of all of apartments facilities, which was later declined (November 2012) .

    Now, with one month left in our lease, we inquired about our lease extension to find out that the owner is exploring other options, possible selling the unit and our lease will not be renewed – but we can stay month-to-month as long as we agree to show the place.

    We feel that this was a breach of lease based on retaliation for not contributing toward the damages caused by the faulty toilet.

    Are we on the right path? Could anyone offer any advice/resources? I’m stilling trying to establish if we have any legal footing in this.

    Thanks in Advance,

    Galloo

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    Toledo, OH
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    Default Re: Can We Hold Our Landlord to a Lease Extension by Email

    You say you verified the extension. Did you sign one?

    Do you still have your emails?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
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    Default Re: Can We Hold Our Landlord to a Lease Extension by Email

    Quote Quoting LawResearcherMissy
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    You say you verified the extension. Did you sign one?

    Do you still have your emails?
    We didn't sign any document, just the original lease. From there, we just had email agreements with the landlord and property manager on extending the lease another year. We asked the property manager if we needed to sign anything, but she never got back to us. Instead we just have the emails with both of them confirming to let us stay another year, which I thought would be covered under the Uniform Eletronic Transactions Act? Specially since we always used email to communicate with both the landlord and property manager, to the point the neither would give us their cell phone numbers.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
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    Default Re: Can We Hold Our Landlord to a Lease Extension by Email

    You received good information regarding this matter on the worldlawdirect.com forum.

  5. #5
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    Jan 2013
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    Default Re: Can We Hold Our Landlord to a Lease Extension by Email

    Thanks Gail! I'm just looking for the opinion of others.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Can We Hold Our Landlord to a Lease Extension by Email

    Quote Quoting Galloo
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    He wrote: “Please go ahead and ask [the property manager] if you may extend the lease expiration out 1 year from the current expiration. When she asks me, I will say OK.”
    So you then asked the manager, the manager acknowledged your request, and... do you know for a fact that the property manager conveyed your request to the landlord, or are you assuming that occurred? There may have been a breakdown in communication, such that your request to the property manager was not communicated to the landlord.
    Quote Quoting Galloo
    Soon after, the guest toilet flooded, causing substantial damage to the downstairs neighbor’s property....
    How soon after? Soon enough that the landlord may have changed his mind before the property manager passed along your request, assuming that the request was in fact conveyed?

    How did a toilet overflow if nobody was home? And if somebody was home, why didn't that person shut off the water so that the damage was prevented?
    Quote Quoting Galloo
    We declined as the insurance company agreed we weren't at fault and that the issue was due the toilet itself.
    What was wrong with the toilet? I've never known a toilet to simply overflow, all by itself, no matter how old and decrepit. If the hose from the valve to the toilet blew out while nobody was home, for example, that's a different type of matter and not something that would be a tenant's fault.
    Quote Quoting Galloo
    We feel that this was a breach of lease based on retaliation for not contributing toward the damages caused by the faulty toilet.
    You haven't given us enough facts to determine whether or not the landlord was reasonable in asking you to contribute to the cost of repairing the water damage. But that aside, (a) it's not "retaliation" in a legally meaningful sense for a landlord to decline to renew the lease of a tenant who won't contribute to the cost of repairs, even if the tenant isn't legally obligated to pay, (b) your lease has been continued on a month-to-month basis so there's also no attempt to evict you, (c) a "feeling" is not evidence, and (d) it is much more likely that, if they're trying to sell, they simply don't want to lock the new owner into any long-term leases in case the new owner has different plans for the property.
    Quote Quoting Galloo
    View Post
    We didn't sign any document, just the original lease. From there, we just had email agreements with the landlord and property manager on extending the lease another year.
    Are there any emails beyond those you've already described to us?
    Quote Quoting Galloo
    We asked the property manager if we needed to sign anything, but she never got back to us.
    You haven't told us about that email. Fill us in, including where it fits into the time line.
    Quote Quoting Galloo
    Instead we just have the emails with both of them confirming to let us stay another year, which I thought would be covered under the Uniform Eletronic Transactions Act?
    You haven't told us about those emails, either. Please share the details and state how they fit into the time line. Note, if you're talking about the emails you've already described, that's not actually what they say. Why do you believe this transaction implicates the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act? The fact that a couple of emails were shot back and forth about a possible lease extension isn't, of itself, enough.
    Quote Quoting gail in georgia
    View Post
    You received good information regarding this matter on the worldlawdirect.com forum.
    I take some issue with this:
    Quote Quoting WorldLawDirect
    Once that whole process was finalized, they needed to give you a WRITTEN document that supported the extension.
    That post starts out okay, but when they start arguing that a lease cannot be renewed except in writing they go off the rails. California law provides that "An agreement for the leasing for a longer period than one year" is "invalid, unless they, or some note or memorandum thereof, are in writing and subscribed by the party to be charged or by the party's agent" - but we're talking about a one year lease renewal agreement. If an oral agreement for a one year extension can be proved, unless the original lease requires a signed writing, it's enforceable even without a written document. We've not been told of any such requirement in the original lease (something that the OP should verify) so, as it stands, we have no basis to assume that the statute of limitations is relevant. (The person who made that post is from Florida, and their statute of limitations has some differences and some unique elements....)

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