sister being sued for breaking lease, after lease over.

Status
Not open for further replies.

goingcrazymom

New Member
Hello, my sister is a little nervous. she had a lease with an old landlord for a year, it ended in oct of 2008. and they continued to live there until aug. of 2009. they never signed another lease, it just went on month to month. she found another place to live, gave her landlord a 2 week notice, yea kinda crapy but if she didn't move into her new place it would have been gone. he is taking her to small claims court and trying to sue her for breaking the lease and also to replace carpet in the house. he said it smelt of cat urine.
well she didn't have a cat, she cleaned everything and he keep her security deposit. she has thrown out the lease, when they moved so she is worried he will try to doctor something up. what are her chances and what do you think she should do. thank you.
 
Your sister has a few issues here...

Many leases (even yearly leases) automatically renew for the same time period unless either party (the tenant or the landlord) gives written notice that they wish to change this. Without her old lease she cannot tell if this is the case with her previous lease.

Even if that isn't the situation here, a month to month tenancy typically requires a 30 day written notice to terminate. Sounds like your sister did not provide that.

Did she clean the place before she left and (hopefully) took pictures at move out as evidence of its condition? If so, these can be used as her evidence in court.

Carpets are typically prorated over a certain period of years. If a tenant has damaged a carpet to the point where it must be replaced, they would only owe a certain percentage (depending on the age of this), not the entire cost of replacement.

Gail
 
While Gail will most likely have state specific information...

Did the lease mention that if not renewed the lease would return to a yearly term? If not, the lease as you mention would become a month to month agreement. Typically for a m2m lease, you need to provide 30 days notice.

Did she take pictures before she left? I would think the landlord would have the burden of proof as to any required repairs, but again Gail will have more insight.

In the future I would recommend keeping a copy of the lease at the very least until you get your deposit back.
 
Hello, my sister is a little nervous. she had a lease with an old landlord for a year, it ended in oct of 2008. and they continued to live there until aug. of 2009. they never signed another lease, it just went on month to month. she found another place to live, gave her landlord a 2 week notice, yea kinda crapy but if she didn't move into her new place it would have been gone. he is taking her to small claims court and trying to sue her for breaking the lease and also to replace carpet in the house. he said it smelt of cat urine.
well she didn't have a cat, she cleaned everything and he keep her security deposit. she has thrown out the lease, when they moved so she is worried he will try to doctor something up. what are her chances and what do you think she should do. thank you
 
thank you both for all your help. unfortunatly, she did not take pictures, and as far as the lease it didn't say they would renew it, she did clean the house, but they figured he was keeping 700 dollars he would be able to clean the carpets with that. I my self own my own cleaning business and I know that it was cleaner when she moved out then it was when she moved in... I hope she learns her lesson, and hopefully everything goes well, it is only small claims court, and he's trying to get 2300 out of her. again thank you erica
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top