Help - breaking lease options.

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MeredithD

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I have lived in a gated community in Salinas, Ca since March '09. I just signed a new lease effective April '10. The community has three vehicle gates and three pedestrian gates. In the last two weeks there have been two shootings in my complex. Both occured after 10pm (when vehicle gates are closed), the most recent was last night and the victim didn't survive. The pedestrian gates are never locked I brought this to the attention of the office after the first shooting they said "we are unable to lock those, we have looked into it and just can't do it." I asked about lease termination, it's a $2,000 buy out and thirty days notice.

Is there anyway whatsoever to break this lease without paying $2,000. Thirty days notice is fine. But I don't have that kind of money.

Thanks.
 
I have lived in a gated community in Salinas, Ca since March '09. I just signed a new lease effective April '10. In the last two weeks there have been two shootings in my complex. Both occured after 10pm (when vehicle gates are closed), the most recent was last night and the victim didn't survive. The pedestrian gates are never locked I brought this to the attention of the office after the first shooting they said "we are unable to lock those, we have looked into it and just can't do it."


There are very few legal grounds for breaking any lease.

The scenario you posit may meet the legal standards for breaking a lease, under nuisances.

You might have an out under nuisances.

Section 1, Paragraph (d) below, CRIME!


Here is California law on breaking a lease:




You can legally end the lease for several reasons, one of which may apply in your case. Review the ones that apply to you:
1. Uninhabitable conditions, which only need to affect habitability, not necessarily unlivable, and which may include:
a. Infestations of cockroaches, rats, or other vermin
b. Noxious odors, such as from sewage leaks, mold and mildew, dead rats in the walls, pigeons nesting in the attic
c. Noisy neighbors in your building, or
d. Criminal activity in the building or neighborhood, such as drugs and gangs
2. An illegal unit, such as an illegally converted garage, basement, or attached structure you're living in [a common situation]
3. Government closing down the building, due to:
a. severe illegalities, such as construction without proper building permits, a dangerous structure, and zoning violations
b. fire or other structural damage [red or yellow tagging]
c. earthquake, flooding, or other natural disaster damage [red or yellow tagging], or
d. demolition by the government, such as for Redevelopment goals, eminent domain, tax lien sale, drug-related confiscation
4. Death, severe hospitalization, incarceration, or insanity of the tenant [your legal representative would handle this]
5. Bankruptcy of the tenant [Chapter 7, or abandoning the lease in a Chapter 11 or 13 Bankruptcy proceeding ]
6. The person who rented it to you may not have had the right to do so, because:
a. The person was not the owner, or authorized by the owner, to lease it [a scam used by some con-men]
b. The person was an unlicensed property manager, whose contracts are void [there are many of these]
c. The person was a tenant, who was not authorized to sub-lease or assign the place to you by their rental agreement, or
d. The business entity that is supposed to be your landlord doesn't legally exist [such as a corporation, that isn't one]
7. The lease may be tied to a job on the premises, which you quit, such as a resident manager, grounds keeper, etc.
8. The landlord lost the land by foreclosure, and the bank or new owner took over, but you haven't paid rent to them, yet.
9. The lease is oral, but is for more than a year by its terms, making it void under the Statute of Frauds as a legal matter.

http://www.caltenantlaw.com/breaklease.htm

Habitability Checklist

This list is a guide to help you identify all of the things that can affect habitability, based upon Civil Code §1941.1 and Health and Safety Code §17920.3. Due to the variety of circumstances which can arise in a given rental situation, all of the possible conditions can't be listed, so you should use your own judgment to determine whether a particular condition you are concerned with is like one of those listed here. Plainly stated, just because it's not on this list doesn't mean it isn't an uninhabitable one, particularly if it adversely affects living there.


<<<This could be your out! >>>
Crime: "Drug trafficking" and "gang activity" are nuisances
Assault, rape, molestation robbery, burglary, prostitution, etc. are arguably nuisances


Electrical
Plumbing
Doors
Windows
Structure
Heating/Air Conditioning
Flooring
Common Areas
Appliances

Nuisances​
Health: Infestations of mice, rats, cockroaches, ants, spiders, termites, bees, wasps, hornets, flies, pigeons, mosquitos, etc.

Mold, mildew, mushrooms in any interior part of the unit

Unsanitary water, sewage

Noxious fumes from sewer, chemicals, paints, neighbors

Noise: from construction, neighbors, roof-mounted AC system is arguably a nuisance

Driveway blocking: is a nuisance [any ingress/egress]


http://www.caltenantlaw.com/HabChecklist.htm

Ending the Lease under Civil Code 1942

Ending the lease using Civil Code 1942 is a two step process. First write a letter to the landlord [keep a copy] requesting that the "following list" of items be immediately fixed. Start the list with the worst item, and go into some juicy details about how it negatively affects living there. You can make a small paragraph for each or simply list the item with some detail. Should this come to a legal battle, this will be the judge's first impression. Make it firm but polite in tone, with no profanity. Be sure to mention the prior efforts you made to ask him to fix these things, with some detail as to when, and his responses. This letter fulfills the first part of Civil Code 1942: notice to the landlord of the conditions. Even though the law doesn't require written notice, experience shows that landlord is more likely than not to deny he knew anything about it, that you praised him for maintaining such a palace, or that you caused everything yourself.

In this first letter, don't mention your plan to move for other reasons. For one, your Motive is irrelevant to moving. For another, it confuses the issue, making it seem that these conditions don't really exist, because you are making them up as an excuse for breaking your lease. As noted above, you are accomplishing your goal to fulfill your motive, but these are not made up conditions. They conveniently supply the legal reason to end your tenancy which the landlord's lack of common sense or fairness would not permit. The law only wants to know if you have a valid reason. Stay focused on that key.

This letter is not to appeal to the landlord's decency [which we presume is nonexistent, or you wouldn't have these problems], but to the judge, who will decide whether the landlord had notice and whether the conditions justified your ending the lease. With this letter, the judge can be convinced that the landlord had notice, and the burden then shifts to the landlord to show what he did, when so notified. In court, your letter speaks for you, and makes your case easier to present. Also, having so stated your case, you do not have the obligation to give any further notice to terminate your tenancy. The Legislature eliminated that, as a means of punishing the slumlord. All you really need to do after that is leave after a "reasonable time". This does not have to be 30 days, as it would to repair and deduct, and probably relates to the severity of the problem and the difficulty of having it repaired.

Weak efforts by the landlord do not satisfy Civil Code 1942; if they did, why bother writing this law. It is commonplace for the slumlord to send over someone for an estimate to make it look like they are making efforts, only to not hire the company to do the work, or claim they are seeking other estimates. It is also commonplace for the landlord to send over day laborers or an unqualified handyman to "fix" the problem. The worker either doesn't know what they are doing, makes it worse, doesn't fix the problem, only fixes it half way, doesn't or can't get the permit, isn't licensed to do the work, can't find the parts, or uses a chewing-gum-and-coat-hanger solution which doesn't solve the problem at all. Chances are, that's all you got when you asked before. If such a half-hearted effort is made, you should write another letter to the landlord explaining that the effort did not solve the problem, that you only have had people giving estimates, with no excusable failure to just fix the problems. If you don't write that follow-up letter, the landlord tells that judge that he honestly thought the problem was solved, and had no idea that it wasn't, because you SAID nothing. Your letter underscores what a cheap bastard the landlord is, and shows his bad faith, when you get to the Security Deposit battle, to triple your recovery. Efforts t6o fix the problems after you have made plans to go are too late, because you have the right to terminate after the problems remain unfixed after a reasonable time, and you can't be denied that right by the landlord making repairs as your moving van pulls up.

Landlords are generally unaware of this remedy, mostly because tenants rarely use it, and until recently, leases were a rarity. They will deny that you can do that, and even threaten to take you to court if you break the lease. Yet, ask them why Civil Code 1942 doesn't apply, and you'll learn that they have no idea what they're talking about. Tell them that their threats of a lawsuit constitute retaliation and bad faith, that you are writing that down, and that it will be another reason that the owner will be sued, and will want to know WHO brought this upon him. Get their name spelled correctly; watch how their bravado fades as you ask them to spell their name. If they are so confident that they are right and will not be fired for taking this position, they should have no problem identifying themselves for you. Also get the name of their supervisor, spelled.

When you are ready to leave, you should [but are not required to] write a final letter, explaining that since the landlord didn't fix the items you had complained about within a reasonable time, you are leaving the rental unit under Civil Code 1942, and that you want a final inspection of the premises, to be sure you get your security deposit back. Again, this letter is not to appeal to the landlord's reasonableness, his duty to comply with the law, or otherwise resolve this by the book, because you will probably get an arrogant and hostile response. Instead, it is to show the judge, that you did vacate under Civil Code 1942, and did request a pre-termination inspection. Your rent check for prorated rent through the last day should also show "Civil Code 1942 termination prorated" in the memo portion, not because it has to, but it makes your partial payment clear.
 
how would i word a letter about gang and drug activity to be "fixed". I would assume putting something requiring pedestrian gates to be locked. but what else could I put?
 
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