No options to break a lease

[Monka]

Jurisdiction

Georgia

I rented this house over a year ago to a managing company that sold the property to an investor. The new owner then changed the management company, and the new one didn't create a new lease, but kept the old one as active. On May of this year that old lease expired, and we reapplied for another year. However, the actual management company on charge didn't give us to sign a new lease, but a single paper saying that we were continue living the place for another year.

This new period should expire on May of next year, but now we want to buy a house in another county and it's not fair that we will be paying double for something we will not be using. My questions are:
1. Do this management landlord can punish us if we break the lease early?
2. Can we claim that we are paying month to month because there is not a lease signed?
3. Finally, can they keep our deposit under these conditions?

The document we signed was an agreement to continue living here for another year, but happens that as this is not the same company that made the first lease, it's not signed by any of the employees of the new company. Do they have legal rights over a document they didn't sign?

With the company that made the lease, trying to break it before, we could have an agreement that let us to do it if we could find a person that take over the remaining time. However, the new company (THAT IS NOT THE SAME THAT SIGNED THE LEASE) doesn't give us any chance, and even menaced us with a court eviction if we go and don't pay the rent. The fact is that this one never give us any "lease" to sign up. The paper we signed just says that we will continue living here another year. The only choice they give us is to continue paying until the term expiration.

I talked with them about to sublease the house, and the house manager simply said that, over to lose the deposit, I will be evicted and take it to court. She doesn't accept any negotiation with a sublease or a take over. Also she doesn't let me to talk directly with the owner.

Could I have a way to legally avoid paying several months after vacate the premises?

 

[army judge]

It may not be fair, but its not illegal.
That said, you'll soon be leaving the USA, so the likelihood of a person in the USA suing you in another country is about as likely as me growing wings and flying like an eagle.

You like to be fair, so ask the current LL how much it would cost to buy yourselves out of the lease because you're leaving the USA soon.

 

[adjusterjack]

Do this management landlord can punish us if we break the lease early?

If you mean exact monetary damages from you, yes.

Can we claim that we are paying month to month because there is not a lease signed?

You can "claim" anything you want to "claim" but it won't work. You're on a lease until next may. The paper you were given was an acknowledgment, based on your instructions, that you renewed your expiring lease for another year.

Finally, can they keep our deposit under these conditions?

Yes. They can apply the deposit to any unpaid rent from the time you move out until the time they re-rent and apply it to any damage you leave behind and come after you for more money if the deposit doesn't cover it all.

The document we signed was an agreement to continue living here for another year, but happens that as this is not the same company that made the first lease, it's not signed by any of the employees of the new company. Do they have legal rights over a document they didn't sign?

Yes. Contracts are routinely assigned from one entity to the next.

Could I have a way to legally avoid paying several months after vacate the premises?

No.

However, if you just quit paying and leave, the manager will have to re-rent as soon as reasonably possible and can only charge you for that amount of time.

That could minimize the amount you would end up paying for breaching the lease.

 

[txls]

So you signed a lease agreement. Your signature indicated agreement to all of the terms of the agreement. You agreed to an additional year. Now you want to do something different with your life so suddenly the terms are "not fair." Well gee if only all contracts could be null and void if one party or the other decided not fair.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

So here is my guess what took place, having engaged in some landlord tenant law here in New York. It's quite possible that your agreement on just one sheet of paper was nothing more than a renewal of your existing lease for an additional year, which you agreed to do at the time. This informal practice is not uncommon and it is as binding as signing a new lease with the exact same terms with only the dates replaced with the new dates in effect.

What would be unfair is to allow you to simply break the lease and leave the landlord with a home that he or she thought was rented for the year only to suddenly be missing a tenant and the monthly check. At no time were you forced to sign the lease. And if you had reservations of renting the property for the entire year, you could easily have discussed a different lease term. But you didn't. So holding you responsible for the remaining rent is certainly fair - after all you wouldn't like it if the landlord realized he could get a better deal and he wanted to dump you unceremoniously.

So... what can you do? As suggested you can take a reasonable approach. Communicate with the landlord as to what can be done. Since you're not leaving next week, perhaps if you come up with a suitable tenant the landlord might allow you to have them sign a lease and be responsible for the rent. It's even possible that the landlord might agree to what is called a "novation" where the lease signed with the new tenant also includes a full release from rental payment responsibility under your existing lease (as opposed to being secondarily liable.)

And I absolutely agree with @adjusterjack when he says that the landlord can keep your security deposit if you just leave. That's what security deposits are for - to remedy the landlord from tenants who wrongfully breach their leases. You have options. As is said in New York, if you handle it like "mench" then perhaps the landlord will be understanding. Good luck.