Hello All - I rented a house in Apple Valley CA in December 2004 and signed a 1 year lease paying all the required deposits. This is a brand new house which was bought as an investment by my landlord and his wife. Consequently on our 3/4 of an acre there is no fencing and no landscaping. At the time of the lease my partner and I both discussed several times the need for a fence for security and for our dogs. Our landlord promised that we'd have one by February. This was discussed and promised up to, including and after we signed our lease with discussion of the type of fence and timetable. We made it clear to our landlord that this was a key issue for us, however, he did not want to put it in our lease and we did not ask him to. He promised us multiple times that it would be done.
Unfortunately, our landlord got in a bad car accident at the end of December and due to his "$100,000 in outstanding medical bills" and his lack of work he is not not able to put up the fence - even a chain link one which is $10k less than the vinyl one we discussed. Chain link would be about $4k. In March our car was stolen from in front of our home. Next, some plumbing materials were stolen from the side of our house. Just yesterday our side area was ruffled through again and some minor things stolen. Of course now everything is in the garage however we are very concerned for our safety.
I wrote to our landlord after our car was stolen and asked him if we found a way to finance the purchase of fencing could we take it off the rent in some small amount every month. He has agreed in the past to handle other things this way. He said he could not afford to do that. We had previously discussed a lease-option-to-buy and we told him that we'd like to pursue this as well if he could no longer afford to improve the property. He did not respond to that at all.
I am wondering if this breach of our verbal agreement is enough to break our lease. We do not feel safe without some sort of security fencing and it has ruined our comfort in the home, not to mention that our possessions are not safe. So far, no one has actually broken inside the home but who wants to wait for that?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. We have tried to work with him and his situation but now feel that our security is more important than his financial situation.
Your thoughts? And yes, next time we will definately have any agreements written in the lease!!
Thanx in advance,
Karuana in California
Unfortunately, our landlord got in a bad car accident at the end of December and due to his "$100,000 in outstanding medical bills" and his lack of work he is not not able to put up the fence - even a chain link one which is $10k less than the vinyl one we discussed. Chain link would be about $4k. In March our car was stolen from in front of our home. Next, some plumbing materials were stolen from the side of our house. Just yesterday our side area was ruffled through again and some minor things stolen. Of course now everything is in the garage however we are very concerned for our safety.
I wrote to our landlord after our car was stolen and asked him if we found a way to finance the purchase of fencing could we take it off the rent in some small amount every month. He has agreed in the past to handle other things this way. He said he could not afford to do that. We had previously discussed a lease-option-to-buy and we told him that we'd like to pursue this as well if he could no longer afford to improve the property. He did not respond to that at all.
I am wondering if this breach of our verbal agreement is enough to break our lease. We do not feel safe without some sort of security fencing and it has ruined our comfort in the home, not to mention that our possessions are not safe. So far, no one has actually broken inside the home but who wants to wait for that?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. We have tried to work with him and his situation but now feel that our security is more important than his financial situation.
Your thoughts? And yes, next time we will definately have any agreements written in the lease!!
Thanx in advance,
Karuana in California
