Housing issues / eviction

Generally a landlord does not have let a person out of her lease since a lease is a legal contract. Usually, whoever signs a lease is liable to the landlord for the whole term of the lease so the landlord could sue the tenant for the rent if the tenant stops paying the rent. And if the landlord gets a money judgment against the tenant for non-payment of rent, this can affect the tenant’s credit and his/her ability to rent in the future (if future landlords access the housing court records that show who was sued in housing court).

In many states, there are laws that allow domestic violence victims or victims of stalking or sexual assault to break their leases to stay safe from an abuser. [CHECK OUR HOUSING LAWS PAGE TO SEE IF THERE IS A LAW THERE. IF NOT, SAY: Although I didn’t find any such law for your state, she may want to talk to a lawyer at a legal services organization to see if there are any laws that may apply to her that we do not list on our website.]

If there are no laws that would allow someone to break the lease, a victim who plans to move out or who has moved out may want to approach the landlord to see if s/he will voluntarily let the victim out of his/her lease based on the situation. Sometimes, having a lawyer or an advocate reach out to the landlord and try to advocate on the victim’s behalf may help. Sometimes appealing to the landlord’s interests, the victim may explain things such as the fact that the perpetrator is violent and that it is for the landlord’s protection to not have this person be near his building or other tenants and as long as the victim is in the apartment, there is a risk that the perpetrator will come back and cause property damage to the building or harm other tenants. Also, sometimes a lawyer or advocate can help a victim come to some sort of compromise with the landlord - for example, offering to pay a month’s rent or two as a penalty for breaking the lease may entice the landlord to allow the person out of the lease since then the landlord can re-rent it and get double rent for those months. If the landlord does let someone out of a lease in this way, however, it is extremely important to get the agreement in writing in case the landlord later does sue the tenant in housing court.

Lastly, if a landlord doesn’t allow someone out of his/her lease, perhaps s/he can try to sublet the apartment to someone else. This means that the person moves in and pays the victim the rent and then s/he pays it to the landlord. I am not sure if in her state, she needs the landlord’s permission to sublet or not but a landlord/tenant lawyer can advise her on that.

Your [FILL IN: CLIENT, FRIEND, ETC] may want to talk to a lawyer that specializes in landlord-tenant law as soon as possible to see if there are any other rights that she may have in her situation. Here are the links to lawyers on our website: LINK Getting a legal consultation can really help her decide what to do.

[THIS IS ASSUMING THERE IS A CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST THE PERPETRATOR, YOU CAN ADD: Another idea may be talking to the prosecutor on the criminal case to see if they may include some type of restitution to the victim as part of the criminal case - perhaps the perpetrator may be ordered to pay the unpaid rent or perhaps the moving expenses.]

Also, if a victim has to move due to an assault, s/he may decide to sue the perpetrator for the moving expenses, and the rent that s/he had to pay even after s/he moved out. We have information on suing one’s abuser in court on our website here: LINK TO SUING AN ABUSER PAGE