Q-My wife and I purchased a home and were forced to break our lease four months early. We attempted to rerent our suburban apartment for the remainder of the lease, but were unsuccessful. We followed the move-out procedures dictated by our management company, including a 30-day notice. When we turned in the keys, we said we would forfeit our security deposit. After we moved, we received a bill stating that since we did not pay a two-month penalty when we moved out, we are liable for the remaining four months of the lease.
We understood that they had to attempt to rerent the apartment. We`ve sent friends to the management company as ”undercover renters,” but the rental agents never showed them our apartment.
Can they hold us liable for the balance of the lease, especially since they never showed this apartment?
A-They probably can, assuming the management company does not rerent the apartment before the end of your lease term.
You are obligated for the balance of your lease, or until the management company rerents the apartment, unless there is a provision in your lease providing for early termination. That provision would have to state exactly how to go about terminating your lease and the amount you would have to pay if you left early.
Assuming there was no provision, the fact that you agreed to forfeit only your security deposit would not bind your landlord to this settlement. The landlord would have to agree to accept this payment to release you from your lease obligations. If such an agreement was reached, it should have been put in writing and signed by an agent of the management company.
If the management company requires a payment of two months` rent as a buyout of your lease, then your choice is to either pay that amount at the time specified by the landlord or take your chances at rerenting the apartment for the balance of your lease.
Also, simply because your friends were not shown your apartment would not mean the landlord was failing to act properly in attempting to rerent that apartment. A landlord is not required to rerent your apartment, or the apartments of other tenants leaving before their leases expire, in preference to vacant apartments he may also have available. It only makes sense that if he has vacant apartments, which are not producing rent, he will try to rent them before seeking a new tenant for your unit, where he has a commitment from you to keep paying rent.
The key question is whether the unit he showed to your friends, and other prospective tenants, is comparable to your apartment. For example, if the management agent showed only one-bedroom apartments to your ”undercover renters” and you had a two-bedroom apartment, you might have a legitimate complaint. However, if he showed them other two-bedroom units that are comparable to yours, the fact that he did not show your unit would not be grounds for a complaint. No court is going to require a rental agent to show every vacancy in an apartment complex to every prospective tenant.
At this point, you probably should get in touch with the management agent and see what kind of deal you can strike. While the agent may be intending to proceed against you through the courts, and while you then might be liable for his attorneys` fees and costs, he might well be willing to negotiate with you. An out-of-court agreement assures him a quicker recovery than the uncertain course of litigation.
Tenant probation
Q-I have been approached by two people who want to rent one of my apartments. One is a graduate student, and the other assures me that while he is not employed now, he will be within three months, at which time their combined incomes will qualify for rental of this apartment. They are willing to pay me a security deposit and three months` rent in advance. What sort of provision can I write that would allow me to reconsider their tenancy after the three months are up?
A-To draft this sort of provision, you probably will need legal assistance. It would have to specifically set forth the formula for their incomes to qualify. Also, you would have to set forth time constraints, the information that must be submitted and other relevant qualifications.
It would be quite a feat to set down in writing all considerations a landlord makes in evaluating a tenant. Many of the landlord`s criteria for a tenant are subjective and very difficult to define in writing.
Ultimately, after you went through the whole process of drawing up all the criteria for this particular provision, it`s likely that something else would surface to make you want to rent or not want to rent to this tenant. You cannot provide for every foreseeable set of facts in this sort of lease provision.
Under the circumstances, you are better off writing a simple three-month lease. Then, toward the end of that term, you can evaluate these tenants in terms of their income and their conduct during the three-month period. If either you or the tenant is displeased at that time, you could rerent to another party. On the other hand, you will be able to renew the lease if the arrangement works out as you all hope it will.
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Robert A. Boron, a Chicago attorney who specializes in leasing matters, writes about landlord and tenant issues for the Tribune. Questions to him can be addressed to Rental Q&A, Your Place section, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611. Sorry, but he cannot make personal replies.
