Trying to break your lease - obtain ammunition first.

Are you looking to get out of your lease? You may want to begin by gathering all your ammunition first because landlords are not likely to just let you out of your lease. I recommend assembling a document trail for any dispute that you have with your landlord about your tenancy. For example, if your landlord has failed to make repairs at your apartment, it sure would be helpful to have a half dozen letters that you wrote to the landlord describing the repairs needed and asking him to make them.

Constructive Eviction Weakened by Continued Tenancy

If you stay too long in an apartment that you think is unfit for habitation, you can hurt your chances of arguing constructive eviction and breach of the warranty of habitability.

In the case of Bogner v. Titleist Club, LLC, 2006 Ohio App. LEXIS 6904 (December 29, 2006) Wood Co. App. No. WD-06-039, the tenants leased an apartment on August 1, 2001. Within two weeks after moving in, many items in the apartment needed repairs, including a broken patio door, broken light fixture, unlevel cupboard shelves, Read more

Interpreting a lease agreement

Question: I have a clause in my lease agreement in Ohio which allows me to terminate the lease early so long as I give 45 days’ notice to my landlord. My landlord says that he won’t honor this clause and insists that if I leave early he will sue me. What are my rights?

Answer: If the matter goes to a court, the court will read the lease as it is written and enforce this clause. Even if the lease clause is ambiguous, so long as your interpretation of the ambiguity is reasonable, the lease will be construed by the court against the drafter (meaning that the intepretation of the person who drafted it will lose out). This is justified because the drafter (usually the landlord) was in the best position to say what he meant, yet failed to speak clearly on the issue.

Learn about all the options you have for getting out of your lease here.