Landlord’s bad faith

If a landlord is acting in bad faith, how does that affect my ability to break the lease?

Our landlord agreed to find new tenants in order to let us out of our lease. An ad was placed in the paper (for which we were charged for) and our unit was shown to interested parties. The landlord wanted us to have absolutely NO involvement in this process and therefore never got back to us as to the status of the people that came to see our place.

We called repeatedly to no avail. A week passes then she emails us telling us that she was away for the week and unfortunately the person with whom she was set on going with, never got the paper work or deposit to her. She also continued to state that during this time, any interested parties that called were told that the place was rented.

Now she wants us to pay for a second ad. By being negligent, in that she deliberately lost potential tenants without any justification, can this be a just argument in court? Being that we have cooperated 100%, have paid for an ad for which she turned people away, and purchased a for rent sign with her number on it only (at her request).

Now that the person, with whom she chose has not come through, we’ve lost two weeks of advertising, without being given the option to keep the ad running until the process was finalized; can she still hold us responsible for the lease?

Since she will not allow us to be involved at all, how can we protect ourselves? Can she refuse us putting our number on any ads or the sign on the lawn? We do not want to screen these people, we just want a tally as to how many people have been interested and turned down.

Answer on a landlord’s bad faith

Generally, a landlord has a duty to mitigate his or her damages upon the tenant breaking the lease agreement. The landlord must act in a way that is reasonable. You will doubtless argue that taking a week’s vacation and turning away prospective tenants is not a reasonable course of action, and if a judge agrees with you, he may absolve you of any further responsibility on the lease.

If there is nothing in your lease agreement against a for rent sign in the yard, I don’t see how the landlord can keep you from advertising for tenants to take over the lease. Further, her attempts to keep you from doing so would also bring into question whether the landlord is taking reasonable steps to mitigate damages.

You should keep all of your communications with the landlord in writing, and remember that when you do leave this place, you should video tape it so that there isn’t any argument about its condition and damages.

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