Question: My husband got a job transfer to another state. We were in a 1 year lease that was to end 11/06. We moved out on 9/15/06 and broke our lease early. We spoke with the landlord as soon as we knew of the move – 3 weeks before. (By the way our landlord resides in KS not in OH.) After some back and forth negotiating, they finally agreed to let us out of the lease when they found a new tenant to take over.
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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.