My landlord refused to deal with the issue of evicting neighbors with dangerous dogs and noise...

Question

after many promises that she would evict them. I have finally had enough and found a new apartment. I informed the landlord on the 8th that I would be moving out on the 1st of next month. She is claiming that I had to give exactly one months notice and now I have to pay a full months rent. What are my rights?

Answer 1

Yes, you need to give her 30 days notice. But, you do not need to give her a full months rent if you move out on the 8th. Your only liable for those 8 days.

Answer 2

Just up and leave.  You don't have to pay anything.  Court is more costly than just not collecting rent from you for one month.

Answer 3

you have what`s called "renters rights". file a complaint about him with your local housing authority,city hall,and your local animal protective league about the dangerous dogs. get signatures from other tenants if their are any. you can have your landlord and the dog owners fined and the animals removed.  

Answer 4

IF she promised you that she would evict them and did not, you can sue her (most likely successfully) in small-claims court.  You could probably get her for breach of contract...since she made an oral agreement with you to evict the other neighbors.  You  might also be able to collect moving expenses, even mental stress, if those dogs are a real pain and you can prove it.  Video-tape the dogs when they are acting up...

As far as video-taping goes, can you have her over to discuss everything, and have a nanny-cam hidden and running?  That way, you may be able to have proof that she did agree to evict the others, but then reneged.

I would tell her that if she tried to collect for the full month's rent that you would be counter-suing, for the aforementioned reasons....

Finally, I would do a video-walk-through to have proof that there was no damage done, if you have a security deposit at stake.  

*Note:  in small-claims court, you can represent yourself, so there will only be  a small filing fee.

Answer 5

ur rights are to give notice

Answer 6

Have you looked at your lease.

And when did you tell her? If it was the 8th you told her you would have to either stay until the 8th or pay her for week of rent, since I don't know much I can't tell you. And was there a security deposit and any other monies?

If there was a deposit you can tell her just use that for her months rent.

But put it in writing (legal doc.)

If you do stay until the 8th contact your new apartment and tell them your current issue **(short version, you should say is my landlord at this time is saying that I have to stay until the 8th, is this ok?)

Answer 7

Depends what state you are in and also what your rental agreement (if any) says.  Typically if you had a rental agreement your landlord would be able to sue you for breach of contract and you would have to present the defense of the neighbors' conduct as the reason you moved away.  But I'm guessing that you have a month to month deal or that there might be a clause in there that you give 30 days' notice.  30 days is standard for most leasing situations.  So, what you could do is tell your landlord fine you will move out on the 8th of next month and just pay an extra week's rent.  That would alleviate the 30 days' notice requirement (unless the contract says it has to be on the 1st of the month).

The problem is that your landlord needs to be able to find someone else to rent that apartment, and if she has you under contract then you are obligated for whatever time she isn't able to rent the place.  Conversely, if she is able to get someone in there by the 1st of the month, she can't turn around and demand that you pay the rent as well.  That's called unjust enrichment and is not allowed.  She can't be in a better position than if you had never left.

That said, I am guessing that you are trying to get some type of security deposit back and that is why you are concerned?  If so, and you have already paid your rent for this month (lesson learned) then the best thing you can do is to talk with your landlord, explain the situation and do the option of 30 days' notice for the 8th of next month.  Follow up with putting everything in writing with a check covering the extra week or with instructions to use part of the security deposit for that week.  Although, many rental agreements specifically state that you cannot use your security deposit for rent, so you may want to see if your landlord will go for that.  If you haven't paid your rent for the month and you do have a security deposit that would cover it, I would tell the landlord to use that and then just leave when you want.

But, be sure to take pictures of everything when you leave such that yor landlord doesn't come after you for damages.

As for the other poster's comment about people not wanting to go to court, I practice law in Cook County, Chicago, and can tell you that eviction court is filled with landlords who know exactly what they are doing and fill out the forms better than most lawyers.  And if you up and leave, they can sue you for breach of contract and recover whatever the terms of the contract are (less any money they can recover from a new renter).  And usually they can recover costs from the defendant.  Minimally you want to have some type of paper trail detailing your circumstances to be able to show to the judge.

You will not win in small claims court for breach of contract.  You have an oral agreement (at best) which really cannot be enforced and you would have to show damages (which while they could possibly include moving costs and a new apartment odds are you would have moved eventually anyways, so the point is moot).  Your 'oral contract' doesn't satisfy the basics of a contract, there is no offer, acceptance and consideration.  Depending upon the circumstances, unless you have properly invoked your rights under the contract, (sending notice complaining, demanding a peaceful living environment) you will most certainly lose.  And no judge is going to watch a nanny cam.  You would have issues of illegal recording and admissability issues that likely you would lose.      

Many jurisdictions have hotlines for renter's rights.  Depending on the building, (for Cook County if it's less than 6 units) certain rules don't apply; so you may want to consult with the local courthouse and see if there is sometype of legal help desk for landlord tenant disputes.

But in the meantime, document, document, document.  You want to be prepared in case you do get dragged into court.

Answer 8

Tell the landlord to go stuff it, politely of course, and tell him the reason you are leaving is because he neglected to take care of these neigboors, dogs and notice, so, in essense, it was HIS fault for you to give notice to move! Tell him you have talked it over with your attorney (doesn't mean you have to have one, Landlords DON'T want to have to go to Court) and the attorney said as you refused to make sure the place was safe, not just for you, but all the other tenants as well! You are not obligated to pay an extra months rent! OH! is she the manager or the owner? If she is only the manager, then take your beef to the owner! I pity the next tenant taking over your apartment! Good Luck!