Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Georgia

Early termination of lease agreement

My landlord has left a leak in my roof for 5 months and has hardly done anything to alleviate the problem. A contractor deemed that the entire roof needs to be replaced over 2 months ago and nothing has been done about it. It is to the point that I worry that the roof is going to collapse. I want to make sure that I am within my right as a tenant to break the lease and that it will not come back to haunt me at a later time. What are my rights as a renter in Savannah? I am having building safety inspect the apartment at some point in the next few days. Do I have good reason to stop payment of my rent? I have all of our correspondences documented, proving that he has been aware of the problem for months.


Asked on 4/18/07, 9:46 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Glenn M. Lyon, Esq. MacGREGOR LYON, LLC, Business Attorneys

Re: Early termination of lease agreement

If your landlord is aware of the problem and has not repaired it within a reasonable amount of time, you may terminate the lease (unless you are responsible for the repair of the roof in the lease). However, there is no way to stop the landlord from claiming that you improperly terminated the lease; you would simply have a solid defense that the landlord breached the lease first by failing to repair the roof.

If you would like to discuss any issues further, please feel free to contact my office. My contact information is below. Thank you.

The foregoing is general information only, not specific legal advice. No attorney/client relation has been created or should be implied.

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Answered on 4/18/07, 11:18 am


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