Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Georgia

Is me house rental agreement illegal?

I signed a one-year lease agreement to reside in a home in August 2006. Since then I have had terrible trouble with my landlord not repairing or reimbursing me for repair of his property. As a result I decided that I would like to break the lease and plan to purchase a home nearby. I discovered through public tax records that my landlord is claiming homestead exemption on the property, despite living on the other side of the country. Can I use this as grounds to break the lease, claiming the lease is illegal?

Thank you.


Asked on 1/22/07, 8:40 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Scott Riddle Law Office of Scott B. Riddle, LLC

Re: Is me house rental agreement illegal?

That is an issue between the landlord and taxing authorities, and not you. Since we do not know what your lease says about early termination, we can't speculate, but that is the place to start. Keep in mind that many people who want to termimate a lease try to come up with other reasons to do so (ie, didn't repair, homestead issue, etc.) to avoid charges. Lanlords are used to this. The time to resolve repair issues is at the time of the repair, and the remedy (when necessary) is usually repair and deduct from rent. It does not mean walk away. Based on your post, perhaps you simply want to move. The responsible thing is to discuss a resolution with the landlord before you leave. You can pay a lawyer to review everything -- and many will offer to take an hourly fee for doing so -- but money may be better spent resolving the issue now.

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Answered on 1/22/07, 8:48 am


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