Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Michigan

We looked at a house and decided we would like to rent it. The owners said that a man that showed up had been another potential renter but they turned him away pending our credit check. We then were called by the landlord the next day and told to bring our deposit $800.00 plus our 1st months rent to their house that evening. We were called and told that they had to cancel our appt. and move it to the following day. When we arrived we were handed a lease and it was read partially by the landlord to us with comments about certain sections just being legal jargon and thus not read by him. We were then told to sign it and give them the total of $1600.00 to be able to move in on Sept. 1st, 2010. We signed the lease and turned over the money on Aug. 10th, 2010. Today is Aug. 14th and we have since read thoroughly through this lease that he said his realtor friend wrote up for him. Many things in this lease were not mentioned during his reading and time was not alloted to us to read it ourselves prior to the signing & payment.

It states that we were informed that we could seek legal advice which was not read to us.

This lease states: In the event of termination by tenant any time after the signing of this lease prior to occupancy, the tenant agrees that the landlord shall be entitled to all costs related to re-renting or losses of rent amounts due to tenants termination. Any deposits paid by tenant to landlord shall be applied toward the payment of such costs. Tenant agrees to promptly pay landlord any amount due in excess of such deposit.

My question is: Should we decide to terminate this lease at this early date, due to our being dissatisfied with the full disclosure of the entire lease & because our 80 year old landlady has requested that we please stay and help her out by paying all utilities and rent as we have been doing for about 20 years, what exactly can they charge us for?

Thank you,


Asked on 8/14/10, 7:51 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Shelly Schellenberg MI & FL private practice

Your newfound sympathy toward your 80 year old landlady of 20 years does not excuse your performance under the lease. You were ready and willing to walk away from her just a few days ago, so this is not a convincing argument. Signing a contract without reading it will likely cost you money. The landlord may have been overreaching by reading only part of the contract to you, but you, as an adult had the obligation to read what the terms were before signing the lease. The courts do not attempt to protect persons who were in a position to protect themselves. You need to take the lease to a real estate attorney. Your attorney can contact the landlord to find out what he claims as his damages in the event that you terminate the lease prior to occupancy. A letter or phone call from an attorney to a landlord tends to make them more reasonable as to their actual damages or costs incurred.

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Answered on 8/19/10, 8:50 am


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