Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Michigan

Terminating lease early due to intrusive cigarette smoke

My partner and I entered into a 1 year lease on a townhouse 8 months ago. A couple weeks ago we started to smell cigarette smoke. I promptly called management and they responded fairly quickly. They tried several solutions but were unsuccessful.

My partner has a documented allergy to tobacco smoke and gets physically ill when she is exposed. After they were not successful stopping the problem, we suggested to them that we would like to negotiate an early end to the lease based on medical grounds. I delivered them a doctors note and offered that we could vacate the premises asap so they could re-rent starting next month and not lose a thing.

They countered that offer with what I felt to be a very high offer and even suggested that we were lying and taking advantage of them.

Their offer was 60 days rent to let us out early.

Does this seem fair? Do we have any legal grounds to fight this?

Any help is much needed and appreciated. thanks in advance.


Asked on 9/19/08, 6:31 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Timothy Klisz Klisz Law Office, PLLC

Re: Terminating lease early due to intrusive cigarette smoke

a judge would ultimately decide, but I think their offer is reasonable under your circumstances. Does the lease allow or disallow smoking? This would make a big difference. Visit www.kliszlaw.com to discuss further. Tim Klisz

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Answered on 9/19/08, 6:38 pm


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