Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Missouri

breaking lease

We have been leasing a home for the past 3 yrs. We just resigned for another yr. But now we want to break the lease. The landlord has gone back on his word for things in the past. We have found some place else to live. Can we give 30 days notice that we are leaving and tell him to keep the deposit since we don't think he will give it back anyway. When we first moved in it was to be lease to purchase. The landlord changed his mind and we did not have time to find somewhere else. He knew we wanted to buy the place at the end of the lease but now said he was not ready to sell. We have found a place that will do lease to purchase so our money is got toward the house not down the drain. Since he has changed his mind so many times can we get out of this new lease since we have found what he said we would have been getting from him and are not.


Asked on 6/01/04, 10:24 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Anthony DeWitt Bartimus, Frickleton Robertson & Gorny, PC

Re: breaking lease

The rights you have are contained in the wording of the lease, and without seeing the lease, I couldn't tell you whether you can safely break the lease or not.

Generally you can breach a contract and the cost of breaching is spelled out in the contract. If the breach costs you the deposit, that would be found in the deposit.

Generally, a landlord has a duty to mitigate damages, and that means he must offer to rent the property and rent it. Thus if the lease made you responsible for all damages incident to breaking the lease, the cost of the lost rental time and the cost of re-letting the property could be recovered against you.

I hope this helps.

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Answered on 6/01/04, 10:30 am


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