Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Missouri

Breaking of Lease

In my opinion only your girl friend is responsible to the landlord and not you because you did not sign the lease. The landlord is wrong and may be in violation of the Fair Debt and Collection Practices Act which regulates debt collectors. There should be no calling at work. This is a federal act and would entitle to you collect attorney fees.

The issue of liability with your girl friend is a little more complex. If you can substatiate a health hazard in order to break the lease she may not be liable. It depends upon whether your state allows such a self help remedy by moving out. I suggest you contact local legal counsel as I am not familar with the laws of your jurisdiction. If your jurisdictions does not allow such a remedy, your girl friend may be liable for breaking the lease. I suggest that you obtain verification to the accuracy of the claim that the landlord violated the gas company's lock and that the gas line presented an unreasonable risk of danger to the occupants of the apartment.

This story smells funny.

(You will someday laugh, I expect and hope.)

What rights are you asking about? You are probably in pretty good shape. Are you hoping to get back a deposit?Are you most annoyed that they're calling you?

Having moved out, you are surely not paying rent. The likelihood of the owners collecting is not that high, though they may try. They will have to initiate a legal proceeding of course and you can explain it to a judge or magistrate then. In order to assess you fora period of time when the apartment is empty, they usuallyhave to show that they made efforts to get others into the apartment, and if there are other apts in the building,you can argue that the first newcomer they place in thebuilding belongs theoretically in your apartment. (There isa principle of law called a duty to mitigate -- to make reasonable efforts to reduce the 'damage' to them of having an empty apartment. So the landlord usually cannot collectvery much on a broken lease as a result.)

Many states have a severe penalty (e.g., triple payment) for a landlord that doesn't pay back the deposit when demanded aftertenants move out and, say, 30 days have passed. But since it appears that you gave no notice and probably didn't give yourlandlord a written notice about the gas before you chose to move out (and therefore didn't give landlord a decent chance to remedythe problem), you may lose on that one. There's usually a protocol-- each state varies -- in which you notify the landlord of yourproblem, give some time, then you either withhold rent and use themoney to fix the problem yourself, or if there's a more urgent problem,you might be able to move out if it isn't fixed, but you generallyhave to give the landlord a chance to fix it first.

Had you reported a safety code violation, again in writing, you mighthave had other rights, e.g., the right to stay and yet withhold rent until the problem was fixed. A gas leak is the kind of code violationthat generally is ordered fixed in a day.

Your parents can and should simply ignore (or yell at!) anyone callingthem about your debts. Actually, you can do the same since it was yourgirlfriend who signed the lease and not you. If you'd been behind in rent, I think you would be also liable, as an invitee (guest) of the tenant who'd signed the lease; you were a legal tenant, but obviously notliable for rent for the entire lease period and certainly not liablefor future payments of rent!

If you want to leave things status quo, you probably ought to wait for themto make the next move (and ignore the phone calls -- practice yourdebating skills, if you like, or even your burping skills, when they call).

CONTINUED...

This story smells funny.

Part 2 of 2:

Tell parents to have them call you. Tell them not to call, also, and (although there's no legal debt established) that they can be prosecuted under Federal law for Unfair Debt Collection Practices Law if they call you anytime after (say) 8PMor before 6 PM, or more often than twice per week, of if they don't hang up afteryou so request, or if they call anyone else about your debts even once, etc., etc.-- a bluff, really, since you ought not bother doing anything just because they make a few phone calls.

If you actually want to make a "federal case" out of this, you could probably suethem for your inconvenience caused by their gaseous actions -- be sure you can prove them, though!, for any increase in rent and moving costs, and if you find yourselfgetting ill from stress over this, call a local tort lawyer. You were obviously quitescared and sometimes such fear caused by another party are compensable in state courts, but only in certain states.

In spite of all I've said, I don't know much about MO law. I do, however, know a couple of very capable St. Louis lawyers, if that's where you reside, and in any case, you shouldn't be afraid to call either a local legal aid society (free!) or even a local attorney for a recommendation of an appropriate attorney and try to get freeadvice (like you got here) over the phone. You may find that I'm all wet aboutyour state's laws, and you could be either in the driver's seat or your goose could be ... cooked (yes, by gas).