Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New Jersey

We are renting a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom apartment in NJ. for 3500 dollars. We paid our rent in advance. it is all paid for until the end of the lease on Nov. 30th.

We had a flood in our apartment due to some defective hot water pipe connected to our dish-washer. Our furniture is damaged, the floor is damaged as well as the walls. We have renters' insurance. Our landlord wants us to leave the property to carry repairs for 3-4 weeks. We would have to move out and take our stuff to a storage and move back again after a month. Our renters' insurance will be providing similar accommodation and pay for move and storage. As we have already paid our rent, how do we get the rent paid back as we will not occupy the place for a while? the place smells badly, there is mold, we cannot use of dishwasher until the repair is done and we are paying a fortune for not much in return.

In our lease it says that if "property is uninhabitable, tenant's obligation to pay rent shall cease until the time that the property is restored by the landlord. If only a part of the Property is uninhabitable, then the rent shall be ajused proportionately.. either party may cancel this lease if the property is so damaged by fire or other casualty that the Property cannot be repaired within 90 days. The landlord's determination in such regard shall be final conclusive and binding on both parties". The landlord is offering compensation in the next lease if we renew. Our rent is 3500 dollars and she is offering to abate 2500 dollars and no rent increase for a year. So we paid something and we will get it back in January if we renew the lease.. Can we break lease now? we do not want to move 2 times before the end of our lease. After what's been going on, we do not particularly want to stay here.


Asked on 8/29/12, 7:17 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Matthew Schutz Matthew R. Schutz, Esq.

I think you are stuck. The LL is remediating the leak and mold issues and your losses ae being covered by insurance.

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Answered on 8/29/12, 7:34 am


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