Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Texas
verbal agreemaent with landlord
My landlord asked me to move out and said that if i did so she would release me from my lease contract (4 months early). I agreed and said that I would be out by the end of the month. She then sued me for eviction because I was 2 weeks late with 1/2 of the month's rent. I moved out and we went to court. In court, the judge told her that she should sue me for the remainder of the lease and that if she did so she could be awarded all the rent for the duration of the lease. So now, even though my landlord verbally told me if I moved out that she would not hold me to the remainder of the lease, she is suing me again for this month's rent even though I was moved out before this month started.
Is she at all legally bound to our verbal agreement?
What if she denies that she made that agreement?
What about the judge that gave her all that legal advice in court, and pretty much promised her that she (judge) would award landlord rent for all the way until May. That doesn't seem right.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: verbal agreemaent with landlord
Unfortunately, all agreements regarding a lease must be in writing in order to be acknowledged. However, you do have a defense to any lawsuit brought by your landlord against you, because you "justifiably relied" on his statements, and you moved out of your property based on that reliance. It is a valid defense to any claim he brings against you, provided you can more or less prove that he did indeed make such a verbal agreement to you.
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