Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Utah

Lease agreement, wage garnishing

This past winter I was employed by a

company in Park City UT that set up

housing for some of it's employees

including myself. I signed a 6 month

lease which runs through May, 16

2008. I am attempting to get out of

a lease early based on a section

stating that if employment is

terminated for any reason prior to

the end of the lease, the lease will be

considered automatically terminated.

My employment with the company

ended on March 22nd, when I also

vacated the apartment. They put this

into the lease in order to remove

people from housing if fired from the

job. In no other place in the lease is

it stated that termination must be

instigated by the employer. After

informing them of my termination, I

received a letter from there lawyer

explaining that they would be

applying my $500 deposit towards

the remaining unpaid rent as well as

taking the rest of the unpaid rent out

of my final paycheck. Is this legal for

them to garnish my wages without

approval from me? What are my

options at this point and do I have a

decent chance at fighting this?


Asked on 4/01/08, 4:37 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mel Larew

Re: Lease agreement, wage garnishing

The first thing to do is to look at the terms of the lease, which it appears you have done. If there is no qualifier on the reason for employment termination, as you indicate, there is no reason for the landlord to not honor that provision.

"Garnishment" is not possible without a court order. Is the employer also the landlord? If so, your employment contract will speak (if at all) to the possibility of withholding rent from your wages.

Quote the provision of the lease back to the lawyer (and give him/her a copy of the entire lease).

It may be that you need to instigate a lawsuit to resolve this if the landlord is uncooperative, but it sounds from the information you've provided that you are in teh clear and the landlord has no right to retain your deposit nor to have withheld from a paycheck any amount toward rent. IF they do, contact the Utah State Bar lawyer referral phone line and speak directly to an attorney in your area.

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Answered on 4/01/08, 5:25 pm


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