Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

Our landlord came to us about a month ago and said she was going to be selling her house when our lease was up in April. Since we knew we were going to have to find a new place eventually, I sent her an email and asked her if we were to go ahead and start looking for a new place now, would she let us out of the lease without paying any penalties (since she was the one who wanted to sell it). She emailed me back and said that was fine, that if we wanted to move, she would treat it as if we were moving out in April. Now that we have found a house and want to move, she says we�re going to have to forfeit our $900 deposit. I went around and around in circles with her over the phone about how we would never have started looking for a new place now if she had just told us that we would have to forfeit our deposit if we moved out early. She says she�s sorry she wasn�t more clear in her email, but that we still have a binding lease. My question is, since we have it in an email that she gave us permission to move out early with no penalties, can we legally hold her to that and make her give us our deposit back? Also, there is a leak in one room that has been there since we first moved in, which we�ve told her about numerous times, and she has never fixed. I wasn�t sure if that by itself was grounds to break the lease since she is obligated to make repairs.


Asked on 10/16/09, 8:57 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

If there is damage to the premises attributable to your tenancy, the repair cost of which would've been applied to your security deposit if you had stayed until April, such cost would not be characterized as a penalty for premature termination of the lease and should be applicable irrespective of when you were to move. However, if there is no such damage, then the entire deposit should be returned to you as the landlord promised and you could sue her in small claims court for its return.

And, no, the leaky room would not be a basis for you to break the lease without penalty.

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Answered on 10/21/09, 10:00 am


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