Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Virginia
Breach of Lease?
We rented a home and signed a lease in August 08. Since then we found we were unable to live in it because of our daughters sever allergies, but the landlord would not allow us to break the lease. We moved out of the house but continued to pay the rent and utilities since November 1, 2008. We have continued to check on the property weekly. Last night we discovered the landlord went into the house and changed the locks without ever notfiying us. I'm reading my lease and it appears they are in violation because they never notified us. Does this now allow us to stop paying the rent and utilities?
23 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living in and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living in and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living in and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living in and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living in and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living in and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he likely was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he likely was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he likely was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he likely was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
No, it does not, if the landlord knew that you were no longer living there and had in effect abandoned the leased premises, he likely was within his rights to change the locks without notifying you.
Re: Breach of Lease?
Yes, I think you can stop paying.
Breaking a lease is a very difficult situation.
It is VERY rare that one can get out of a lease even for the normal reasons that people usually have and difficult to do.
However, when your landlord deprives you of possession of the premises, that is why you are paying for. If you are no longer getting the use of the the place (cannot access it), then you are not getting anythinhg for your money.
So, I think that the landlord has done you a favor.
Now, Mr. Hendrickson is concerned that you might have breached the lease first by some detail in the lease against "abandoning" the premises or leaving it empty, etc.
If you breached first, then the landlord might be able to sue you for any unpaid rent until he rents the place to someone else. (A landlord can never recover DOUBLE rent from 2 different people for the same real estate.)
But the landlord has clearly chosen ("elected") to lock you out. If the lease was broken (and we don't know if it was) he should have gone through formal eviction proceedings in the court, not just changed the locks on you.
Now, I want to be clear. THIS STUFF CAN BE TRICKY. It would be worth it to pay a lawyer for an hour or so of time to look everything over and help you.
But if you clearly DOCUMENT what you are doing in writing, I think you can stop paying rent and probably should. You need to send at least one, and probably several letters at different stages, communicating with the landlord that: (1) You were paying the rent even though you found the house unsatisfactory because of allergies. (2) You were surprised when he changed the locks, because you still been paying. (3) He did not go through formal eviction proceedings. (4) If he is locking you out, this is inconsistent with you continuing to pay for a house you cannot access. (5) If there is some mis-understanding, please contact you immediately. (6) You are ONLY stopping payment because he has elected to deprive you of access to the real estate, and only in response to that.
Who knows? Maybe he already found another renter?
Now, doing this right can be tricky, and you should proceed very carefully.
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