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In this case the the tenant signed an application and a 12-month lease at $1,150 per month in rent. This management company does not take security deposits.
Later that night, the tenant decided she didn't want to rent the apartment. She asked the management to release her from her lease in writing, which they refused to do. The tenant never moved in.
The tenant called us, and we found ways to terminate her lease legally. Our investigation also disclosed that there had been code violations cited against the apartment building in the previous 12 months.
We sent the landlord a follow-up letter notifying them the lease was terminated, and that the landlord had to pay the tenant's attorney fees for the service. The landlord disagreed. The tenant has us file her case. At trial the Court held that even though the tenant didn't move in, the code violations from before she moved in should have been disclosed to her. The tenant's lease termination was found valid, and the tenant was also awarded one month's rent as damages under RLTO § 100. We feel that the trial court's remarks that the law is "crazy" do not fully take into account how unfair it is for landlords to get tenants to sign leases without disclosing that the building has recently been cited for code violations by the City. |
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