Renters should never break a lease if they can help it, explains attorney Chris Shelburn, a local lawyer in Charlotte, NC, who practices at the Law Office of Christopher W. Shelburn, PLLC. He explains that most leases will hold up well in court, and that renters are almost always going to be on the hook if they try to break their leases and leave their rental units early. “In North Carolina, it is kind of tough,” he says. “The law definitely weighs on the landlord’s side for the most part.”
To break a lease without being legally obligated to continue paying rent, Shelburn advises that a renter would have to have a very compelling reason why he or she left—beyond just finding a better place to live. What has become the trend as of late, Shelburn says, is for tenants to think they can walk away from leases if they are anything less than satisfied with their apartments’ conditions. Unfortunately, that is simply not the case.
Even if the landlord is behind on repairs or has not made attempts to fix broken appliances in a property to the resident’s satisfaction, Shelburn explains that does not give the tenant the right to break a lease. “You still have to pay the rent, even in that case,” he says. Although poor living conditions could potentially be a reason to stop paying a certain portion of the rent each month, that is only the case as long as a judge agrees that stopping full payment on the rent is the proper thing to do. In other words, tenants should wait until a judge has made an order to discontinue full payments to the landlord, rather than going ahead and making the decision to stop making payments themselves.
Rather than failing to continue paying rent, Shelburn recommends that tenants who are unhappy with the conditions of their properties contact a local lawyer like himself. In Charlotte, NC, an attorney will be able to set up a hearing with the court to decide what is the proper action to take against a landlord who continually fails to make repairs on a rental property. “So you can take a landlord to court to get an abatement on the rent, but you still have to pay rent in the meantime and you will have to recoup the amount paid at a later date,” he says.
Any rent abatement that a judge grants, Shelburn explains, will be based on the reduction in rent value due to the condition of the premises. So if the air conditioner has been out of order for three months, then a judge will determine what the rental price of the same unit without an air conditioner would be, and then set that as the reduced price that the tenant must pay until the repairs have been made.
Cases involving unmade repairs and disregarded repair requests are few and far in between, says Shelburn, and it is much more common that a tenant will break a lease simply because he wants to move out early, rather than because there is anything wrong with the unit he is renting.
Nonetheless, Shelburn recommends that anyone renting a property in Charlotte, NC, contact a local lawyer before signing a lease—and certainly before trying to break one—to make sure that the agreement is as fair as possible. Certain parts of a lease may be flexible, and an attorney may be able to negotiate with a landlord to make small changes to a lease being signed, such as altering the lease period or specifying who is required to make which types of repairs to the unit.
He says that hiring an attorney, or at least making an appointment to talk with one, before attempting to break a lease is one the smartest things a renter can do. “Like I have said before, the law favors the landlord in these types of cases, and you don’t want to get yourself in a situation where you are going to be sued by the landlord for damages down the road,” Shelburn explains.
Leases are put in place to protect both the landlord and the tenant, and it is important that both parties follow these agreements to a tee. If you suspect that your landlord is not following through with his obligations as described in the lease, then Shelburn recommends contacting his office and arranging an appointment to discuss your legal options.
This article is for informational purposes only. You should not rely on this article as a legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances, and you should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. Publication of this article and your receipt of this article does not create an attorney-client relationship.
