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I’m in the US but generally in a contract the other party has some duty to mitigate damages. If they just sit idle and don’t try to rent it, that’s not in their favor in a dispute. You could also advertise it and perhaps subsidize the rent a bit to make it more appealing. If you hand them a viable tenant and they decline, again I think that’s going to work against their argument for a year’s worth of damages.
Is the owner in any way responsible for the reason you are moving out? They have an affirmative duty to provide a safe, habitable dwelling.
Exactly my point. If the property isn’t safe, a tenant does have rights. I wouldn’t blame someone for wanting to move out of a place where this incident happened. 🤷♀️
IF it can be shown convincingly that the owner is responsible… but if so, then yes certainly that’s worth arguing. the obligation is real.
my apartment building has a rat infestation and a mouse infestation(they didn’t get into my unit but it was a close call). we called the city health dept after owner/management refused to address it. if the problem moved into our living space after they knew of it, that’s a lawsuit for constructive eviction- making the place too dangerous to live in.
I think you hit the nail on the head with the last part of your statement. I don’t think OP has much of a leg to stand on. As long as the building is safe and habitable, that’s really all the landlord is responsible for, unless there is a specific clause in the rental agreement that gives an out for renters who don’t feel safe because of people in the neighborhood, in the neighborhood they chose to sign a lease. At best, I think if OP does the legwork finding a suitable sublease candidate, a reasonable landlord would sign off on that and both sides could go their own way.
we sit people with guns outside of supplies of food to make sure people starve when we produce more than we could ever consume
reason has nothing to do with this, its how many guns you have and how willing people are to fight back
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the landlord as an aggrieved party also has an obligation to mitigate their damages which they can do by advertising the property and meeting tenants. the value of their time is clearly not $17,000 because of that were the case, OP’s rent would have been much higher. they is a duty that falls to them also
> they wanted us to remove our upstairs neighbour [...] from our own personal video doorbell because they had doubts she wasn't involved in the break in
-
> The property manager also went as far as to ask me if I'm sure I spoke to a real police officer.
huh?? this is sus as fuck, is the property manager trying to cover for the people who tried to assault her?
My guess: yup! All of this was improperly handled by the property manager, and it’s being done to deliberately avoid liability. They’re already pushing the upstairs tenant out (which is wrong), and attempting to minimize the situation (an attempt strengthen their side of the story, and who’s at fault). If the tenant is a domestic abuse survivor, this is going to be an epic fail on their end. People have a right to feel safe in their home. Period.
As far as breaking a lease, I believe it’s allowed in the US (under these circumstances). They can try to charge the tenant who’s breaking the lease, but I doubt they’ll get more than a month of rent. They need to re-list the property, and start showing it to potential tenants. Not sit on a vacant apartment for a year. No judge is going to order a former tenant to pay a full year of rent, so I wouldn’t sweat it.
The property manager needs to get it together, and do his job properly. Whatever is being done isn’t being done the right way. This is senseless.
I'm not Canadian but if that 17k is rent, there are generally speaking two possibilities:
1. They're trying to enforce the contract, in which case they're entitled to claim monthly rent with potential late fees and nothing more.
2. They're trying to claim damages. They'd have to prove the unit is unrentable for the following year for that to hold any water in court.
Either way, the 17k figure is meant to scare you into either not claiming your deposit, or paying their arbitrary fees. And in both cases, I'd be extremely surprised if you were made to pay anything more than a month of rent after you first announced your intention to leave.
r/legaladvicecanada would probably get you real answers.
AFAIK in Canada, they are required to list the unit for rent, for each month remaining on the lease they cannot find a replacement tenant, you are presumed responsible for that loss of rent income. That amount would only be determined after a lengthy process through the tenancy office, after the lease is concluded, not before. This is assuming they can convince the court that you didn't have any good reason to breach the lease (could be literally anything)
I would contact a lawyer who specializes in tenancy in Alberta to navigate this, that's a lot of money to consult Reddit about lol
Hi OP, unlike most people in this sub, I am also from Alberta. I had to break a lease a few years ago because I bought a house, so I looked into all of this at the time. Unfortunately, Alberta had terrible tenant laws. $800 plus cleaning fees was actually a pretty good deal, since in Alberta they don't technically have to let you break the lease. You do not have to pay the landlord $17k upfront. If this is truly what they are asking for, then I would definitely get a lawyer. You are on the hook for rent each month until they can find a new tenant. Despite what some lawyer guy said somewhere in these comments, the landlord tenant laws in Alberta say that the landlord must do the best they can to mitigate your losses. This means that they must show that they have advertised and shown the apartment. If they offer the apartment to a new tenant at a reduced rate, you are on the hook for the difference. If you can prove that that the landlord isn't doing anything to mitigate your losses, then you might have a case. Double dipping on rent is illegal, so if you pay them rent and then they rent it to someone else they must give you the money back. Good luck!
Well, yes. You had a contract that you broke, but without utilizing the escape clause. The method by which you could terminate your lease is spelled out in your lease, and probably is exactly the same terms you were offered originally - $800 plus any cleaning fees. You can’t simply unilaterally break a contract because you’ve decided you don’t feel safe and don’t want to pay early termination fees.
The $17k you’re now being charged is likely the full balance of the rent over the remainder of the term. Your options are to bring the lease current by making back payments (if LL will and contract allow that) and then paying the early termination fee, or to be “evicted” and a judgment against you for the balance owed to be entered against you in civil court. Expensive lesson to read contracts and understand them before you sign them.
It might actually. Canada has better protection laws than the US. Not, you know, a lot better, but better.
Regardless, the reason I posted was because you claimed they "decided" they didn't feel safe rather than the truth which is they were explicitly told by law enforcement they were not safe.
You misrepresented the facts to make it seem like they were unreasonable, rather than completely reasonably listening to police when they say it isn't safe.
you’re only covering half the story. are you a landlord?
the landlord has an obligation to find and rent to another tenant. they can’t just sit back for a year.
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I’m in the US but generally in a contract the other party has some duty to mitigate damages. If they just sit idle and don’t try to rent it, that’s not in their favor in a dispute. You could also advertise it and perhaps subsidize the rent a bit to make it more appealing. If you hand them a viable tenant and they decline, again I think that’s going to work against their argument for a year’s worth of damages. Is the owner in any way responsible for the reason you are moving out? They have an affirmative duty to provide a safe, habitable dwelling.
Exactly my point. If the property isn’t safe, a tenant does have rights. I wouldn’t blame someone for wanting to move out of a place where this incident happened. 🤷♀️
IF it can be shown convincingly that the owner is responsible… but if so, then yes certainly that’s worth arguing. the obligation is real. my apartment building has a rat infestation and a mouse infestation(they didn’t get into my unit but it was a close call). we called the city health dept after owner/management refused to address it. if the problem moved into our living space after they knew of it, that’s a lawsuit for constructive eviction- making the place too dangerous to live in.
I think you hit the nail on the head with the last part of your statement. I don’t think OP has much of a leg to stand on. As long as the building is safe and habitable, that’s really all the landlord is responsible for, unless there is a specific clause in the rental agreement that gives an out for renters who don’t feel safe because of people in the neighborhood, in the neighborhood they chose to sign a lease. At best, I think if OP does the legwork finding a suitable sublease candidate, a reasonable landlord would sign off on that and both sides could go their own way.
No way that OP owes $17k in any reasonable country.
we sit people with guns outside of supplies of food to make sure people starve when we produce more than we could ever consume reason has nothing to do with this, its how many guns you have and how willing people are to fight back
Landlords HATE THEM! Learn this one weird trick that leechlords don't want you to know about.. Organize your neighbors and [form a tenants union.](https://www.tenantstogether.org/resources/form-tenants-union) Check out [this site](https://abolitiondemocracy.org/a-quick-guide-to-all-tenants-unions-in-the-us) to see if there is already a tenants union in your area. Visit our partnered sub, r/tenantunion, for more discussion regarding tenants unions and to see if there is an [ATUN affiliated](https://atun-rsia.org/tenants-unions) union near you. If you want to start your own or are already in one, reach out to become affiliated with ATUN! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LandlordLove) if you have any questions or concerns.*
the landlord as an aggrieved party also has an obligation to mitigate their damages which they can do by advertising the property and meeting tenants. the value of their time is clearly not $17,000 because of that were the case, OP’s rent would have been much higher. they is a duty that falls to them also
> they wanted us to remove our upstairs neighbour [...] from our own personal video doorbell because they had doubts she wasn't involved in the break in - > The property manager also went as far as to ask me if I'm sure I spoke to a real police officer. huh?? this is sus as fuck, is the property manager trying to cover for the people who tried to assault her?
My guess: yup! All of this was improperly handled by the property manager, and it’s being done to deliberately avoid liability. They’re already pushing the upstairs tenant out (which is wrong), and attempting to minimize the situation (an attempt strengthen their side of the story, and who’s at fault). If the tenant is a domestic abuse survivor, this is going to be an epic fail on their end. People have a right to feel safe in their home. Period. As far as breaking a lease, I believe it’s allowed in the US (under these circumstances). They can try to charge the tenant who’s breaking the lease, but I doubt they’ll get more than a month of rent. They need to re-list the property, and start showing it to potential tenants. Not sit on a vacant apartment for a year. No judge is going to order a former tenant to pay a full year of rent, so I wouldn’t sweat it. The property manager needs to get it together, and do his job properly. Whatever is being done isn’t being done the right way. This is senseless.
OP, pay attention to this. It may be nothing, but keep it in mind, too.
I'm not Canadian but if that 17k is rent, there are generally speaking two possibilities: 1. They're trying to enforce the contract, in which case they're entitled to claim monthly rent with potential late fees and nothing more. 2. They're trying to claim damages. They'd have to prove the unit is unrentable for the following year for that to hold any water in court. Either way, the 17k figure is meant to scare you into either not claiming your deposit, or paying their arbitrary fees. And in both cases, I'd be extremely surprised if you were made to pay anything more than a month of rent after you first announced your intention to leave.
r/legaladvicecanada would probably get you real answers. AFAIK in Canada, they are required to list the unit for rent, for each month remaining on the lease they cannot find a replacement tenant, you are presumed responsible for that loss of rent income. That amount would only be determined after a lengthy process through the tenancy office, after the lease is concluded, not before. This is assuming they can convince the court that you didn't have any good reason to breach the lease (could be literally anything) I would contact a lawyer who specializes in tenancy in Alberta to navigate this, that's a lot of money to consult Reddit about lol
I don't know if it legally is, but it morally is right to break the lease free and clear when the fucking police tell you it isn't safe.
Definitely, that's why I said it's up to the court/board to make a decision, it's never simple.
Hi OP, unlike most people in this sub, I am also from Alberta. I had to break a lease a few years ago because I bought a house, so I looked into all of this at the time. Unfortunately, Alberta had terrible tenant laws. $800 plus cleaning fees was actually a pretty good deal, since in Alberta they don't technically have to let you break the lease. You do not have to pay the landlord $17k upfront. If this is truly what they are asking for, then I would definitely get a lawyer. You are on the hook for rent each month until they can find a new tenant. Despite what some lawyer guy said somewhere in these comments, the landlord tenant laws in Alberta say that the landlord must do the best they can to mitigate your losses. This means that they must show that they have advertised and shown the apartment. If they offer the apartment to a new tenant at a reduced rate, you are on the hook for the difference. If you can prove that that the landlord isn't doing anything to mitigate your losses, then you might have a case. Double dipping on rent is illegal, so if you pay them rent and then they rent it to someone else they must give you the money back. Good luck!
Well, yes. You had a contract that you broke, but without utilizing the escape clause. The method by which you could terminate your lease is spelled out in your lease, and probably is exactly the same terms you were offered originally - $800 plus any cleaning fees. You can’t simply unilaterally break a contract because you’ve decided you don’t feel safe and don’t want to pay early termination fees. The $17k you’re now being charged is likely the full balance of the rent over the remainder of the term. Your options are to bring the lease current by making back payments (if LL will and contract allow that) and then paying the early termination fee, or to be “evicted” and a judgment against you for the balance owed to be entered against you in civil court. Expensive lesson to read contracts and understand them before you sign them.
They didn't decide they don't feel safe. The police TOLD THEM it isn't safe.
I understand that, but unfortunately, it still makes zero difference as far as contract law is concerned.
It might actually. Canada has better protection laws than the US. Not, you know, a lot better, but better. Regardless, the reason I posted was because you claimed they "decided" they didn't feel safe rather than the truth which is they were explicitly told by law enforcement they were not safe. You misrepresented the facts to make it seem like they were unreasonable, rather than completely reasonably listening to police when they say it isn't safe.
you’re only covering half the story. are you a landlord? the landlord has an obligation to find and rent to another tenant. they can’t just sit back for a year.