In Hospital, In Coma but not good enough to break rental lease

[SargeUNN]

I had my apt. flood in Phoenix from busted pipes to the point I couldn't stay in it. My lease was due to end in 2 months and the management knew I was not going to renew so the decision came down to letting me break the lease or moving me to another apt. for 2 months and then having 2 apts. that wouldn't be available for renting. I checked out my options in case the management wouldn't let me out (they did allow me to get out of the lease) so I called the Housing Authority and got a heckuva a shock. I was told the only way out of lease early was if you got called into military service, and she told me how one person was in the hospital in a coma and was NOT allowed out the lease. Does any other state have such a nutty policy?

[COLGATE4]

1. It's not quite as black and white as you think. There's a fundamental

difference between breaking a lease and having a lease terminated by circumstances beyond your control. In the case of flooding, the management is legally obligated to provide some adequate housing for you while the premises are being repaired. If they do not it is called constructive eviction, and you have grounds to sue them. The question of 'breaking a lease' implies a person deciding they do not want to fulfill the contract they signed. Under those circumstances, the person seeking to break the lease will he held liable to the landlord for the unfulfilled balance of the lease, less whatever amount the landlord is able to mitigate by re-renting. What you refer to is a law which exists in many states to permit military personnel on active duty who are transferred to break the lease without penalty, the so-called "military out". You are really talking about three different things.

[SargeUNN]

2. ok but explain the coma thing

The housing person even told me they thought this was goofy so please try to rationalize it.

[mkultra]

5. I would bet the coma thing is about authority

For example, i had a tenant disappear on me for two months. her mother wanted me to break the lease because the couldnt locate her which i was reluctant to do. I told her the problem was with all of her stuff. I said i would do it if she came and took possession of her belongings but they didn't want to do that.

Even if they had, i could be liable for all of her stuff if they sold it off and she came back.

Now, if there is some kind of court document and they take her stuff. Then i would be fine with it. Its just risky as you have a duty to protect their possessions up to a certain point.

[Ian David]

3. The good news is, if you're in a coma, you don't know you're still paying rent. n/t

[Bonhomme Richard]

4. That's crazy. A lease is a contract. The owner provides you with...

a habitable place to live and you pay rent for that. If the apartment is not habitable they have broken their end of the contract....ie. the lease.
Then again, if you are in a coma the owner is still holding up his end of the contract.

[DURHAM D]

6. The first question I would have about the coma victim is -

was someone willing (and legally able) to step up and remove all their belongings from the apartment? There is often a disconnect and lack of understanding about the need to remove the property of the deceased or medically challenged tenant so it can be re-rented.

The loved ones sometimes think they should be able to leave the property there indefinitely without paying. Or, that the landlord can just take it out immediately. Or, that the landlord should pay to store it for an indefinite period of time.

Like the poster above said - you have conflated three different issues.

On edit: My most common experience in a college town is working with parents of suicide victims. Always sad and difficult to deal with.

[wellstone dem]

7. A good housing lawyer could get them out of the lease

Our legal aid routinely helps people who cannot remain in an apartment for health reasons. The law requires a reasonable accommodation for disability. Legal Aid has shown that getting out of a lease for medical reasons is required by law.

[SargeUNN]

8. Please Note in my post

that I stated my management allowed me out of the lease and that I had just checked into my options in case they wouldn't. I did feel they would because we had and have a good relationship so that problem never materialized, but the shocking thing that I am trying to get across is that the ONLY way out of a lease in Arizona is if you are called into active military duty and even one in a coma in the hospital isn't good enough to break the lease. The person at the housing authority even stated that in Arizona you are at the mercy of the property owner even when such an extreme situation exist. Of course I was fortunate that my management was decent and sensible but it also taught me to be careful about renting in Arizona.

[DURHAM D]

9. Typically the only stated reason in the lease for how to void it is the military one.

However, sometimes job transfer clauses are included.

Like I said - these are "stated" reasons. However, there are other ways depending on circumstances.

[SargeUNN]

13. only Military call up is acceptable in AZ

that is what they informed me of.

[DURHAM D]

14. That is what is required in the AZ landlord/tenant act apparently.

Same in my state.

However, I always provided a job transfer clause as well. I didn't need to - I just did.

[wellstone dem]

10. I'm sorry I wasn't clear

I was saying that the person in the coma has an out under federal housing law. I thought after I posted, but what if they don't have a family. But if they do have a family, it would not make any difference what AZ law is, the American's with Disability Act and the Fair Housing Act would give them an out. But of course that means that they have to have a family, and that Legal Aid has to have adequate enough funding to have lawyers to take the case.

[Bitwit1234]

11. They made my mothers family with money from her will

pay for a whole months rent when she passed away the previous month. Their reason, she didn't give 30 days notice.

[Baalath]

12. I think it is a good thing for the coma person.

Many people in coma's get better. Sick people don't need a world where some dumb ass landlord tossing their stuff on the street saying they broke their lease when they went into a coma. (I wonder how a landlord could even get accurate health information on tenants) What kinda of crappy lease that would be! I get sick and while I am in the hospital and can't do anything to stop it, my landlord evicts me and says I don't have a lease.

If the patient is in a coma and never going to get better, they likely don't get a shit about their lease.

Leases are contracts that work both ways.

[backscatter712]

15. The landlord has the duty to keep the apartment in a habitable condition.

If the pipes are breaking, and the apartment's flooding so that you can't live in it, that's perfectly good reason to move out and break the lease.

[jillan]

16. Sarge - this website has a link to renter's rights.

http://www.azsos.gov/public_services/publications/residential_landlord_tenant_act/

Hopefully you can find someone who will really help you.

Good luck!!