Lease signed under false promise.

[HelenP]

We live in Colorado. A landlord was advertizing a house for rent. When we met up she told us that she is just recovering from a knee surgery and within a month her doctor should clear her for travel and she is moving to CA to stay with her parents, so we would have the house all to ourselves. In the lease it says that she is moving when her doctor clears her for travel. But that is the problem here. She is totally fine around the house, but asking us to walk her dog, run her shopping errands, trim the trees in the yard, install light fixtures on the patio, etc. 1 month after we moved in, she went to the doctor but told him she is in excruciating pain and he, of course, told her she should wait to travel. Another month went by, same story happened again – she’s told the doctor she is in agony and he said no travel. This is our 3rd month renting; she just had another appointment with the same outcome. Now we realize she never had any intention of moving. We are stuck with high rent (because we were supposed to have the house to ourselves for 11 months out of 12), she is using our food from the fridge, she goes through our stuff in our room when we are not there (we installed a camera after suspicion of her doing so), she’s got a dog that barks all the time (which we could deal with for 1 month, but after 3 months it’s starting to drive us nuts). We had to buy our own fridge, because she only gave the two of us just one shelf in her fridge and a little corner in her freezer. We made by for 1 month, but after she wasn’t leaving, we had to buy our own fridge, since we love to cook and one shelf is not enough for 2 people. But once we bought a fridge, she told us she is not splitting utilities 50/50 anymore, because we use more energy with our fridge. I’m also allergic to dogs, so I barely made it through the first month, but now my allergies are out of control after 3 months of exposure. Our life is so miserable right now. I swear, she does some things on purpose just to torture us. My husband asked her to sign a piece of paper, saying she will move out like she promised, but she started literally yelling at him and called him a bully. We feel like she got us sign the lease under a false promise of moving out and us having the place to ourselves. We would’ve never signed up to live with a roommate for 12 months! Is there any way to get out of the lease? What does the law say?

Also, we can’t imagine going to court with her. Going to court is her bread and butter, so to say. She supposedly hurt her knee at work a decade ago and has been living off of disability from her employer since. She’s had 27 (twenty seven!!!!!) surgeries on that knee and sued 3 doctors that operated on it. The rumor is no doctor in the city wants to take her on as a patient because it means being sued. We just found out from the neighbors that there was a girl renting the house before us, but she had to break her lease and get out of there to keep her sanity. Our landlord sued that girl for $8000 for breaking the lease. We ourselves just can’t afford that and feel like we are stuck with no way out. Any advice?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Helen.

[AFFA]

Re: Lease signed under false promise.

I wish to inform you that you may refuse your landlord any act performed outside your agreement. Terms of your agreement specify your rights and duties. If you terminate contract before end of period then you will be liable for loss of rent. You may seek termination of lease agreement and compensation for loss caused to you from court if your landlord violates your lease agreement.

AFF

[gail in georgia]

Re: Lease signed under false promise.

"In the lease it says that she is moving when her doctor clears her for travel. "

It would appear that her physician has not cleared her for travel. This is the stipulation that you signed in the legal documentation of the lease.

Your only hope is to see if you can buy your way out of this lease.

Gail

[Friend In Court]

Re: Lease signed under false promise.

We live in Colorado. A landlord was advertizing a house for rent. When we met up she told us that she is just recovering from a knee surgery and within a month her doctor should clear her for travel and she is moving to CA to stay with her parents, so we would have the house all to ourselves. In the lease it says that she is moving when her doctor clears her for travel. But that is the problem here. She is totally fine around the house, but asking us to walk her dog, run her shopping errands, trim the trees in the yard, install light fixtures on the patio, etc. 1 month after we moved in, she went to the doctor but told him she is in excruciating pain and he, of course, told her she should wait to travel. Another month went by, same story happened again ??" she’s told the doctor she is in agony and he said no travel. This is our 3rd month renting; she just had another appointment with the same outcome. Now we realize she never had any intention of moving. We are stuck with high rent (because we were supposed to have the house to ourselves for 11 months out of 12), she is using our food from the fridge, she goes through our stuff in our room when we are not there (we installed a camera after suspicion of her doing so), she’s got a dog that barks all the time (which we could deal with for 1 month, but after 3 months it’s starting to drive us nuts). We had to buy our own fridge, because she only gave the two of us just one shelf in her fridge and a little corner in her freezer. We made by for 1 month, but after she wasn’t leaving, we had to buy our own fridge, since we love to cook and one shelf is not enough for 2 people. But once we bought a fridge, she told us she is not splitting utilities 50/50 anymore, because we use more energy with our fridge. I’m also allergic to dogs, so I barely made it through the first month, but now my allergies are out of control after 3 months of exposure. Our life is so miserable right now. I swear, she does some things on purpose just to torture us. My husband asked her to sign a piece of paper, saying she will move out like she promised, but she started literally yelling at him and called him a bully. We feel like she got us sign the lease under a false promise of moving out and us having the place to ourselves. We would’ve never signed up to live with a roommate for 12 months! Is there any way to get out of the lease? What does the law say?

Also, we can’t imagine going to court with her. Going to court is her bread and butter, so to say. She supposedly hurt her knee at work a decade ago and has been living off of disability from her employer since. She’s had 27 (twenty seven!!!!!) surgeries on that knee and sued 3 doctors that operated on it. The rumor is no doctor in the city wants to take her on as a patient because it means being sued. We just found out from the neighbors that there was a girl renting the house before us, but she had to break her lease and get out of there to keep her sanity. Our landlord sued that girl for $8000 for breaking the lease. We ourselves just can’t afford that and feel like we are stuck with no way out. Any advice?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Helen.

I would take your lease to a real estate lawyer, explain the situation and any representations she made that led you to believe she was going to move.

There will be a record of the previous suit which although she prevailed, now having done the scam a second time is in your favor for a judge to see through it.

You could sue her for all the things she has done in the interim, eating your food for example, perhaps for medical expenses for your allergies, anything else the lawyer can think of that is well grounded in the law.

I would only take legal advice from a real estate lawyer of your state and not let anyone else other than a real estate lawyer from your state dissuade you.

[HelenP]

Re: Lease signed under false promise.

Thank you so much, Friend In Court! This is very helpful info. We also just found out there were other renters (family of 4) last year who was lured into this scam under false promise of her moving to CA and leaving the house for them to use. She left for 14 days and then came back and said she will be staying in the house because she thinks she will need another knee surgery. They had to break the lease and move out because the house is not big enough for all of them there. She sued them as well
Thank you for giving us hope. We've been so depressed lately and feeling trapped with no way out. I really hope a judge can see that this is a repeating scam.
Thank you so much again!
Helen.

[HelenP]

Re: Lease signed under false promise.

Just one last question.
Do you think we are better off to take her to court ourselves or to just move out and wait till she takes us to court? We just don't have much money right now, so maybe the second option wouldn't cost us as much?
Thank so much again!

[Friend In Court]

Re: Lease signed under false promise.

Thank you so much, Friend In Court! This is very helpful info. We also just found out there were other renters (family of 4) last year who was lured into this scam under false promise of her moving to CA and leaving the house for them to use. She left for 14 days and then came back and said she will be staying in the house because she thinks she will need another knee surgery. They had to break the lease and move out because the house is not big enough for all of them there. She sued them as well
Thank you for giving us hope. We've been so depressed lately and feeling trapped with no way out. I really hope a judge can see that this is a repeating scam.
Thank you so much again!
Helen.

With what you have you should be able to convince a judge that she is running a scam.

Anything you can get from physicians, her litigation history, will buttress your claim that she is a scam artist all the way around. County clerk court records should reveal the number of times she has sued, who, and for what. I would check both the superior court and municipal court records to try to catch them all.

[HelenP]

Re: Lease signed under false promise.

We truly can't thank you enough for your help!
Just one last question.
Do you think we are better off to take her to court ourselves or to just move out and wait till she takes us to court? We just don't have much money right now, so maybe the second option wouldn't cost us as much?
Thank you!!

[Friend In Court]

Re: Lease signed under false promise.

We truly can't thank you enough for your help!
Just one last question.
Do you think we are better off to take her to court ourselves or to just move out and wait till she takes us to court? We just don't have much money right now, so maybe the second option wouldn't cost us as much?
Thank you!!

Move, if you must and wait for her to try to sue. But in the interim do your homework on her history so should she sue, as she is prone to do from her history, you will be prepared to characterize her and her scam to the court.

[HelenP]

Re: Lease signed under false promise.

I'm so happy we found this website! Friend In Court, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking the time to help us out with an advice! Your help gives us hope to fight the situation!! Thank you for being so professional and timely with your responses!

P.S. Thank you for using layman's terms

[Guest]

I agree with the above 100%--thx!!!