Do I have to pay a lease termination fee if I have an open Chapter 7 bankruptcy case?
Question Details:
I filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in OR. My 341 meeting is next Friday and I had to resign from my job and now break my lease. I am current on my rent payments & have given my 30-day notice to my landlord. Now they want $1500 to terminate the lease early - obviously I don't have that kind of money - I'm bankrupt. But since that "debt" was incurred after the BK filing, am I required to pay it? Or can I somehow amend my case to include the termination fee? I also have a $600 security deposit that I was hoping to get back. But I'm not counting on it if they get mad about this.
Unless you officially "assumed" the lease in your bankruptcy case (which would be highly unusual), then you cannot be charged for early termination of the lease, assuming you receive a discharge in your case. The lease should already be listed in Schedule "G" and the landlord should have received notice of your case. If not, you should amend your schedules to so reflect.
Mark J. Markus, Attorney at Law
Handling exclusively bankruptcy law cases in California since 1991.
http://www.bklaw.com/
