Is there anyway I don’t have to pay the fine for breaking my lease if there are mistakes in it?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
Is there anyway I don’t have to pay the fine for breaking my lease if there are mistakes in it?
I am being fined $3,000 for breaking my lease early. It was only supposed to be a 6 month lease but she gave us the papers for a year. All the dates are wrong on the lease. For example, she said I moved in January 1st of last year when I moved in January 8th of this year. Also, our names our spelled wrong.
Asked on June 20, 2011 under Real Estate Law, Pennsylvania
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
First, mispellings of names has *no* effect whatsover on the validity or enforceability of a lease.
Second, the issue is what did you and the landlord agree to? You say that it was "supposed" to be a 6-month lease, but that the papers were for a year. While courts will enforce a lease (or other contract) according to the intentions of the parties, in this case, it would likely appear to a court that you agreed to a year lease...after all, you apparently signed a year lease. If the dates were wrong on the lease, you should not have signed it in the first place, until they were correct. If instead you signed a lease for one year, the presumption is that's what you intended, and it would be very difficult to overturn that--you'd have to show, for example, that the landlord committed fraud in some way, such as by leaving the dates blank, promising to fill them in for 6 months, and then actually filing them in for one year when you had no chance or opportunity to catch that.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.