RENTING AND THE LAW KELLY KLEIN
Q My daughter is on a joint lease with her boyfriend in Minneapolis. They are both students at the University of Minnesota. The boyfriend will be deployed to Iraq on Feb. 10 with the National Guard. Under the Serviceman's Relief Act, the landlord will release the boyfriend from the lease, but said my daughter would be responsible for fulfilling the full lease on her own.
I would have thought that since one is being released, the lease would be void.
Also, the rent and utilities would be 100 percent of my daughter' monthly income. Are there qualifications the landlord would have to evaluate? The apartment is a very small one-bedroom apartment, so finding another person to share the rent is really not an option.
A Under the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act, the landlord must release the service person, but may hold the co-tenant responsible for the entire lease unless the co-tenant is the service person's dependent. The Act does not define the term dependent, so it is a question of fact for the court in each case.
Co-signers of a lease for the service person are released from the lease, but co-tenants not in the military are usually not protected by this law.
This federal law allows military tenants to end a residential lease if they join the military, if they are permanently transferred or if they are deployed for at least 90 days. Military dependents are relieved of any obligations under the lease. After proper notice has been given, the lease is terminated 30 days after the day the next rent was due. There are federal criminal penalties for landlords who violate this statute, including failure to return a security deposit when the tenant has met all statutory requirements.
Your daughter should ask her landlord if she can terminate the lease early in exchange for a couple of months' rent. Most landlords will be sympathetic and give her a break. If the landlord does agree, make sure she gets the agreement in writing. If the landlord doesn't agree to let her out of the lease, she'll have to try and prove she's a dependent if she cannot make rent.
Q I am renting an apartment in a midsized complex. Six weeks ago I heard scratching noises in the wall and later that night a squirrel clawed its way through the wall. I trapped it in the bathroom and it drowned in the toilet. Maintenance would not dispose of it until the next day. They said they didn't find anything else.
Since that time, I have continued to hear scuttling in the walls and have phoned the complex management numerous times. Maintenance always comes during the day and never finds any problems. An exterminator couldn't find any problems either -- apart from holes in the wall which they've plugged with steel wool.
I am very uncomfortable living there and have turned in my 60-day notice. I feel like building management thinks I am making up the problem, but unless they are there overnight I can't really prove anything. Do I have any recourse, or do I have to continue to lie awake at night, listening to the scratching in the walls and hoping the squirrels don't chew through the flimsy drywall again?
A Yes, you do have recourse. The landlord has a duty to maintain the unit and prevent unwanted pests. The first step relating to maintenance issues such as yours is to always contact your landlord to see if they will resolve the problem.
If the landlord doesn't resolve the problem, your next step is to contact the city inspections department. You could also bring a rent escrow action, which involves you placing your rent money with the court after completing the necessary paperwork. If you do so, you can argue that you are entitled to a rent reduction during the period that the squirrels were on site. However, since you are moving, you may not want to put the energy into such a suit.
Kelly Klein is a Minneapolis attorney. Do not rely on advice in this column regarding a legal situation until you consult a qualified attorney; information provided by readers is not confidential; participation in this column does not create an attorney/client relationship, and no such relationship is created without a retainer agreement with Klein.
