Elroy,
My daughter is a lawyer--but not in your area!
I mentioned your situation and she gave me the stock answer--the landlord draws up or has legal assistance in creating your lease. Here in the states any real estate deal, the closing agent will tell you that all the forms are just "standard' forms used for all closing. Simply--untrue! Any person can add anything they want to 'their' contracts.
(Just a little history--the modern day Chase Bank, their history can be traced back to the late 1700s, where our noted 'forefather- Alexander Hamilton and his cabal offered to create a water company on Manhattan Island. All the residents (Especially those living in the section still known today as being "Hell's Kitchen"were dying from disease brought on by the squalid water on the 'rock'. This group of outstanding citizens were going to build a water system to bring fresh water from the current day Brooklyn. The NY mayor and council signed off on the deal after reading their contract. Then the contract was sent to Albany for Governor Jay to sign it after the legislators approved it. They did and papers were delivered for Jay's signature. Problem was by some miracle the contract submitted to Jay had some MAJOR things inserted into the contract. The problem being--the original bank created in the US was the Continental Bank---that stipulated they could have only one location and the bank was only allowed to exist for about 10 years and then the charter would be cancelled. The contract Jay signed said the newly formed company(which was named the Manhattan Company) could use any excess capital the 'water company' generated could be used for any purposes the Manhattan Company wanted. Point being--they never had any plans for creating a water company---sure they did a few things at the beginning, like thinking they could put hallowed out tree across the East River and get a steady flow on water onto Manhattan Island. Anyway, in short order they opened a bank on Wall Street and called it the Manhattan Bank- now you know how the name Chase-Manhattan Bank came into existence, and now is just the Chase Bank.)
Meaning -- they are written to protect the landlord and not the renter. Being a renter, one must read such contracts with a discerning attention to what you are binding yourself to as for length of duration. In your case what the lease states as for how the contract can be broken.........see what conditions applies for any arbitration rights, if a mediator is allow, and issues about external factors impacting the habitation by you....some contracts talk about wars, storm damage, etc.
I hope this helps! After reading your contract, if you have specific questions about what is stated about how you can get out from under the contract--let me know! Is there any chance you have an ombudsman system in your local government agencies. My daughter, while in NYC getting her law degree, she worked in the Public Advocates Office--which is the second highest elected office in NYC. If the Mayor resigns, gets convicted--can't serve their full term, the PA becomes the mayor. Anyway, this is the "Publics" place to go with such as the situation you are in--rent control, wrongful cancelation of leases, wage disputes--basically, any issue that needs remediation.
Good luck! |
