Landlord/Tenant issue in New Jersey

[rubyshinec]

Hi,

I have a two family home and I am currently planning to rent one floor out. I have a girl who is very interested but she has one of those government programs that pay for all her rent. The problem is that she HAS to get a 1 year lease in order to show it to the government agency. I do not want to do a 1 year lease because I'm planning to sell the house or try to reach some sort of arrangement with the bank in reference to my loan. I wanted to do a month to month.

I have explained all of this to her and the girl says that it will be ok if I have to make her vacate the house prior to the end of the 1 year lease, but that she needs the lease to state that it is for ONE FULL year. If I do go ahead with this I plan to clearly state in the lease that if this lease needs to be broken by either party prior to the 1 year coming to an end I am not to be held accountable for anything.

Do you think that I will still have a problem with this if worse comes to worse? Will this hold in court to my favor it it comes to that or I'm I ok as long as I specify all of the terms in the lease.

Any advice that can be given will be much appreciated.

Thank you.

[Maurice Bedard]

Hello,

I am not entirely sure, but I believe it may be on the mortgage company. Here is what I found on the internet. But I could be wrong.

Chase Manhattan Bank
v. Josephson

In 1994, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that the Anti-Eviction Act protects tenants even when the property where they live is in foreclosure or has been foreclosed. A bank or other lender that forecloses on a residential property covered by the Act takes that property with the tenants still in it. And if the lender resells the property to another owner, that owner also takes the property still occupied by its tenants.a

http://www.state.nj.us/publicadvocat...rebrochure.pdf

Essentially, it you lease it and give proper warning per the contract and return the deposit monies, I see no big issues.

[TomEason]

Hi,

I have a two family home and I am currently planning to rent one floor out. I have a girl who is very interested but she has one of those government programs that pay for all her rent. The problem is that she HAS to get a 1 year lease in order to show it to the government agency. I do not want to do a 1 year lease because I'm planning to sell the house or try to reach some sort of arrangement with the bank in reference to my loan. I wanted to do a month to month.

I have explained all of this to her and the girl says that it will be ok if I have to make her vacate the house prior to the end of the 1 year lease, but that she needs the lease to state that it is for ONE FULL year. If I do go ahead with this I plan to clearly state in the lease that if this lease needs to be broken by either party prior to the 1 year coming to an end I am not to be held accountable for anything.

Do you think that I will still have a problem with this if worse comes to worse? Will this hold in court to my favor it it comes to that or I'm I ok as long as I specify all of the terms in the lease.

Any advice that can be given will be much appreciated.

Thank you.

It's possible, and frequently done, where a lease contains a clause providing for early termination of the lease for certain situations, in this case, sale of the property. However, a blanket statement "that if this lease needs to be broken by either party prior to the 1 year coming to an end I am not to be held accountable for anything" is not only not legally enforceable, it's laughable. You'd be entering into a contract, wherein you clearly renege on one of your obligations in the contract. You can find the appropriate wording of a legally enforceable clause by doing some research. However, that won't guarantee that the lease will be acceptable to the government agency (depends on how closely it's read). Good luck.

[acesfull]

Hi rubyshinec--- Personally I feel you are inviting trouble with a Goverment Section 8 tenant.

Just my 02 cents.

Best regards

Nj-17 Months
Acesfull/HWP