Full question:
My daughter and I signed a lease for a college apartment on campus. The lease was a nine-month lease and four payments were to be made in the spring semester. They are contending that if a student leaves, the lease is still binding and the spring rental must be paid. 1. Does a lease have to be recorded to be binding? 2. If the apartment is leased to another person, can they collect rent from both people? 3. If I have to pay the rent, can they make me vacate even though the student is not attending the university if I have paid the rent?
- Category: Landlord Tenant
- Subcategory: Lease Violation
- Date:
- State: Louisiana
Answer:
It is difficult to respond to your questions without seeing a copy of the lease.
Generally, a short term; lease does not have to be recorded to be binding.
Under common law, a landlord had no duty to accept or procure a new tenant in order to mitigate damages resulting from a tenant's abandonment or refusal to occupy its premises. However, in recent years, many states have enacted statutes applicable to residential landlords that impose a duty to mitigate. This modern view, which Louisiana appears to follow,;treats documents conveying interests in real property as contracts. It is an established principle of contract law that parties to an agreement have a duty to mitigate their damages. Under this duty, when a tenant defaults on a lease by moving before the lease term ends, a landlord can no longer just let the premises lie idle and expect to collect full rent. Rent received from a new tenant has to be credited to the rent due from the breaching tenant.
Abandonment is typically defined as absence of the tenant from the premises for a period of time when rent has not been paid. Provided the statutory or contractual definition is met, a Landlord is allowed to repossess the premises and store tenant's belongings. A Tenant may recover same before the expiration of a certain time period, but must reimburse landlord for the cost of storage.
This content is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Legal statutes mentioned reflect the law at the time the content was written and may no longer be current. Always verify the latest version of the law before relying on it.
