Posted by Dayann on August 09, 2001 at 15:17:42:
In Reply to: Any way around 30-day notice? posted by Wayne on August 09, 2001 at 08:11:05:
Is it an illegal apartment? (i.e., a basement or attic or unregistered apt., one apt. split into two illegally, etc.) If it is you can pack up and go, and if the LL comes after you later, you can say, "It was an illegal apartment." and the judge will laugh and tell you good luck in your new place.
Or at least in theory that is what will happen, I'm not a lawyer or a judge. But just yesterday I was in court for my own situation with my LL and the guy ahead of us got REAMED by a judge because he made a rent demand for an illegal apartment. The judge said that he had no business renting the place to begin withe and that he had a lot of nerve coming into her courtroom asking for his rent money.
If other judges are this indignant about the issue of illegal apartments and you live in one, then you may be OK leaving whenever you want.
If it isn't an illegal apartment and you have a good relationship with your landlord maybe you can ask to leave in less time and in exchange let him keep a portion or all of your security deposit. For example, if you only give him 15 day's notice, offer to let him keep half your security deposit in exchange for the short notice. Maybe he'll agree. You may still have to pay him a full month's rent though. If the situation is a real emergency, the LL may understand and be nice about it.
Another option is to find a tenant to take your place. I did this once. I needed a bigger place because I was moving in with my boyfriend and only had a small studio apt., and a friend of mine 3 blocks down had a big 2 BR that his roomate bailed on at the last minute, and he couldn't afford the rent and had to move on the 15th instead of the 30th and was afraid he'd lose his security. So we swapped apartments. He took my apt., with the LL's permission, and I took his, with the LL's permission, We figured out who was losing money in terms of the difference in rent and worked it out between ourselves and everyone was happy. The LL at his place was happy because he got a new tenant on a reliable source and didn't lose rent money or have to go through the hassle of showing the place again, and my LL was happy because he didn't have 2 people crammed into the little apt. right over his head, and he had my security deposit in addition to my friend's first month's rent (he made out like a bandit).
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