Leaving apartment before contract ends?

LauraAK

Hi I was wondering if someone could help me.

My fiance and I moved into a new apartment a couple of weeks ago. We viewed the apartment once and noticed a smell in the hall, but it was gone once we entered the apartment and so we thought nothing of it.

We moved in and began to notice the smell in the hall was getting into the apartment. It's a smell of stale air and old cooking, and is only in a small part of the hall, because it's completely enclosed by two fire doors with no ventilation.

Shortly after we signed the lease I discovered I was pregnant and this smell has become unbearable to me. It makes me extremely ill and it got to the point where I had to move out into our previous accomodation, which we still had until the 1st of September, my fiance tryed to clean the apartment and put air fresheners, but nothing has worked. Yesterday I had to move back into the apartment again and the smell is making me violently ill.

I feel we have no option but to move out of the apartment because the smell is putting my health and the health of my baby's at risk.

I'm wondering is there any way that we could move out before the end of our contract without losing our deposit, because without getting our deposit back, we simply can't afford to move again, and I don't know what to do.

I'd appreciate any advice, thanks.

The_Conductor

Hi Laura,

First of all congratulations.
While I do sympathise with your situation- the contract you signed is a legally binding agreement. That said, most landlords are human, and if you explain the situation to him/her I would be surprised if they did not accommodate you in some way.

The purpose of the deposit is to ensure that any damage to the apartment is covered- obviously this is not the case. In the current climate the landlord should not have any difficulty reletting the apartment. What may happen is you may possibly have to cover the rent for the period when the apartment is vacant- which should not be too long at present (depending on where it is etc.)

Shane

Shutuplaura

Hi, Firstly, I'd also like to say congratualtions.

smccarrick wrote:

Hi Laura,

First of all congratulations.
While I do sympathise with your situation- the contract you signed is a legally binding agreement. That said, most landlords are human, and if you explain the situation to him/her I would be surprised if they did not accommodate you in some way.
Shane

You are dead right about the landlord being human. I've had some seriously sound landlords . A minority to be honest but they do exist. Explain your situation to him and he may have some solution.

The rest of what you say I'd qualify a bit. The contract is a legal document but the obligations work both ways and If the place is constantly smelly and its due to poor ventilation then he's an obligation to sort it out or release you from your contract. If it is making you ill then you might have some sort of legal recourse. I'd get on to threshold who are absolute stars and have helped me out before. They specalise in this sort of thing and will give you better advice that me or anyone else here can give you.