Q: Landlord refused to show the apartment I broke lease on, to a potential new tenant I have found, due to an alleged leak
I broke my lease more than 2 months ago, and per the lease I am paying rent until they rerent the apartment. They retook possession for my account, and my deposit was refunded without any issues. I was helping them find someone, and today the person I sent to tour it, was told that they are renovating carpets and can't show it. When I called, they told me that it was actually due to a leak in the toilet that they discovered after I stopped by earlier today to give them a heads up about the person coming to see the apartment. My question is, does this prove that they failed to exercise good faith in trying to relet my apartment since it stood there this whole time and they didn't even know that it was possibly uninhabitable due to this leak?
A:
No. Why? Because of the timing.
Had you presented an acceptable new tenant immediately--you would be off the hook and the new tenant would get the leak fixed by the landlord. Since no one knows exactly when the leak started, and since you did not produce a new tenant as agreed until after the leak started, you cannot go back to the beginning.
You agreed to pay the rent until you found a new tenant; so--at best-- you might be able to convince the landlord to give you a break and stop the bleeding during the actual time the leak is being repaired.
Advice: Stop looking for excuses and get busy finding a new tenant--to rent the place with NEW carpet.
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