breaking lease

[ymikhale]

I have recently lost my job and I am not a permanent resident, so Immigration law prohibits me to remain in the US. Is it a valid reason (legally) to break the lease?

[Chimera]

If you get deported, and as a consequence break your lease, there isn't much a landlord can do as far as taking you to court . . . after all, you will be in another country. Are you concerned about getting back your security deposit?

[ymikhale]

Well, I am not going to get deported - I will leave by myself. As to the deposit - I will not pay him last month, otherwise I will never see my money since he knows it will be difficult for me to go after him from abroad. I was just wondering if he could win in court in the circumstances and do some damage to my credit.

[consigliere]

There should not be a money judgment in a summary proceeding if you default in answering or appearing in court, if you're not served personally or by substituted service. There should be a judgment for possession only.
 
Of course, to get a money judgment, some process servers will allege that you were served personally or by substituted service, or that the higher standard of "due dilligence" -- rather than "reasonable application" -- was used in attempting to serve you.
 

[ymikhale]

Hold on there. I thought getting anything to court was a very lengthy process that taakes months. Can he get a date within a month or something?

[wigggly]

In Michigan, once you have been mailed or given a Notice to Quit (7 day) the ll can be in court within 5-10 days after the 7 days are up. So say he mailed it on the 1st, you could be in court anywhere between the 13th-18th.

[ymikhale]

OK, then I have 2 issues:
1) How long after I don't pay my last month's rent will it take for him to get me to court?
I live in NYC and have until 10th of next month to pay without late fees.
2) If I break a lease - the ll is supposed to make reasonable efforts to replace me, so when can he sue me and for how much?

[Chimera]

ymikhale -- have you attempted to work this out with your landlord? If he clearly understood the situation, he might be very happy to work out an agreement with you so you can break your lease without a hitch.

[Phil Cohen]

The only real issue here is whether a judgment against you in the US matters to you. If it does you should get a subtenant.

[HAJ77]

Depending upon where you're going back to, a legal judgement in the US might cause problems in the future. I've known many people that spent their last month or two in the US not paying bills only to have it haunt them a few years later when they wanted to purchase a home or get credit in their home country. If they decide to find out what you were doing in the US, a legal judegement would be easy to find from most countries.

[ymikhale]

All that does not sound reassuring - my landlord is really mean so I don't think he will let me off the hook easily. HJ - these people who did not pay bills were from which countries?

[HAJ77]

In college, I knew people from the UK, Israel, and several Carribean countries that had problems. I'd think any industrialized nation or one with close ties to the US would be able to get the information especially since they tend to look over your finances for several years.

[RJMNG]

<<<<Depending upon where you're going back to, a legal judgement in the US might cause problems in the future. I've known many people that spent their last month or two in the US not paying bills only to have it haunt them a few years later when they wanted to purchase a home or get credit in their home country. If they decide to find out what you were doing in the US, a legal judegement would be easy to find from most countries.>>>>

What? You've got to be kidding! Who in a foreign country is going to ask you for your American Social Security number, or even know what it is? I can't imagine, for example, that any European landlord would think of asking for an American Social Security number.