I am a student stuck in a lease and the people i am living with are not following covid regulations to what i feel safe

Expert's Assistant chat

Customer: Hi there! I am a student stuck in a lease and the people i am living with are not following covid regulations to what i feel safe with. Other than this, they are moving in a subletter that i do not know and have major worreis about their covid safety protocols too.
JA: What province are you in? It matters because laws vary by location.
Customer: i live in ontario
JA: What steps have you taken so far?
Customer: so far we have attempted to have group discussions and those have gone poorly, i have found a free high quality isolation center for the subletter to have a 14 day quarantine before moving in here and i have been told by my housemates that is a ridiculous request
JA: Anything else you want the Lawyer to know before I connect you?
Customer: at this point I just want to move out of here and i dont know what rights i have. There is a clause in the lease stating that anyone is allowed a sublet with the permission of the landlord which has apparently been acquired. There is also a clause in out lease that talks about if a tenant leaves without notice that the landlord may vacate their belongings and rent the room, but i dont really know what that means and i do not want to get sued, Customer: Chat is completed

Answered by Debra in 5 mins 2 years ago

Debra

10+ years of experience

174572 Satisfied customers

Expert in: Family Law, Legal, Estate Law, Real Estate Law, Criminal Law, Employment Law, Business Law, Consumer Protection Law, Bankruptcy Law, Traffic Law, Personal Injury Law.

Back

Debra

174572 Satisfied customers

10+ years of experience

Debra

10+ years of experience

174572 Satisfied customers

Lawyer's, Assistant

116 Lawyers are online right now.

Debra, Expert

Hello and Welcome to JustAnswer. My name is***** will be working on your question today and I am looking forward to our conversation.

Customer

Hi Debra

Debra, Expert

Please note that the experts don’t text so there may be a bit of a delay. If you don’t answer back for a while I may not be online when you do but I will never desert you and will check back often. As well, as I am working from home it is possible that I will be interrupted but I will always return back as soon as I can.

I am sorry to hear of this difficult situation.

Is there one lease or separate leases for each of you?

Customer

Thankyou for the heads up :)There is one lease for a 6 bedroom house that we all have signed

Debra, Expert

If you were to walk out the landlord would require full rent from all of the tenants so either they would pay him the additional rent or he could evict them and then he would sue all of you. At the same time, if the other tenants did come up with the extra rent they could turn around and sue you.

Given your facts I'm not so sure they could see you successfully but it's not clear.

A better approach would be for you to send a letter to the landlord indicating that your health and safety are at risk and you need them to step in to protect you immediately. You can say that while it is possible that you could try to find a sub tenant in good conscience you can't do that knowing that you'll be enticing someone into renting your room where their health and safety could be at risk.

Does that help?

Customer

That does help
I didnt think I could just walk out... I am wondering also if you know what or, where I can find, the laws regarding moving houesholds while we are in a province wide lockdown?
I am also concerned about going to the landlord with this and creating a hostile, more mentally tolling environment in the house as a result. The tensions are already incredibly high and im genuinely not sure that living here is a safe option for my mental health either.

Customer

In writing the letter to the landlord, am I allowed to ask that she find someone to fill my room as I am not comfortable, nor do i fell safe or respected here? She bears no legal obligation to do that for me does she?

Debra, Expert

You should definitely ask her to do this.

I don't know what the law is in terms of moving your household.

Customer

Okay. So just to make sure im understanding correctly, I can either reach out to the landlord and ask her to stop this sublet from moving in for my safety OR i can ask her to find someone to fill my room because, whether or not the sublet moves in i am not feeling safe with my current house mates- is this correct?

Customer

actually, really the second part is what i wish to clarify- that i can ask the landlord to fill my room?

Debra, Expert

Sure. And in fact if you really think you're going to be about no matter what then just tell her it's intolerable for you for various reasons including the health and safety issues and that you will be moving out and you wish for her to find a new tenant.

Customer

That sounds very doable, thankyou so much
How detailed should my letter to the landlord be? do I need to elaborate on the reasons or is simply saying its "intolerable for me for various reasons including the health and safety issues and that I will be moving out and you wish for her to find a new tenant" enough of a justification?

Customer

This is very helpful thankyou

Debra, Expert

I think you should put in as much detail as you can to make it very clear to the landlord why you are simply being driven out of that home by these roommates.

Customer

Okay I will do that. Thankyou so much for you help in this matter!

Debra, Expert

You are very welcome.

Debra, Expert

Thank you for trusting us to help you here at JustAnswer. I am marking this post as complete. If you would like to ask me more questions please start a new post and if you do if you say “This is only for Debra” I will be sure to give your post top priority.

Customer

That sounds great. Thanks again!

Debra, Expert

Anytime.

Ask a lawyer and get your legal questions answered.

See all Legal Questions

Related Legal Questions

I was suspended a day. Because of a ticket I received because of faulty equipment. Saskatchewan. Tried to plead my case

1.12.2021