Calling ATOT Lawyers; armchair or otherwise. Fire/lease related

[AyashiKaibutsu]

So there was a fire in the apartment below mine and mine was completely smoked out (it's a masonry building so it didn't spread to my apartment). I'd like to get out of my apartment, but my landlord is stonewalling me on breaking my lease; she wants the standard 60 days notice and 1 month rent penalty no exceptions. She isn't even offering to move me to a different unit.

The thing is I was asleep in the afternoon when it happened. My fire alarms didn't go off so when I woke up my apartment was almost full of smoke. When I tried going out my front door, I was met with a solid wall of hot black smoke, and I ended up needing to be pulled from my balcony (it's only the second floor but I'm gimp so I would have hurt myself bad if I jumped).

I made the mistake of staying there for three days since the firefighters told me it was habitable and I was freaking out the whole time I was there; Waking up with nightmares about the smoke especially about opening doors and being engulfed in it... Since I moved into a motel today, I can't even bear to think about looking at my apartment again and my landlord basically wants 3.8k out of me to break my lease? Doesn't seem right : (

I'm planning on getting real help, but due to furloughs all military legal offices have like one hour a week of attorney services, and I've never sought civilian or military ones before so I don't know where to begin for a good one.

 

[Rakehellion]

I don't know if nightmares are grounds for breaking a lease.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I don't know if nightmares are grounds for breaking a lease.

Maybe not, I was just explaining my situation : p

 

[Greenman]

It's all going to hinge on weather or not the place is habitable.

 

[PenguinPower]

You would think that the first thing that anyone would need to look at in this case is the lease...shocking.

Seriously...no one can give any good advice without the lease.

 

[DCal430]

Fact that the smoke alarm didn't go off as required, is grounds for a lawsuit on your part. You can probably sue the landlord because they are responsible for maintaining the smoke alarm. You suffered emotional damage because of the landlords gross negligence.

 

[Imp]

Fact that the smoke alarm didn't go off as required, is grounds for a lawsuit on your part. You can probably sue the landlord because they are responsible for maintaining the smoke alarm. You suffered emotional damage because of the landlords gross negligence.

That alarm not going off thing threw up red flags for me too... No hallway alarms? Redundancy? Rhetorical question.

 

[sjwaste]

You need to talk to an MD lawyer. Landlord/tenant is very state-specific. To give you some context, I'm licensed in VA (inactive, but licensed) and wouldn't know off the top of my head what your recourse is in MD. They'll also need to see the lease.

How close are you to DC? You could try to research yourself at the law library or call some of the law school clinics there if cost is a legitimate concern. I'd refer you to someone specific, but the only LL/T guy I know is only practicing in VA - not useful to you.