Dear landlord: Please cancel the lease on my nonexistent apartment (tornado damage)

[eppur_se_muova]

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- Renters who lost their homes or apartments in last week’s Tuscaloosa tornado are finding they still have a legal obligation to let their landlords know that they have terminated their lease because their apartment or rental home is no longer habitable, the Tuscaloosa News reports.

While many landlords are aware of damage and have helped relocate tenants, some storm victims may find that to protect their rights they need to notify their landlord they seek to terminate their lease because the property is destroyed or "substantially impaired," according to the Tuscaloosa News report.

The law states that in order to end a lease, tenants need to send a written notice to their landlord within 14 days of when they left a dwelling because it became uninhabitable. For dwellings destroyed April 27, the deadline for the letter would be Wednesday, May 11.

http://blog.al.com/wire/2011/05/dear_landlord_please_cancel_th.html

[MineralMan]

1. Dear landlord,

I am terminating my lease because I died in the tornado. I couldn't find anywhere in the building that was safe.

[bobbolink]

6. Ouch. Sadly, that is not all that preposterous. :(

[Quantess]

2. No surpise there.

I can see the reasoning for this.

[damntexdem]

3. I say to sue the landlords for failure to supply contracturally-promised living quarters.

;-)

(Well, that's not as silly as requiring tenants to terminate their leases.)

[wtbymark]

4. This is what a NYker would do

If there were even a whisper of this happening, I would write a check for a months rent (stop payment as soon as you put it in the mailbox) accompany the check with a law suit for the FULL amount of the lease on the grounds of goods and sevices not rendered. A breach of contract committed by the Lessor invalidates any lease. Furthermore you may be entitled by law to recieve the the amount of the remainder of the lease, plus security deposit. Once a landlord has to go through this once, they won't try it again.

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. Dear landlord - just want to inform you that I'm moving

to where my house now is.

[csziggy]

7. There is much more information at the original article

Which is linked to in the blog post given in the OP:
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110504/NEWS/110509825/1007/news?p=1&tc=pg

[eppur_se_muova]

8. Thanks, it looks like they've been adding to the original post. nt