Can disabled tenant break lease under Fair Housing Act?
By Monique Young, Attorney Question: I have a disabled tenant who recently requested that I allow him to prematurely terminate his lease due to his disability. He has told me that he needs to break his lease because he can no longer afford his rent due to mounting medical bills. He has also informed me that I must let him break his lease because I am required to provide disabled tenant’s with reasonable accommodations under the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”). Is premature termination of the lease agreement a reasonable accommodation under the “FHA”? Answer: It seems illogical, and a bit of an irony, that a housing provider’s duty to provide accommodations to disabled tenants for their use and enjoyment of an apartment would require a landlord to release a tenant’s obligations under the lease, so that the tenant can live somewhere else. Case law, however, dictates that, yes, early termination of a lease agreement and waiver of fees and late charges associated with the termination are a reason
