Snared by a landlord? Bound by a lease?
Break Free with Tenants Assistance Program's
Break Lease Contract

Getting married? Divorced? Medical issues? Lost your job? Employment relocation? Buying a home? Slum conditions? Troublesome neighbors? Abusive landlord? Whatever your reason, if you are an Arizona residential tenant needing to move on with your life, but stuck in a rental residence, Tenants Assistance Program (TAP) can help. Click here for Break Lease Success Stories.

For just a fraction of a month's rent, TAP will identify violations by your landlord and formulate an effective game plan to end your obligations under the lease. Sometimes the violations will be of a legal, technical nature; in other cases, an inspector will be sent to the rental dwelling to determine physical noncompliances in and around the premises (including common areas), combined with an intricate analysis of rental agreement flaws. Appropriate notices to the landlord will be written, laser printed, and a means of delivery arranged.

By following this program, renters can relocate without being liable for the landlord's terminations fees, repayment of concessions (also called "incentives" or "discounts"), and ongoing rent. Detailed instructions guide you to prevent legitimate claims for damages against you, and TAP assists with responding to any and all claims that the landlord - or his agents - may make.

Depending on the procedure utilized, tenants may be able to move out immediately, but in any case usually no longer than 20 or 30 days later. This means that, in the worst case scenario, a prospective Break Lease Contract member who signs up after the middle of a given month would have to pay the full rent for the next month. Often, however, a late-arriving case can be concluded with minimal rent liability for the succeeding month: pro-rata rent and late fees.

The contract runs for one year, and over the duration - for no extra charge - TAP will assist you in responding to any and all letters or notices from your landlord, the landlord's agents or management, the landlord's attorney, or even collection agency or credit bureau. The object of the Break Lease Contract is to protect tenants from legal judgments by landlords, and to prevent landlords from despoiling tenants' credit records. TAP is very successful in these regards. Only about three percent of the Break Lease cases end up in court litigation, and about two percent of the cases result in negative credit records (which can often be erased).

TAP's guarantee puts our money where our mouth is. If the landlord legally challenges the process, TAP will underwrite the equivalent of three hours of attorney's fees to defend you. Alternatively, if the landlord places a negative credit record on your credit report, TAP will, at its discretion, underwrite the equivalent of six hours of attorney's fees to challenge it. Even so, TAP invariably succeeds in court, having only lost perhaps four or five Break Lease Contract court cases since 1999 - out of approximately 1,100 cases as of 2003. See the Break Lease Contract for details. 

A case is built for return of your security deposit. Should the landlord refuse, you will have a claim for triple the amount wrongfully withheld. Often, TAP buttresses this with additional claims for statutory damages, such that the landlord's monetary claims are totally turned around in the tenant's favor and against the landlord.

It is important to realize that landlord-tenant relations are, by their nature, adversarial. Tenants who exercise their rights must anticipate a challenge. Every case is approached with caution, and requires active participation and responsibility by the tenants. In a sense, each case is a partnership between the tenants and TAP. To this end, TAP supplies detailed Break Lease instructions that are the distillation of Ken Volk's 10 years of landlord-tenant experience. This knowledge base is your way to level the playing field and avoid entrapment by professional landlords.

Be wary. Speak to TAP before your landlord. It is best to catch him or her by surprise. For many reasons, the last thing you should do is tip off your landlord that you are thinking about this.

Contact TAP for a free consultation without obligation. Call to set up an appointment and find out what documentation to bring. When you arrive, a plan of attack will be finalized, and you will be quoted a price. If you choose to proceed, detailed instructions are supplied that will guide you through every step of dealing with your landlord and the rental premises. Even the scales: You get 10 years of successful landlord/tenant advocacy experience into your hands and on your side. In less than an hour's appointment, your lease is set to become history before your landlord knows what has hit him.

TAP is associated with Arizona Tenants Advocates & Association (ATA), an Arizona non-profit. All TAP members become ATA members at no extra charge, providing protection from landlord retaliation.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Break Lease Program

Sign up and Purchase the Break Lease Program

Break Lease Success Stories

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© 2003-2008 by Kenneth A. Volk. All rights reserved.

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