Colombia Expat Forum

DallasSteve
Joined 2018
Posts: 562

4 years ago

Rental Agreement Problem

4 years ago

I signed a 5 month lease on a house here and it will be up in March. I knew I had to give them notice that I would not renew. I thought it was one month notice, but my contract says two months. I missed the deadline. My fault.

To make things worse, the lease automatically renews for another 5 months. I thought it would just convert to month-to-month like many leases in the US, but I didn't read it. And to make it even worse my Colombian wife is the co-signer on the lease.

I'm not asking for sympathy. It was all my fault. I contacted a lawyer here to review the contract this week for $15 and he confirmed the conditions. Tip for the next guy: Have a lawyer review the contract first. It will cost you about $20 - $50 in Colombia. Messing up costs a lot more.

So I'm asking if anyone here has had practical experience in this area. If I don't pay the bill and I come back to Colombia will they look for me and punish me somehow? If I don't pay will it mess up any chances to rent or buy a house with a mortgage if I want to do that some day, or if my wife wants to do that?

I may ask the lawyer to call the landlord and try to negotiate. The only carrot I can think of is they don't know if I ever plan to come back to Colombia. If I don't, I probably won't pay that bill. I don't have any assets here they could garnish except maybe the furniture and fridge I bought, but I may just sell those cheap my last week here. Maybe the realtor would let me off for a month or two penalty. Any other ideas? We can't sublease according to the contract, and I wouldn't want to risk let a stranger sublease anyway. Maybe a family member could have it cheap, if it comes to that.

Thanks, Steve

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