Home lease affirmation and loss of job

[ProSe55]

It is possible that I will lose my job shortly due to downsizing. I have had my 341 Meeting but won't be discharged until May 5th. I reaffirmed the lease of the house I'm living in and I have 19 months left of a 24 month lease. If I can't find work at a reasonable wage quickly, I can't afford to keep living here and will likely have to share a rental with someone. At this point, can I revoke the affirmation of the lease? If I do, what happens regarding my living situation, i.e. eviction and obligation to pay rent? I am current on my rent and hopefully will have no problem paying next month's rent. After that I'm not sure sure. I'll do what I can to prevent this from happening but want to make sure I don't miss a time window if one exists.

[FreshLikeADaisy]

Did you *sign* a reaffirmation agreement, or simply state your intention to reaffirm on your schedules? If you did not actually sign anything in regard to it but just kept making regular rent payments, you're in a much better position to break the lease than if you signed a reaff. If you *did* sign a reaff, the first thing you want to do is look over it very carefully to see what the terms of breaking your lease are, because the reaff is, in effect, a whole new lease. Maybe someone can chime in with more specific info, but that's where I'd start. Good luck!!!

[HHM]

Has the BK judge signed off on the reaffirmation. If you are pro se, there has to be a reaffirmation hearing in order to make the agreement valid.

Normally, you don't reaffirm leases because, strictly speaking, they are not debts.

[ProSe55]

I didn't sign a reaffirmation agreement and there was no hearing. All I did was file an intent to reaffirm the lease when I filed my petition.

I guess my real question is whether, in light of my Ch. 7 filing, I have any recourse in terminating the lease and not being liable for the entire balance due for the life of the lease or until the house is rented again.

Hopefully it won't come to that and I can remain where I am. That would be my best option since I would never be able to find anything less expensive in this area unless I shared rent and that's tough to do when you have children.

[FreshLikeADaisy]

Heh, ProSe55, you're golden.

You have not actually *reaffirmed* a debt but simply stated your intention to do so, so you're not bound by anything other than your original lease, if that. It may very well be that your bk will make it so that you can just walk away from the lease, but since I don't know for sure I'll bow out here... but it's looking good. Best wishes to you!