keeping the apartment lease after chapter 7

[user33]

I am filing C7 BK, I have zero non-exempted properties, I rent with year-to-year lease, the rent is current, and I want to keep the lease because I need a place to live, don't want to be forced out of my apartment lease and be on the street, because with BK and no credit, no landlord would rent the apartment to me. So, what is the proper way to file the papers, so that the trustee would not force me to abandon the apartment lease, and, is it possible to request that the trustee not to notify my landlord for my BK filing?

Thanks so much in advance.

[olivies]

Is it standard procedure in your district for your landlord to be notified of your bankruptcy? Ours wasn't. As long as you are current with your rent, he's not someone you own money to, so I'm trying to figure out why you would include him in your bankruptcy filing or why you think the trustee would make you give up your lease (only to have to turn around and get another lease with another landlord).

[justbroke]

You can keep them off the matrix but you should indicate, on your Statement of Intentions, that you are "assuming" the lease. The lease should also be listed on Schedul G.

Do you understand what that means? (I ask, because you ask if you can "request that the trustee not to notify my landlord". The Trustee doesn't do this. It's your Mailing Matrix which the Court, and other creditors, use to make notifications.)

[user33]

Is it standard procedure in your district for your landlord to be notified of your bankruptcy? Ours wasn't. As long as you are current with your rent, he's not someone you own money to, so I'm trying to figure out why you would include him in your bankruptcy filing or why you think the trustee would make you give up your lease (only to have to turn around and get another lease with another landlord).

It is required by the BK code to include any and all unexpired contract/lease in C7 filing. You can't just not include the apartment lease even though/if you don't owe money in the lease, it still is required to be reported to the trustee.

It has nothing to do with "why I think the trustee would make me give up my lease....", what I think is irrelevant, it is what is required by law that is important, your advice to not to include the lease in BK filling is wrong, I appreciate your good intention, but unless you have the true knowledge, it is best not to offer any "advice" based on what you think is true, or reasonable, or valid. In this case, you advice is clearly wrong and invalid and I could ended up having my case dismissed following your advice for not disclosing the uninspired contract in my BK filing. I want to point this out to help readers who read this tread to not to be misled by your wrong advice. Again I thank you for your good intention and your effort.

[user33]

You can keep them off the matrix but you should indicate, on your Statement of Intentions, that you are "assuming" the lease. The lease should also be listed on Schedul G.

Do you understand what that means? (I ask, because you ask if you can "request that the trustee not to notify my landlord". The Trustee doesn't do this. It's your Mailing Matrix which the Court, and other creditors, use to make notifications.)

Thank you! Yes, I understand, I just wasn't sure that even if I exclude my landlord for the matrix, will the trustee still send the notice anyway since it is in schedule G. Your answer clarified my uncertainty.

I simply want to avoid to scare my landlord, not everyone understands BK does not mean one is irresponsible and thus would increase the risk of one not paying the rent (not fulfilling the lease obligation). I have been paying my rent on time and I have budget to continue to do so, so there is no need for my landlord to be scarred, but my lease is up for renewal in July and if the landlord learns about my BK, there is a 50/50 chance that they might opt to not renewing the lease, hence I want to do everything possible to prevent that from happening.

[justbroke]

I will add this though. If you were going to reject the lease, you would certainly need to keep the landlord on the mailing matrix so that they had notice.

Best of luck.

[user33]

I will add this though. If you were going to reject the lease, you would certainly need to keep the landlord on the mailing matrix so that they had notice.

Best of luck.

Thank you again. i clearly stated in my original question that I want to keep my lease, it is another way of saying I want to assume my lease, keep-assume, same meaning here.

[justbroke]

Thank you again. i clearly stated in my original question that I want to keep my lease, it is another way of saying I want to assume my lease, keep-assume, same meaning here.

I understood what you wrote, but that information was (really) provided for others who may read the thread later.

[mtbc]

I wonder if it's possible for the trustee to be unhappy about your residential lease if you pay much over the IRS local standards for it and it's critical for your DMI.

A Statement of Intention has to be served on the relevant creditor, I thought? Regardless of mailing matrix.

I was surprised our court's law clerk said it'd be okay to list the lease on Schedule G but not have to include it on a Statement of Intention.

Is the rent current, and the lease month to month? If yes to both, it may not have to be listed anywhere at all.

I warned our landlord in advance about our bankruptcy, emphasizing that we would have no difficulty continuing to pay our rent on time.

[user33]

I wonder if it's possible for the trustee to be unhappy about your residential lease if you pay much over the IRS local standards for it and it's critical for your DMI.

As I stated, my only income is unemployment insurance benefit, and a portion of that goes to the rent/lease payment, so you know my lease value is well under the local standard, hence, not an issue.

A Statement of Intention has to be served on the relevant creditor, I thought? Regardless of mailing matrix.

You may be right, but I would list the landlord in schedule G, not in the creditor matrix, so, the landlord is NOT a creditor, and so would not be receiving the mailing, at least some posters here had reported such being the case from their personal filing experience.

I was surprised our court's law clerk said it'd be okay to list the lease on Schedule G but not have to include it on a Statement of Intention.

I don't think the clerk can give you such advice, they can answer questions such as what forms are needed, the order of the forms in the package, what fields must not be left blank, etc., but not that you could exclude the lease from the statement of intent, which constitutes a legal advice and the clerk is ignorant to give such advice.

Is the rent current, and the lease month to month? If yes to both, it may not have to be listed anywhere at all.

Rent is current, lease is year-by-year, as I clearly stated in my original question.

I warned our landlord in advance about our bankruptcy, emphasizing that we would have no difficulty continuing to pay our rent on time.

I prefer not to inform my landlord if it is legally possible, I am not trying to go around the law, or to illegally hide anything, everything I discussed here is about how to do it legally and properly, it's not worth it to take any illegal gamble in BK.

My replies to you are meant to clarify the points for readers who are facing the similar issues, I believe we are in agreement in our views and assumptions.

[mtbc]

Sorry, I read your original posting twice looking for the year-to-year and managed to miss it both times! Partly, my reply was trying to cause extra light to be cast on later replies in the thread like "you should indicate, on your Statement of Intentions, that you are "assuming" the lease" (which I would then wonder if your landlord would also have to be notified if it has to be served on them) and "You can't just not include the apartment lease" (where I believe there's an exception for month to month) and whatever.

My conversation with the law clerk started out by my asking how, procedurally, in the district they like unexpired residential leases to be assumed (I hear it varies from district to district) -- if they like a motion filed, or what. Though, perhaps she wanted to avoid having to explain anything complicated. The line feels a bit fuzzy to me between procedural advice and legal advice, I'm glad I don't have to try to walk it.

[user33]

... that you are "assuming" the lease" (which I would then wonder if your landlord would also have to be notified if it has to be served on them)

My interpretation is that since I will be assuming the lease, the lease stays in effect, there is no changes to the lease hence technically and practically the landlord need not to be notified, and such outcome had been reported by readers in this board. This, of course is just my logical interpretation, not the FACT, I am not certain if each court/trustee would treat this matter differently.

I will include the lease in schedule G and state that I intend to assume the lease in Statement of Intent, and will report back the outcome from my actual experience once it is materialized.

and "You can't just not include the apartment lease" (where I believe there's an exception for month to month) and whatever.

month-to-month is not an "unexpired lease", correct? it's just pay-as-you-go agreement, the law is specific about "unexpired" lease or contracts.

My conversation with the law clerk started out by my asking how, procedurally, in the district they like unexpired residential leases to be assumed (I hear it varies from district to district) -- if they like a motion filed, or what. Though, perhaps she wanted to avoid having to explain anything complicated. The line feels a bit fuzzy to me between procedural advice and legal advice, I'm glad I don't have to try to walk it.

Thanks for sharing with us that information. Statement of Intent is available for you to include any intents you want to keep as official record, the clerk is correct that you don't had to include the lease intent there, in fact you don't had to include any intent at all, but the consequence of not including them may have adverse effects to your case and since the clerk is not your lawyer and obvious does not have all the necessary informations to determine that it would not have any adverse effects if you don't include that in the Statement of intent, and therefore shall not give you that advice. This is why the court has rules and procedures as to what the clerks can or cannot advice, and I believe this one belongs to the "cannot" category, and you are correct, this is a very fine line we are talking about, but to be on the safe side for the readers, I would caution them not to follow that advice from your clerk, but either to consult with a lawyer, or find out for sure that in their district court this is indeed safe to do.

[free2breathe]

Ok, so now I am confused. I listed our lease of an apartment on Schedule G. I did not list it on a Statement of Intention, because I was under the assumption that that form is for secured property, such as a house that is mortgaged or a car that is leased. Is this going to be a problem to not have listed it? We are current on our lease, the lease expires in December, and we have every intention of staying here at least through then. My only concern, which I was really not all that concerned about, was the deposit. Since our deposit is minimal, and our rent is well within the guidelines for our state/county, I don't think anything about our lease will be affected in the bankruptcy.

[ccsjoe]

Hi free2breathe. The only thing that can happen, and I doubt it will, is that the trustee takes issue with you listing the lease on G but not on SOI, asks you about it and in the worst case scenario makes you file an amended SOI to show the lease as being assumed under Part B or 2. Odds of that happening? Pretty slim.