Please ReLease Me

I had a rather unpleasant encounter with the couple who lease our townhouse this afternoon. The lease is until June 2012 and they want to break it.

They had the opportunity to assume a mortgage for a house of a relative who is going bankrupt and wanted to move out to move in there. So they took it. I warned them that they had better be careful and have the contract vetted by an attorney so that the house would not be sold from underneath them some time in the future. I don't know the ins-and-outs of bankruptcy but the scheme sounded fishy. I am happy they have a home...I am just hoping that they are not among the millions of the suckers who took the bait and now are going to get reeled in to a 30 year trap.

The couple seemingly expected that we would release them from their lease. The presumption bothers us...we are possibly talking about a lot of money until finding another tenant. This time of year, after school starts, it becomes harder and harder to rent a property. I have been through this rental process before in the Fall. The man of the house, in-between expletives of F-this and F-that, went on the offensive and began to impugn my landlordship. Then, he most definitely lied about a fan falling off of the ceiling and almost hitting his son. And he is only telling me now, months later? Yeah right. No need to lie, yo. Or maybe it is the best he could do since the facts are most definitely not on his/her side.

He also questioned my wife accuracy in accounting and assessing late charges. I was like, "Dude, my wife has her CPA and MBA. You are most definitely wrong on this one." It almost became embarrassing to hear his rants and ravings out in the yard. I kept my cool after being berated for 10-15 minutes. The thing is that they have no right to assume and presume that we were going to let them out of the lease. We could choose to do so but it is our choice. The more they tried to insinuate that somehow we were obligated to do so, the more I resisted calmly the assertion.

My attempts to be logical in explaining to him and her that a lease by its very definition implies a legal obligation on both parties was lost on them. He kept saying that there was no language in the lease prohibiting early termination by them. Arguments like that are idiotic when the terms are already stated. If I had not gone to get my Ph.D., I was going to go to law school...I have a mind for it.

I struggle with a proper biblical response. If we don't enforce the terms, are we allowing them to sin and teaching them that contracts don't matter? Are we then setting them up for a more massive financial meltdown in the future with another party less humane than us? Do we as Christians bear a responsibility when we step aside and let greater harm come to them in the future? Is that just not passive-aggressiveness and revenge by another name? Serious considerations...

The theological parallels here are many. People live like they want in this world and almost dare God to not forgive them as if it is their right to sin with impunity and then approach God with an attitude of entitlement. There is a radical deception of who is in the wrong and who better figure it out before their dying day. Grace is a gift...it is free. And the Lord gives it to He wants. But, we had better be mighty careful acting as if we deserve it.

Ephesians 2:8

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

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