Rent Question (Earl: rental, credit, month to)

[jp03]

I am curious, my wife and I had a nine month lease ending August 3rd. I didnt realize but we needed to give 60 days notice to terminate our lease or it goes month to month. Today I gave the notice and I now have to pay rent until August 21st instead of the 3rd. We are moving into our home in July. I think this is a very sneaky practice on the part of our complex here as unless you read the fine print in the lease you would never know about the 2 month policy. I think a months notice is more than sufficient. Is this common practice? I never heard of this policy but may be naive to the area. i'll bet many people get hit with extra payments this way. Any ideas to get around this?

[Miker2069]

Originally Posted by jp03

I am curious, my wife and I had a nine month lease ending August 3rd. I didnt realize but we needed to give 60 days notice to terminate our lease or it goes month to month. Today I gave the notice and I now have to pay rent until August 21st instead of the 3rd. We are moving into our home in July. I think this is a very sneaky practice on the part of our complex here as unless you read the fine print in the lease you would never know about the 2 month policy. I think a months notice is more than sufficient. Is this common practice? I never heard of this policy but may be naive to the area. i'll bet many people get hit with extra payments this way. Any ideas to get around this?

It's fairly common all over. I once had a friend who had a business lease. If you didn't opt out within 90 days prior to the end of the lease, it automatically renewed and you were obligated to pay for the unit whether you lived there or not. A contracts a contract. But you can always talk to them and let me the know, maybe you can offer to pay half so they'd have the unit earlier.

[joanchris2000]

If there are not any/many empty units then they may be able to rent out the unit before the 21st, and my husband's property manager told us that they cannot charge double rent (ie yours plus new tenants). My husband ended his lease EARLY, June 30 vs July 30, but they had a new tenant the day BEFORE my husband gave his 30 day notice. The property manager called me knowing that we were likely leaving early, since he had someone interested in the unit, so he rented it out already!
You maybe can mention it to him, and if nothing else, drive by the rental every few days to see if someone is in it (knock on the door or something if you have to!), then you can call him on double renting if it's occupied.

[Jake Ryan]

I can say that the way I approached it probably wasn't the best way to handle the problem, but I was in the same situation and I just left. I gave my complex like 45 days notice and they told me I had to give them 60. Even though I let them keep my security deposit. They called me a few times, but I just ignored them and they eventually went away. They said they would report it to the credit agencies but that never happened (not sure if that is even legal. I didn't owe them any money and always paid my rent on time.

[jp03]

Originally Posted by Jake Ryan

I can say that the way I approached it probably wasn't the best way to handle the problem, but I was in the same situation and I just left. I gave my complex like 45 days notice and they told me I had to give them 60. Even though I let them keep my security deposit. They called me a few times, but I just ignored them and they eventually went away. They said they would report it to the credit agencies but that never happened (not sure if that is even legal. I didn't owe them any money and always paid my rent on time.

I like your way...just kidding. Well, thanks for the advice eveyone, i am going to try the idea of offering half with the understanding I am leaving 3 weeks early. Its tough, I know there is a contract, but its a very sneaky way of doing business if you ask me. A notice should go out(They have no problem sending out notices if you owe anything , thats for sure) about 3 months prior to lease term. I am not trying to get away with anything as much as find a way around this...500 dollars is not a large amount of money but more than I can afford to give away. Thanks again.