30 vs. 60 days' notice (real estate, leasing, mortgage)

[Farscaper]

I'm currently renting a place and while my landlady apparently meant to put that I needed to give 60 days' notice prior to moving out, she left that spot blank. So, when I bought a TH and picked my closing date, I did it on the assumption that it was the standard 30 days' notice. When I told her yesterday that I would be moving by the end of June, she told me I needed to give 60 days so I'd be paying both rent and a mortgage in July. I went to my building's leasing office because I thought maybe my copy of the lease just didn't show it, but that copy is also blank for that spot. While I'm sorry that she didn't put the 60 days in there, I don't think I should have to pay (quite literally) for her mistake. If she'd put it in there correctly, of course I would have given her whatever notice she wanted. Are there any lawyers out there who could shed some light on this situation? Am I ok legally to just give her the 30 days' notice since there's nothing stated in my contract about this? If I do move out and she keeps my security deposit, what recourse do I have (I don't think she'd do this but want to be prepared for anything)? Thanks for any help!

[phrekyos]

If it were me, I'd just give the 30 days notice, pointing out that it's not stated in the lease. If they try to keep the deposit, take them to small claims court.

Of course, if they want to be sleazy, nothing is stopping them from just writing "60" in that blank after the fact.

[ICS67]

Maybe I'd make a photocopy of the lease that's in the leasing office and get it notarized, just to show that in fact the lease does not specify a 60-day notice of move-out? If you could temporarily borrow that copy of the lease and take it to the notary just to show him/her the original (I assume of course that your signature is on it), that much better. It may be overkill, but better safe than sorry.

[Farscaper]

Thanks! I did have someone in the leasing office make a photocopy of the lease but because their copy was a copy, you could hardly see anything on there. I suppose they could be sleazy and write in the 60 days now but my copy and the leasing office's copy wouldn't show anything in that spot, so I don't know if they could get away with it. I just sent them an email saying that I was still planning on moving out by June 30 since I was going by the standard 30 days notice. We'll see what happens. I also put in an email to my real estate attorney about this. Hope he tells me the same thing!

[DC Oldtimer]

I wouldn't pay a dime past the 30 days. JMHO.

[HokieFan]

If your copy of the lease is signed by you and your landlady, it would suffice.

Any changes to the lease, made AFTER both of you had signed it, would need to be initialed by both of you. So if she were to plug in 60 days at this point, she would also have to forge your initials.

When the terms of lease were being discussed, did she at any point mention she would require 60 days notice? Just curious.

[Farscaper]

Well, as an update, it was all much ado about nothing in the end. She checked the lease and saw that she had in fact left it blank, so she agreed that I could leave at the end of June. It actually worked out really well for both of us because she was able to find a replacement tenant to move in on July 1 so she'll get another tenant at a higher price without losing any time and I'll get to move out without paying for rent AND a mortgage in July. She was very nice about it too. I guess I was a bit overwrought about the whole thing. Thanks for the advice from everyone!