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Question about notice to vacate apartment when lease expires in Raleigh, NC?
Our lease (which requires a 60 day notice if we plan on moving out on December 15) expires on December 15, 2010. In our lease, it states that if we do not sign a new lease by December 15 we automatically go into a month-to-month tenancy as of midnight on that date. We are planning on moving into a new apartment on January 15, 2011. Since our lease ends on December 15 at midnight, will our 30 day notice apply from mid month to mid month, or can they require us to pay until the end of January since we pay our rent every month on the first? Also, I have read that NC law only requires a seven day notice when under a month-to-month tenancy, so shouldn't a 30 day notice be legal and adequate? I just want to ensure we are doing things legally, but I do not want to get taken advantage of by the property management company either. HELP! This question is keeping me up at night! Thank you! Please let me know if any additional information is needed in order to assist in answering my question. I have checked all over the internet to try and find out about termination requirements in Raleigh, but we have an odd situation....
Thank you!
As always, I am not a lawyer, but was a paralegal. If a lease says you must give 60 days notice, and that 60 day time frame does not violate state law (many states are 30 days), than you are bound to a signed contract (lease). But, let us say your lease ends Dec 15, 2010. That means that you could have given notice on October 15th, and move out as of Dec 15th.
The clock (days) start as of when you give formal notice (always best in writing). So if you finish the lease and take a new month to month one, and you give notice immediately or before the 15th, you have to pay one months worth of rent (up until Jan 15th) and then you can leave. You should not have to pay the extra few weeks.
Think about it. What if someone moved in the 3rd day of the month, and had to give 30 days notice before leaving. Would they have to pay from the 3rd to the end of the next month (almost another full month) because their start date wasn't on the first? Many people move in during the middle of the month. Most usually pay not just first months rent in advance, but a month and a half.
Anyway, IMO I feel you are OK. Just some minor advice, get a camera and take pics of the entire apartment before leaving. Most issues with landlord tenant is usually about security being withheld. Clean everything so it is room clean (doesn't have to be immaculate). Re-read your lease to see if anything is in there that you are required to do before leaving. For instance, many landlords will require you to re-paint back if you painted the apartment a different color that the original. Do a final inspection with your landlord before leaving if possible too! Lastly, though I have lived in NC only a short time, but in most states, landlords must return your security within 30 days.
Best in your new place!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wendimere
Question about notice to vacate apartment when lease expires in Raleigh, NC?
Our lease (which requires a 60 day notice if we plan on moving out on December 15) expires on December 15, 2010. In our lease, it states that if we do not sign a new lease by December 15 we automatically go into a month-to-month tenancy as of midnight on that date. We are planning on moving into a new apartment on January 15, 2011. Since our lease ends on December 15 at midnight, will our 30 day notice apply from mid month to mid month, or can they require us to pay until the end of January since we pay our rent every month on the first? Also, I have read that NC law only requires a seven day notice when under a month-to-month tenancy, so shouldn't a 30 day notice be legal and adequate? I just want to ensure we are doing things legally, but I do not want to get taken advantage of by the property management company either. HELP! This question is keeping me up at night! Thank you! Please let me know if any additional information is needed in order to assist in answering my question. I have checked all over the internet to try and find out about termination requirements in Raleigh, but we have an odd situation....
Thank you!
As always, I am not a lawyer, but was a paralegal. If a lease says you must give 60 days notice, and that 60 day time frame does not violate state law (many states are 30 days), than you are bound to a signed contract (lease). But, let us say your lease ends Dec 15, 2010. That means that you could have given notice on October 15th, and move out as of Dec 15th.
The clock (days) start as of when you give formal notice (always best in writing). So if you finish the lease and take a new month to month one, and you give notice immediately or before the 15th, you have to pay one months worth of rent (up until Jan 15th) and then you can leave. You should not have to pay the extra few weeks.
Think about it. What if someone moved in the 3rd day of the month, and had to give 30 days notice before leaving. Would they have to pay from the 3rd to the end of the next month (almost another full month) because their start date wasn't on the first? Many people move in during the middle of the month. Most usually pay not just first months rent in advance, but a month and a half.
Anyway, IMO I feel you are OK. Just some minor advice, get a camera and take pics of the entire apartment before leaving. Most issues with landlord tenant is usually about security being withheld. Clean everything so it is room clean (doesn't have to be immaculate). Re-read your lease to see if anything is in there that you are required to do before leaving. For instance, many landlords will require you to re-paint back if you painted the apartment a different color that the original. Do a final inspection with your landlord before leaving if possible too! Lastly, though I have lived in NC only a short time, but in most states, landlords must return your security within 30 days.
Best in your new place!
Thank you for your advice! The reason we did not give notice on October 15 is because we were sent a renewal notice in which our rent was decreased, not increased, and we thought we could stick it out for another ten months since the rent was going down, or so we thought. Five weeks later we received a notice stating they made an error in calculating the rent and that we were going to receive an increase if we renewed. When we called them and asked how we could give 60 day's notice now, they told us we had one day to think about it. This same thing has happened to me twice since living here. Once, I can understand, twice, I am not buying the "mistake" line. Since the rent increase seemed reasonable...reasonable enough to stand another ten months (during which time we wanted to save to get out!), we decided to renew, only to find the property is no longer paying for water, sewer and trash. This has been paid the entire time I have lived here and they did not tell us...we found it in the new lease agreement. No wonder the rent did not go up much, now they want more for utilities. We went out and found a great place that we can move into January 15, but therein lies the reason I am asking this question...regarding moving out in the middle of the month after our lease expires and we go month-to-month. I think it is reasonable for us to be able to give notice and move out on January 15, but I am not sure what we are legally bound by. So, even if you did not want to know, now you know why we are in this mess and I may need to be sedated before this process is over! We just do not have the money to give them if they are going to require 60 day's notice or make us pay through the end of January. Moving expenses are hard enough. At least I know we are going to a better place! Thank you again!
You should be fine. I'd go in on the December 15th with your 30 day written notice, and you should only have to pay for half of January.
....or just go in on Monday and put the advance notice in now...effective Jan 15. I mean, why wait since you already know your move in date at the new place???? By doing this you supercede the expected and you're safe....
Just a thought....
Do it and fret no longer my friend! Good luck and hope you dont run into a mess. I'm a Property Manager and have seen some silliness in this business by folks who don't know what the ---- they're doing...
Lastly, get your notice signed and dated that it has been received and accepted by the landlord/owner/property manager.
Now....get some rest! lol
Last edited by MsAli; 11-26-2010 at 10:37 AM..
Reason: darn typos and grammer!
....or just go in on Monday and put the advance notice in now...effective Jan 15. I mean, why wait since you already know your move in date at the new place???? By doing this you supercede the expected and you're safe....
Just a thought....
Do it and fret no longer my friend! Good luck and hope you dont run into a mess. I'm a Property Manager and have seen some silliness in this business by folks who don't know what the ---- they're doing...
Lastly, get your notice signed and dated that it has been received and accepted by the landlord/owner/property manager.
Now....get some rest! lol
Thank you, we plan on giving as much notice as possible and plan on going in on Monday to put our advance notice in. We are decent people and want to give them as much notice as possible. We do not like where we are living any longer and want to move, but we do not want to screw anyone over. We will definitely get our notice signed & dated by the property manager. I have learned along the way that a paper trail is something that can save your butt when you need it...so I will definitely do that. Thank you and I hope we do not run into a mess too!
The last apartment complex that we were at wouldn't take a 30 day noticed before the lease was up (required 60 day notice while in the lease). We were moving out July 15th, our lease was up on June 15th. We told them verbally, but they wouldn't accept a letter on June 1st even with a July 15th date, we had to wait until after June 15th to turn it in. They had other problems going on though, and had just changed owners.
Most lease contracts have in them (small print ) details about how you can be penalized if you don't follow their exact method to end your lease. Its a money maker for them and believe me the reason the lease contract is so long is because they want to cover ALL of the bases . Its not fair but when you sign the contract you give up your rights to say its not fair ...You will not walk away even though the lease is up without them trying to gouge you for more money. They know most people don't read and understand every clause in the contract and use it to their advantage.It is part of their plan.....You will be held legally liable if you don't follow their rules to the letter just wait and see,,,sorry
I think you are trying to do the right thing. I had a positive experience, we also had to give 60 days notice which apparently is standard now but IMO BS. Anyway, we gave notice and were terminating our lease early. We would've had to pay around $750 to terminate early, but the rental company said if they could find someone to rent our unit we wouldn't have to pay. The next day they called and said it was rented. We left it spotless, and actually even got a slight refund because the tenants moved in a day early.
Anyway I think communication was the key in our situation. I also dealt with an office person that seemed to care and really try and help us. You are trying to do the right thing, you are giving more than adequate notice (you're moving out next year for Pete's sake), be nice and courteous and I'm sure it will all work out. Leave the unit nice and clean, clean everything, vacuum, clean the windows etc. Keep in mind they put these restrictions into the lease for the "lowest common denominator" for the deadbeats that trash the place and leave 3 months into their lease.
We were able to put in our notice and will be leaving January 15th! No problems whatsoever. Since, as I mentioned above, they sent the corrected renewal notices out late, they changed the 60-day notice date (which they did not tell us), so our notice is dates back to November 13. We only have to pay two days at the month-to-month rent when we move out. Thank you for everyone's help and advice on this forum, I greatly appreciate all of it. It helped me a lot. Oh, and wheelsup, we plan on leaving everything nice and clean...we have always been good tenants and will remain so upon move out. *Smiles*
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Thank you! Please let me know if any additional information is needed in order to assist in answering my question. I have checked all over the internet to try and find out about termination requirements in Raleigh, but we have an odd situation....
