Is there a law that says landlord can't rent property even if you've vacated but there are still days left on your lease (credit, liable)
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You are obligated under NH law to pay for the duration of your minimum proper notice period. So, if you give proper 30 day notice and the 30 days run to July 15th, you legally owe rent until July 15th. If you surrender control before expiration of the notice period and the landlord rerents the unit during the required legal notice period, they can double dip for that period. This only applies if you are still within the legal notice period and you gave up control of the unit to the landlord.
If you want this to be simple (you want to abide by the law and not have the landlord rerent and double dip), just give the required notice of termination, tell the landlord you'll be moving out over those days but will finish moving out and return the keys on the last day of the notice period, you move and a few days before the end of that notice period, pay the full or prorated rent for the notice period, and a few days before the term date end mail the keys back by overnight mail with delivery/signature confirmation and a note saying you have moved out but can;t return due to work schedule. Make sure you provide your address for the return of your security deposit. If you do it this way, your 30 days to return the security deposit will startr the day they get the keys and take back control.
Do you have a statute that I can reference specifically re: your first paragraph (specifically stating they could legally double dip)?
And ideally that sounds like a great idea but our lease specifies we must do a walk-through and sign a move out checklist the day we surrender the keys. I had thought of leaving a box behind and asking him if we could sign move out paperwork & do a walk through the day we plan on leaving but tell a white lie and say that a relative was coming to pick up the box for us and would drop the keys off then. But our lease specifies the move out checklist/walk through must be done the day the keys are returned. My fear in not being there to surrender keys and do the checklist/walk through with him is that they'll nickel-dime us for things
I just looked at our lease and we get a 2 day grace period and then normal eviction proceedings occur...
Also, I'm just wondering why you think he'll keep our deposit if we pay rent? assuming we pay through the 15th, I cannot think of a single reason why he'd keep an entire month's rent
If you don't think he'll rip you off, then why ask any of these questions? If you don't think he'll rip you off, then there's no need to let him know what the laws are, or to talk to an attorney either. In that case, then just pay the full July rent, and wait for him to graciously return everything he should.
If you don't think he'll rip you off, then why ask any of these questions? If you don't think he'll rip you off, then there's no need to let him know what the laws are, or to talk to an attorney either. In that case, then just pay the full July rent, and wait for him to graciously return everything he should.
I could see him double dipping out of ignorance (this is his first time being a landlord). I could also see him thinking "well there is no way they'd find out" and try to get away with it. The way the rental agreement was written you can tell he didn't know what he was doing. So I am wondering if he just got bad advice or is uneducated, hence why I want to educate him. In order for him to successfully claim damages from our security deposit he'd have to show proof. We intend on taking a video and pictures and doing a walk through with him so there really is no way he's legally win that battle (if he even tried to keep the deposit). He is even having us fill nail holes with putty from the pictures we hung on the wall. I am not seeing any reason we wouldn't get our deposit back considering everything will be the way we recieved it.
Our goal is to say "here is our 30 day notice. Our last day will be July 15. However, we will be vacating the premise July 4th. We'd like to schedule a move out inspection/walk through for the 4th. By the way, since we will be moving out sooner than the end of our 30 day obligation you can take advantage of that and rent it out sooner, although if tenants move in prior to July 15th, NH laws requires you to refund us for the days they lived here while we were still paying for rent."
If he has questions we can refer him to our attorney. It never hurts to have an attorney to turn to. You just never know. I don't necessarily think that he will try to screw us but just in case we will be prepared
Scheduling a walkthrough on one of the biggest national holidays is insanity. Also it takes time to turn a unit the only way he will fill it is if he is superman or something. My fastest turnaround is 8 days and that's without carpet replacement. Takes a few days for the fabreeze to wear off that tenants think cover their filth before I can even get a good idea of what's wrong.
Scheduling a walkthrough on one of the biggest national holidays is insanity. Also it takes time to turn a unit the only way he will fill it is if he is superman or something. My fastest turnaround is 8 days and that's without carpet replacement. Takes a few days for the fabreeze to wear off that tenants think cover their filth before I can even get a good idea of what's wrong.
Well we can be flexible (to a degree) on the day of the walk through. I was just giving an example.
And I agree he'd have to be superman but he bought this place as a foreclosure, and we moved in less than 3 weeks later. He said he will do a walk through the day we give notice so he can tell us anything he finds that may need fixing (there are quite a few things he has neglected to fix over the years that we just dealt with). He said his plan is to fix those things while we live here so he can rent out immediately after we are gone. He is even requiring is to fill in the nail holes from picture frames (something none of my other landlords ever required, nor has anyone I've ever known been required to do in a rental). If there is anyone that can (and will) rent it out in super fast speed once we vacate, it'll be him
control and surrender laws on real estate vary from state to state.
in ny we can surrender keys but there is a proper protocol that has to be followed.
other states do not accept key surrender as over riding a lease.
I can't seem to find the NH laws regarding vacating and landlord double dipping.
I find info on surrendering in regards to just abandoning/up and leaving... But for us that wouldn't be the case
...if you move before a lease ends. In New Hampshire, however, the law is unclear or courts have been divided on the issue of the landlord’s responsibility to minimize losses when a tenant breaks a lease....
Although it's not your exact situation, it sounds like you won't find a law that you are looking for. I think you need to stop stressing about the 10 days rent and concentrate on the move and cleaning your place. Make copies of all your requests for repairs that you said he hadn't done. Have all of this for your final walk through in case he tries to ding you for them. Make a note of it on your walk through list and both sign it. And yes, clean those scuff marks, that's damage.
I can't seem to find the NH laws regarding vacating and landlord double dipping.
I find info on surrendering in regards to just abandoning/up and leaving... But for us that wouldn't be the case
That is because the law is 'unclear' in NH. Your situation is based on whether a landlord has a duty to 'mitigate damage' (or find a replacement tenant). Normally, if a landlord is required to mitigate damage then it means they are not able to double dip. The following does not answer your question directly however, it does state that mitigating damage is not crystal clear in NH which would mean that your question regarding double dipping is not clear either and hence the reason you are unable to find any specific law on it.
Duty to Find a New Tenant in New Hampshire
Landlords in most states (for example, Arizona) must make a reasonable effort to re-rent their units when a tenant breaks a lease, rather than charge the tenant for the total remaining rent due under the lease. At the opposite extreme, in a handful of states, such as Georgia, landlords do not have the same responsibility to “mitigate damages” by trying to rent their property reasonably quickly and keeping their losses to a minimum if you move before a lease ends. In New Hampshire, however, the law is unclear or courts have been divided on the issue of the landlord’s responsibility to minimize losses when a tenant breaks a lease.
If live in New Hampshire and want to break your lease, but don’t have a legally justified reason, such as one of those described above, try to work something out with your landlord. Don’t just move out and hope your landlord gets a new tenant quickly and doesn’t charge you for the remaining time on your lease. Provide your landlord as much notice as possible and write a sincere letter explaining why you need to leave early. Ideally, you can offer your landlord a qualified replacement tenant with good credit and references, to sign a new lease.
But keep in mind, that if the landlord doesn’t agree to let you off the hook, you may be liable for paying rent for the remainder of your lease, depending on the situation and the particular court hearing the case. This could be a substantial amount of money if you leave several months before your lease ends. Your landlord will probably first use your security deposit to cover the amount you owe. But if your deposit is not sufficient, your landlord may sue you, probably in small claims court where the limit is $7,500 in New Hampshire.
...if you move before a lease ends. In New Hampshire, however, the law is unclear or courts have been divided on the issue of the landlord’s responsibility to minimize losses when a tenant breaks a lease....
Although it's not your exact situation, it sounds like you won't find a law that you are looking for. I think you need to stop stressing about the 10 days rent and concentrate on the move and cleaning your place. Make copies of all your requests for repairs that you said he hadn't done. Have all of this for your final walk through in case he tries to ding you for them. Make a note of it on your walk through list and both sign it. And yes, clean those scuff marks, that's damage.
LOL.....great minds I KNEW I shouldn't have taken that phone call in the middle of my post
I, like momofthree, agree that due to your circumstance with moving so far away, etc that it may not be worth your time and effort to pursue this unless there is a neighbor or anyone else near by that can 100% prove that he rents the place before the 15th. Even then, because the law is vague it might take you too much extra expense to risk fighting it.
The only thing, if it were me, would be that if you do have someone who can 100% vouch that it is, in fact, rented prior to the 15th, would be by just trying the letter route to the landlord asking for the overlap rent amount be credited to you instead of trying to pursue it in court. That would not cost you much of anything. But fighting it past that could be counterproductive.
Last edited by Corn-fused; 06-12-2015 at 08:49 AM..
Reason: adding text
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My fear in not being there to surrender keys and do the checklist/walk through with him is that they'll nickel-dime us for things
I KNEW I shouldn't have taken that phone call in the middle of my post 
