Month to Month "Flexibility?" How so? (Iona, Wildwood: real estate, apartment complex)

[AFNCO33]

So last month (31 Jul) the lease at my Apartment complex came to an end. Back in May before Memorial Day, I gave my 60 day notice that we would not be renewing the lease and that "in the even we were still here, we'd continue on a month to month until we found a new place or ended up signing another lease".

Well last month, we got approved to move to a rented house in Fore Ranch, but the move got aborted when my grandmother got ill. I essentially had no choice but to go to month to month because there wasn't enough time. Of course my rate skyrocketed from my lease terms ($1360) to $100 above the market rate, which is $1559! Needless to say, I told the property manager we would continue to actively look for other places and possibly move again (grandma's health willing). But that was 1 Aug the date I had to sign something because we were still there. I was under the impression that month to month was just that, when in actuality it's a 2 month lease if you don't give notice effectively the date you sign it, but it wouldn't have mattered in my case since it was 1 Aug anyway.

So we actually found a house in Newberry which we really liked and were preparing to move out this Labor Day weekend. Mom forgot to sign the new lease and so we delayed getting the new lease/money orders to the real estate company. I guess that was a good thing because when we went to notify our property manager here at Asbury, she told us we were obligated for another 30 days since we didn't provide a "written" notice. Now I have what I have from May and and in August she knew we were actively looking for places because God knows how many places have called here to check references on a various applications. The new place saves me a boatload of money in the long-run, but financially, I'm in no position to absorb over $3700 of rent-related costs in September ($1559 + $1150 at the new house + $1150 Security Deposit). Our Security Deposit when we first moved here 3 years ago was only $300 so it doens't cover the period.

So here's my thing, where's the "flexibility" of the month to month for the tenant? I feel like I'm being held hostage. Most decent properties get posted on Zillow/Realtor not too far in advance. There's no way to know if we will get approved for places or not or how long that process takes. What, we're supposed to just give 30 days notice every month, and when we don't move say "just kidding"? And if I don't do something in 2 days, I'm supposedly on the hook for October as well. This smells like a "penalty" to me and I see no difference of being under a lease versus month to month.

The new house owners are willing to partially work with us, extending a start date to 15 Sep, but even a half month is a rough amount to cover. I know we're the only people that filed an application with it, but they keep dropping the rental price every week or so and if we have to drop it, someone is bound to take it up. Meanwhile, I see no other option than to sign a 7 month lease (shortest term they offer) because the month-month rate is too high, I'm in the negative every month, and my GRU bills are eating me alive here because of the poor insulation.

I'm very angry and bitter over this and don't know what to do. This seems very unfair. I literally feel like I'm being held hostage with no choice but to sign a lease since I can't predict when we get approved for something.

Again, where is the "flexibility"?

Sorry for the rant, but I'm majorly PO'ed.

[rjm1cc]

The problem is on both sides. How can your apt be rented if you are still in it. Your are lucky the landlord let you go month to month with a months notice instead of a years lease. I think you have to plan on paying rent on two places for one month. I would point this out to the new landlord and ask for a free months rent at the start of the lease.

[2009Retiree]

I feel your pain AFNCO33 as i ran into the SAME EXACT problem here in Wildwood, FL. I have rented apartments literally all over the county/world and thus far, FL is the only State in which i have encountered the month-to-month tenancy issue that you described. I entered into a 7-month lease while waiting for a house to be built, and as the house was not ready when expected, went month-to-month when that lease was up, only to discover - as you did - that the "month-to-month" tenancy STILL required a 60-day notice to vacate. Sort of defeats the whole "month-to-month" theory. Fortunately one of the leasing agents told me to go ahead and provide a written 60-day notice, and then to just keep amending it if i needed to adjust my vacate date. In every other State and Country that i have lived in, a month-to-month tenancy ends at the end of each month unless you extend it....not so in the Sunshine State. Oh....and in addition to the extra $100 a month i was paying for the 7-month lease, once i went month-to-month, an ADDITIONAL $100 was tacked on to that.....so like you, i am paying more than the market rate. Clearly the rental property management lobby here in FL has a lot of clout.....which is not surprising given the shear number of folks moving in and out of rental properties down here. I am just glad that i will be out of here in another 4 weeks!!!!