Question about last month?? (house, liable, heating, payments)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have to agree with STT Resident. If you read the information posted by the OP in the first post the tenant is choosing to move early. The lease ends 1/31. There is no lease break. The Op does not have to pro-rate the rent to the end of the month. The tenant is choosing to move. The lease ends 1/31, the rent is paid till 1/31. End of lease. The OP can move back into the unit on 2/1.
As for the deposit, the OP can choose to return the deposit sooner than 1/31 after checking the unit to be sure it is in good condition. I would do a walk through and wait until the tenant is out of the unit before issueing the refund.
Thanks for confirmation on all counts. I felt as though I was butting my head against a brick wall and thus getting a major headache.
She is breaking the lease. She is terminating the lease as of January 10th. And she liable for rent until the end of the lease which is January 31st, and the owner has to mitigate his damages which means trying to re rent it during this time period.
WTF are you talking about?
No one is going to break a lease with 2 weeks left, and the owner is not going to rent the place for the 2 weeks before he/she moves back in.
She is only moving out early, and the place is hers until the end of the month.
I also agree with STT on the rent issue, for all the reasons everyone already said.
I'm not sure on the deposit issue. The OP says the tenant wants them to prorate the deposit. There is no such thing as prorating a deposit. They get back the deposit, less damages or expenses. If they don't fill the gas tank as they are supposed to, that is an expense that you can deduct. You have to give them an itemized report of the items that were withheld. As for when it has to be returned, every state has different laws. Find out what yours are. In my state, it is within 21 days, unless the lease says 30, in which case, that is also legal. Some states are as few as 14 days.
She states she talked to my fiancee and she stated we would give her the deposit and pro rate it but I explained to her that I am the landlord on the lease I never agreed or signed anything. It would be the same as if she moved out the 25th you do not prorate the rent.
To use an extreme example, let's say the lease ends on the 31st and the tenant decides to move out on the 29th.
I find this an interesting case, and this sounds reasonable. However, it seems like the length of time between the date when tenant wants to move out and the date when lease ends has become relevant; for, to use some opposite "extreme examples":
-what if the tenant wanted to move out exactly 1 month before lease ends? or 1.5 months?...
-what if she wanted to move out only 1 month into the lease? --obviously that would be breaking the lease.
So maybe only if she moves out less than 1 month before lease ends, it is not breaking the lease?
I find this an interesting case, and this sounds reasonable. However, it seems like the length of time between the date when tenant wants to move out and the date when lease ends has become relevant; for, to use some opposite "extreme examples":
-what if the tenant wanted to move out exactly 1 month before lease ends? or 1.5 months?...
-what if she wanted to move out only 1 month into the lease? --obviously that would be breaking the lease.
So maybe only if she moves out less than 1 month before lease ends, it is not breaking the lease?
The tenant signed an enforceable contract. Period. The tenant is responsible for the rent owed until the last day of the lease. It doesn't matter if she leaves early, or goes on vacation, or decides to elope, or goes hang gliding, or goes around the world in a balloon and can't be there to live in the premises the last month or so. Legally she is still responsible for the terms of the lease.
To answer your first question: If she wants to move out 1 or 1.5 months before the lease ends she can. That's the answer. The tenant doesn't have to be there physically. She still owes the rent until the last day on the lease. It doesn't matter if she's living there or not. This is not in any way considered breaking a lease. Legally she is expected to honor the terms of the lease.
To answer your second question: If she decides to move out only 1 month into the lease, since she signed a legal contract, she is still responsible for the entire lease. Up and leaving unannounced isn't breaking the lease. That lease is still binding and by her not paying the rest of the rent, the landlord would certainly be entitled legally to sue her for the rest of the lease. And would win.
Of course if she had any sense and changed her mind one month into the lease, or something happened and she couldn't follow through with the lease because of an emergency, etc., her best recourse would be to talk with the landlord, tell them what happened, and ask the landlord to let her out of the contract. If they can come to terms (probably would include extra $ to cover the expenses incurred by the LL) about her leaving early, then all would work out because both LL and tenant would agree to dissolving the lease.
I had an instance where I was advised by my attorney to break a lease that was signed less than 24 hours before. I had second thoughts about a married couple with an out-of-control 6-year-old, and they told me in no uncertain terms that they would be allowing said monster to play (translation: go nuts and get into trouble) in the cement-dungeon of a basement where the heating system, plumbing system, washer and dryer, freezer, etc., were housed. I told them very distinctly that the basement space was to be used for laundry and storage only, not for their kid to play in, not to set up desks and computers in, not to set up a TV, not to set up space heaters, etc., which they told me they were intending. They told me they weren't going to do as I requested. I told them the space wasn't habitable or up to code (no proper egress either) and that they would be breaking the law by ignoring me. I also didn't want the risk and liability of the brat getting hurt - all this came out very early in the game directly after I signed the lease in front of my realtor and husband. They were looking for trouble and a dispute to let me know they were boss.
All I kept imagining was that kid getting hurt down there and me suffering the consequences of being sued for plenty of money.
Told my family attorney the whole scenario, and he told me to pull out of the deal and break the lease. I called my realtor, told her of my misgivings, bad gut feel and what my lawyer said, and asked her to break the lease. Which she did. Two hours later I received a phone call from her telling me that my tenants were suing me, my realtor personally, and Coldwell Banker.
Called my lawyer frantically telling him that I was being sued, and he explained to me that by breaking the lease, this put him in a position to deal with tenants' lawyer (a family friend, btw, naturally) and tell him why exactly they couldn't live in the basement that wasn't anywhere near up to code. The two lawyers hammered out an agreement where the tenants had to sign and agree to the terms that their brat couldn't go in the basement at all, that it was to be used just for laundry and storage, that they couldn't hook up a TV, or space heaters because of fire hazard, etc. It worked out the way I wanted anyway. But what a big deal. The tenants were mad of course. They called me after signing that agreement and said they didn't understand what they signed - all to stir up more trouble. I was still stuck with them unfortunately. And I know their monster was in the basement all the time because I saw him myself (and my plumber saw him too) on a few occasions. But with that agreement signed by them, if that kid got hurt, I wasn't to be held responsible since they were breaking that agreement by letting their kid play down there. My lawyer told me to make sure they thought I still wanted them as tenants just to keep the peace. A hard act to pull off. Counted down the days until they had to move out. That's another harrowing story. Eventually they slithered away. And the husband lost his job.
"Breaking" a lease implies that someone is not going to live up to the terms of the executed lease. I think 99% of the time that would be related to future rental payments. Assuming the tenant paid for the last months rent I don't see how anyone could call it breaking the lease.
No one has to live in the aparment they rent. You could rent an aparment and never move in. As long as you pay your rent you didn't break the lease.
I still think the LL could move in to the house as soon as it is vacated assuming the keys have been handed over. It's not a situation of collecting double rent. But I am not an attorney so take that comment as not coming from a professional.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
