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so you up and moved in the middle of the night without telling your landlord? And you're shocked as to why she refused to take payments from you? did it ever occur to you to ask your landlord about getting out of the lease? The most you would've paid was 4 mths rent.
We didn't skip town, we paid the rent and utilities on the house as I didn't think we could get out of the lease. We were trying to do the right thing.
in another post you mention the house was a 'bit of a mess'. What that mess at move in or move out? If it was a move out, that's out of your pocket and or security desposit.
We paid for cleaners to come and clean the house so it will be ready for new tenants. The LL will not have to do anything about the cleaning. We used the company that they work trhough to do the clean up. There would be no reason to take anything out of our security deposit.
there are no boxes on our lease and really not much about terminating the lease.
so, it says something? What exactly does it say??
VACATING: At the expiration of this agreement or any extension, TENANT shall peaceably surrender the premises and turn in all keys and any other property owned by LANDLORD leaving the premises in good, clean condition, ordinary wear and tear excepted. TENANT agrees to have the carpeting cleaned professionally upon moveout or will incur a minimum carpet cleaning charge to be deducted from the security deposit in the amount of Market Rate. In the event all keys are not returned upon moveout, there will be a minimum charge to be deducted from the security deposit in the amount of Market Rate. In addition to any cleaning charges or any other charges due under the terms of this lease, TENANT agrees to a mandatory minimum unit cleaning charge to be deducted from the security deposit in the amount of Market Rate.
That is all it says about leaving. Nothing about early termination.
so big deal she calls your husband's job...what are they gonna do? Fire him for being a deadbead tenant?? Again...you left them hanging and you're surprised she won't take anything but full payment. There's no way i'd take partial payments form a tenant who skipped town.
My husbands job has a security clearance and we didn't want this to mess with that. I don't think we are deadbeat tenants. We have paid 10 months on time, will have paid 11 months on time by the end of our lease. We are trying the best we can. We didn't leave them hanging and are trying to come up with a solution to get this paid as soon as possible.
you can send a letter demanding whatever you want, but you're not in the position to make demands. You owe her the money...you need to go by her terms. And yeah, you're going to court. Good luck.
I am not demanding anything other than she not call my husbands work. I am trying to pay her in the best way I can. As for court, I doubt that we will be going. We would have to talk to a mediator first and by the time she could get it to court she will be paid off. You sound kind of hateful.
As for how she knows where my husband works, he works for the same company, just a different location. There are only a couple places in the country where he can work in his line of business and I am sure she figured it out. He has been with his company for many years. She never would have had to track us down, she has both our cell phone numbers and both our e mails.
In your original post, you say: "We were told that if we did all that the rental agency had people who wanted the house and we wouldn't be responsible for the last two months rent. To make a long story short, they never found anyone and are now threatening to call my husbands job and tell them we haven't paid. We didn't realize that we would have to pay because we were told we wouldn't have to."
But then you say you never gave notice until last month when they asked if you were going to renew? That doesn't sound like official notice to me -- it also sounds like you still have the keys. If that's the case, you never officially vacated -- and I think you're on the hook for the rent.
I feel like there's a piece of this story still missing.
We didn't skip town, we paid the rent and utilities on the house as I didn't think we could get out of the lease. We were trying to do the right thing.
Did you or did you not move to another state when you left this home? Did you or did you not fail to notify the landlord of this move? If you say yes to either one of these, you skipped town.
We paid for cleaners to come and clean the house so it will be ready for new tenants. The LL will not have to do anything about the cleaning. We used the company that they work trhough to do the clean up. There would be no reason to take anything out of our security deposit.
there are no boxes on our lease and really not much about terminating the lease.
Again, what exactly does it say about 'early termination'....'really not much'...tells us nothing. It has to say something.
Oh, don't count on that deposit coming back anytime soon.
VACATING: At the expiration of this agreement or any extension, TENANT shall peaceably surrender the premises and turn in all keys and any other property owned by LANDLORD leaving the premises in good, clean condition, ordinary wear and tear excepted. TENANT agrees to have the carpeting cleaned professionally upon moveout or will incur a minimum carpet cleaning charge to be deducted from the security deposit in the amount of Market Rate. In the event all keys are not returned upon moveout, there will be a minimum charge to be deducted from the security deposit in the amount of Market Rate. In addition to any cleaning charges or any other charges due under the terms of this lease, TENANT agrees to a mandatory minimum unit cleaning charge to be deducted from the security deposit in the amount of Market Rate.
That is all it says about leaving. Nothing about early termination.
Read the first sentence ....."At the expiration of this agreement"....that means when the lease is up. You left before the lease was up therefore you violated that portion of the lease.
Read the bolded portions...either it says something or it say nothing...which one is it? It can't be both.
My husbands job has a security clearance and we didn't want this to mess with that. I don't think we are deadbeat tenants. We have paid 10 months on time, will have paid 11 months on time by the end of our lease. We are trying the best we can. We didn't leave them hanging and are trying to come up with a solution to get this paid as soon as possible.
You are deadbeat tenants. You left without telling your landlord and took up residence in another state. You violated the lease and left with monies owed to the landlord..
I am not demanding anything other than she not call my husbands work. I am trying to pay her in the best way I can. As for court, I doubt that we will be going. We would have to talk to a mediator first and by the time she could get it to court she will be paid off. You sound kind of hateful.
As for how she knows where my husband works, he works for the same company, just a different location. There are only a couple places in the country where he can work in his line of business and I am sure she figured it out. He has been with his company for many years. She never would have had to track us down, she has both our cell phone numbers and both our e mails.
You should have thought about your dh's job before you did what you did. There was no reason for you to leave without telling the landlord.
Not all landlord's are jerks, they just want honest tenants who pay their rent and dont' violate their leases. You should've been honest from the get-go and said "Job fell thru, we have to leave the state, would you accept us paying the balance of the lease off and forfeiting the deposit?" It's a win win for everyone...it's done all the time.
Get a lawyer. Mediator or not, you still owe her money. Mediator or not, she could still get a judgment against you for the money you owe....how's that going to look on dh's security clearance?
I'm not hateful. I'm honest. I think you came here looking for people to feel sorry for you. Sorry, but you're not going to get that here. You did this to yourself...don't make this mistake again
Good luck. Please come back with an update when you can.
On the other hand, there is no need for a landlord to call the employer of a tenant unless the tenant is not responding to phone calls or mail and the landlord want to make sure they're still alive and just avoiding the landlord.
Since this tenant is not avoiding the landlord and is trying to pay then to me a call to the employer could be considered harrassment.
If the tenant has surrendered the keys and not finished paying , the landlords option at this point is small claims court for the balance of the lease.
The landlord and the rental company are 2 separate things. Our LL e mailed us and asked if we were going to renew our lease that ends June 30th. We told them no we and explained that we weren't living there and what was going on.
A few days later the company that rents the house for the LL called us and said that if we professionally cleaned it, that they could re rent it quickly and we wouldn't have to be responsible for the last few months rent. We were planning on paying the rent until the end of the lease but were told there were 7 different people that the rental company knew of that wanted to rent the house and they would be able to re rent it quickly and we wouldn't have to pay the last few months rent. So we spent a decent portion of the money we had put back for rent to have the house professionally cleaned and the lawn and pool done. They needed it all done by that weekend so they could get people in right away. Usually we drive down and do it ourselves. We didn't call them and ask them to find someone, they called us and said they had people. Does that make anymore sense?
We asked if we could send the keys and they said not until it was re rented.
I am not disputing that we owe the money, I am just trying to figure out how we can pay her and what can happen legally in the meantime. I am not trying to screw her over. We have done everything we can do to try and work this out. The total amount due to her for the entire lease will be paid to her by the end of June and sooner if we can work it out.
You are deadbeat tenants. You left without telling your landlord and took up residence in another state. You violated the lease and left with monies owed to the landlord..
We have paid the rent. We left in January. We paid Jan, Feb, March and April's rent. Does it matter if we live there or not? We took care of the property and paid the rent. Why does it matter where we slept at night as long as we were doing those things?
I am not sure what other option we had other than to move. My husband has to work. We didn't tell the landlord because there was nothing we thought they could do. Our lease doesn't say anything about early termination, so I knew we were on the hook for the whole amount.
Again, what exactly does it say about 'early termination'....'really not much'...tells us nothing. It has to say something.
Other than the paragraph I copy and pasted from our lease, it says nothing about terminating, or leaving the property.
Oh, don't count on that deposit coming back anytime soon.
If all money and late fees are paid by the end of the lease how can they legally keep it?
Get a lawyer. Mediator or not, you still owe her money. Mediator or not, she could still get a judgment against you for the money you owe....how's that going to look on dh's security clearance?
I'm not hateful. I'm honest. I think you came here looking for people to feel sorry for you. Sorry, but you're not going to get that here. You did this to yourself...don't make this mistake again
We have never been late on our rent anywhere. This isn't our "calling card". I don't want anyone's pity and I am embarrassed if it came off that way. I was just looking for some advice and info from someone who may have gone through something similar. We have 4 daughters whom we try and teach responsibility to daily and I very much hate this situation. I would gladly pay her the entire amount due if I could. I have tried explaining that to her and apologizing. Again, I understand that I owe the money, its just getting it to her is taking longer than she wants. I understand her point, she wants her money. I want to give her her money and I am trying.
I apologize if I sound like I am trying to ask for pity. That was never my intent.
Send the keys. Officially surrender the unit in writing with the keys, certified return receipt. Detail everything you did to have the unit ready. Send them copies off all written communication previously. Thn ask for a bill for what you owe.
Deal only with the management company in writing. The landlord should not be in this at all if you're renting from a company.
We pay the LL directly, not the rental agency. We sent the application and deposit to the rental company and the monthly rent to the LL.
I am sending the LL the keys this afternoon with a certified letter showing her how we plan on paying her the May's rent and all the late fee's. Our lease ends June 30th and we will have May's rent and late fees paid by then, and June's rent paid on time, June 1st.
...the LL called us and said that if we professionally cleaned it, that they could re rent it quickly
and we wouldn't have to be responsible for the last few months rent.
The expensive lesson here is that the LL and PM would have said this way back when as well.
For future reference... always talk. Face the issues in your life squarely and deal with them.
Quote:
I am not disputing that we owe the money...
I am just trying to figure out (1) how we can pay her and (2) what can happen legally in the meantime.
1= somewhere, somehow you scrounge up the cash and pay the bill.
2= they'll take you to Court, win, and then (very likely) get a wage garnishment.
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did it ever occur to you to ask your landlord about getting out of the lease? The most you would've paid was 4 mths rent. 
