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Our lease has an early termination clause that says that we need to "provide a 30 day written notice to terminate and pay an 'Early Termination Charge' of up to two (2) month's rent." After providing that 30 day notice, the apartment management sent us a bunch of paperwork to sign about confirming the new move-out date (April 8th), cleaning, final bill estimate etc. When we were handing in the paperwork, we asked if we will get a pro-rated amount of the early termination fee back if the apartment was rented out and we were told that we would. We were told that again over the phone when I paid my last month's rent. In fact, the employee over the phone confirmed to us that they already had someone signed a lease with a start date of April 21st and told us to follow-up if we did not receive the reimbursement in a month or so.
More than a month has passed and we received nothing, so yesterday (June 4th) I called to check on it. To my surprise, the representative I spoke to said that early termination fees are not refundable and claimed that everyone at the company knows that that's the policy. When I mentioned that we were told differently by two different employees, she suggested that I probably talked to a newbie who didn't know what she was talking about, and the person I spoke to over the phone only does billing and would have little knowledge of the lease details. I certainly accept the possibility of an honest mistake by one new employee, but two employees? And such diametrically opposite opinions on what the policy is? Can companies/landlords renege on promises made by purportedly inexperienced employees?
The representative further claim that when we moved out, we signed a document that explicitly said that we would not get any of the early termination charge back. I don't recall reading that and have asked them to e-mail me a copy of that, but have not received it so far. Even if we did unknowingly signed such a clause, doesn't the verbal confirmation we got that we will get part of the fee back if it was rented out count for something? Also, even if true, is such a clause even enforceable in MA? They are essentially collecting rent from us and the new tenant. Isn't double-dipping illegal?
We are thinking of taking this to small claims court but wanted to know how judges typically rule on similar cases. Our big concern is that we do not have tape recordings of the verbal confirmations we received. We rented from an apartment complex in Acton, MA if that influences which sets of laws apply in this situation.
Early termination fees are not rent, they are not double dipping. You have no grounds and verbal conversations mean very little when there is a very clear lease. You have no fight just walk away.
1) Did you actually pay that early termination fee totaling 2 months rent yet? Or...
2) When you moved in did you also pay 1st month and last month's rent for a deposit and that is what they are using for the 'early termination charge'?
3) What exactly was withheld or sent with this following statement? "After providing that 30 day notice, the apartment management sent us a bunch of paperwork to sign about confirming the new move-out date (April 8th), cleaning, final bill estimate etc."
4) And, please clarify that it has been over 30 days and you have not received anything from the landlord as far as any security deposit you paid, etc. (amount from #2 above)
And in the meantime, keep pushing like crazy for that form they said you signed. Put it in writing and mail it certified or send them an email demanding a copy of it. (just make sure it is in writing)
(I know what other posters have said however, have my reasons for asking all of the above.)
Thank you all for the reply. It is helpful to know that it's not technically double-dipping, makes me more inclined to believe that it was really a new employee's honest mistake and not some nefarious scheme of saying one thing and getting us signing another. It's just odd that we were told otherwise by two different people... They really need to train their staff better...
Corn-fused, regarding your questions:
1. Yeah, we paid it already, it was before our move-out date. There was a brief period of confusion when their system thought we haven't paid it 'cos they only cash their checks once a week, but that was cleared up before we moved out.
2. We paid first month rent plus a fixed deposit that was roughly half-month's rent. The early termination fee was on top of those.
3. Not sure exactly what you are asking for? When we gave the 30 day notice, they sent us an entire packet of documents to sign. I don't remember all the details, but I do know in that packet was something confirming our new move-out date, another scheduling a preliminary inspection of the premises, they had something called a clean sweep option that absolves you from some of the cleaning, a final bill estimate, I'm not sure what else was in that packet. My recollection is that we signed all of those and returned them all at once, didn't withhold or send anything additional.
4. We did receive our security deposit less the cleaning fee and some minor damages we got charged for that we thought were fair and are not contesting it. I don't think this changes anything, but answering this question made me remember that we actually called them a third time, because they deducted some unknown charge from our deposit and we called to ask them what it was (it was the water bill, which comes quarterly so they charged us some pro-rated amount.) It was during that call when they confirmed over the phone that our apartment got leased out and we should expect some reimbursement in a month or so.
Personally, I think a penalty equal to 2 month's rent is excessive. But not only is it totally legal, it is also a very typical amount in the industry. I say this as a property manager. It is what my own lease says. I don't like it, but the owners of the properties all expect it.
What the others said is true. It is not double dipping, because it is not rent. It is a penalty for breaking a binding contract, which is different.
The representative further claim that when we moved out, we signed a document that explicitly said that we would not get any of the early termination charge back. I don't recall reading that
Who reads contracts? They could have put it in an 8 page document and you had no choice but to take it or leave it, you agreed to it. and if you say you read a contract they are not going to change a clause for you so if you want something you have to sign it.
Would you have stayed if they were not going to refund your money?
You wanted to break the lease, you agreed to pay, people lied verbally, it holds no weight in court,
move on an accept the loss, thinking it's your money that they have will only cause you headaches.
If you didn't want to pay it you should have stayed,. Now if you want your own double dip go to Dairy Queen.
Next time you are told something get it in writing or ask where on the contract that is stated. Employees might have the wrong info and it does not entitle you to the money back and you can't prove it.
Personally, I think a penalty equal to 2 month's rent is excessive. But not only is it totally legal, it is also a very typical amount in the industry. I say this as a property manager. It is what my own lease says. I don't like it, but the owners of the properties all expect it.
What the others said is true. It is not double dipping, because it is not rent. It is a penalty for breaking a binding contract, which is different.
It may have been a sweet deal to pay this fee for the tenant depending on how many months were left on the lease. Most leases I have signed include the potential for me owing the balance of the lease payments if the landlord is unable to sign a new tenant. Could've been a lot worse for the OP...
Would you have stayed if they were not going to refund your money?
No, we would not have stayed, but just because it would not have impacted our decision doesn't mean we shouldn't follow up on something we were told we would receive. They could have kept our security deposit and we would still have moved out, but I think one would agree that we definitely have grounds to pursue that if that happened. We simply wanted to find out if we are able to pursue the refund promise, but it seems that the overwhelming opinion is no.
Quote:
Next time you are told something get it in writing or ask where on the contract that is stated. Employees might have the wrong info and it does not entitle you to the money back and you can't prove it.
It just seems wrong to have to treat everyone as potentially ignorant or dishonest, but yes, duly noted. We will get it in writing next time, though hopefully there won't be a next time.
Westbound, we actually only had just over 3 months left on the lease, so we briefly considered staying for the remaining duration, but we had so many neighbor problems that my wife just couldn't take it anymore (smoke from downstairs seeps into our living room where our toddler plays, extremely loud upstairs neighbor, and neighbor across the hall harassed my wife when she was alone with the baby; that last one tipped the balance and we broke the lease like a week or two later, basically as soon as we could get the new place lined up.) I agree that it may be sweet for the tenant in areas where places don't rent out quickly, but it just feels wrong when the apartment owner can rent out the place quickly and keep all the termination fee. It almost creates an incentive for landlords to encourage people to break leases. But as so954 said, thinking it's our money just causes us headaches, so we'll just try to focus on the fact that our new neighbors so far seem much better.
Westbound, we actually only had just over 3 months left on the lease, so we briefly considered staying for the remaining duration, but we had so many neighbor problems that my wife just couldn't take it anymore (smoke from downstairs seeps into our living room where our toddler plays, extremely loud upstairs neighbor, and neighbor across the hall harassed my wife when she was alone with the baby; that last one tipped the balance and we broke the lease like a week or two later, basically as soon as we could get the new place lined up.) I agree that it may be sweet for the tenant in areas where places don't rent out quickly, but it just feels wrong when the apartment owner can rent out the place quickly and keep all the termination fee. It almost creates an incentive for landlords to encourage people to break leases. But as so954 said, thinking it's our money just causes us headaches, so we'll just try to focus on the fact that our new neighbors so far seem much better.
Best to think of it as a fee or charge to break a lease early. It certainly wasn't rent; you could have paid the last 3 months rent and used the apartment as a storage unit, but once you paid the fee, you were no longer entitled to use of the apartment, or any say over what the landlord could do with the unit, including no expectation of a refund if he got a new tenant in.
Face it, you came out ahead, saved a month's rent. Move on and don't look back. What you were told on the phone, vs what is written in the lease agreement, is not worth arguing - the lease wins every time, or in this case, the document you signed. Did you not get copies of everything you signed? Did they mail these to you and you mailed them back without making copies for yourself? Do you normally sign documents without reading them, or getting copies, or understanding what you are obligating yourself to or signing away? Don't ever make these mistakes again...understand what you are signing, and make copies.
Did you look this up in the landlord tenant laws of your state or community? This issue is probably covered in there...and my guess is the landlord is in the right, but who knows?
Good luck.
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