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I talked to my LL earlier today...saw her at the mail box. Any way she told me you are either Month to Month or Yearly CAN Not be Both! Not legal. You should have the same Legal rights to Break the Lease as the Owner does. Don't matter what the Owner put in the Lease. IF its dated to Expire 1 year from the Month/Year it was signed then its Yearly. AND the Owner Can Not ask you to move out on a 30 day Notice. ALL they can do is give you a 30 or 60 day notice of Not renewing when current lease ends.
Tell them you expect a check in hand for the full amount of the deposit on the day you leave. And do not leave until you get that check in hand. Otherwise you can expect a partial refund a month later. They have no intention of honoring your verbal agreement and probably don't even remember it.
They will likely refuse to give you the deposit after the walkthrough. If they do, you refuse to leave. Maybe you even have to sleep on the floor with a few boxes to make them realize you are serious, but I bet the next day you will have a check in hand. And make sure you don't tell them anything that can be taken as you giving legal notice you are leaving, because they could use that to charge you a lease break fee. The landlord is not your friend and the problem is you've been thinking of them as friends.
I have a year lease on a house, a house that I moved into about 2 and a 1/2 years ago. I'm nearing the end of my third one-year lease.
The back story: the house is in a VERY rural part of the country and the state (NM), the kind of village (500 people) where everyone stays forever. And few ever move in, because no one moves here because there is no work for miles around. I moved out here to teach (a rare teaching opening materialized and it's a beautiful part of the country), and while the school does provide some adequate staff housing on site, I thought I'd look around and found out about a very lovely home on the edge of town (the nicest house and property and view in town by far) that was about to vacated that weekend by a family moving out of state. Basically, they needed a tenant, I wanted a house, and we fell into each other's laps from out of the sky. It has been a very good relationship. I've been up front with the landlords (the owners) about EVERYTHING, and they've appreciated my low-maintenance tenancy and help with issues I could deal with easily, and I've appreciated them being "good landlords," though admittedly little-to-no issues to need their services (major repairs, etc) have ever materialized. So all has been fantastic. I have maintained their home very well, no problems or damage ever, and have proudly been a great tenant. They are not best friends but have been a bit closer than the usual tenant/landlord relationship: hugs instead of handshakes, pleasant long conversations about family and work, and they have helped me with things, and I have helped them too.
Now the front story: they have sold their house and they want me out. Fair enough. The house has been listed for a couple of years now and I knew this day might come. The lease (which actually expires in about four months) gives a 30 day written notice for exit (as I knew about the home listing), and they came to me basically asking how soon I can get out. In short, they want me out in a week or two: early, as the new homeowner wants to move in early as a condition of the sale. Alternative housing for me (again, staff housing) is not a problem whatsoever and I was moving again in a few months anyway to get a new job out-of-state (I was not planning to stay in the home past this current lease), so I said not a problem, and basically did them a favor (though admittedly getting out of the lease suits me as it allows for an early exit). So I negotiated a deal: my condition is that I will leave IF I get my security deposit back asap, IN FULL, after a cursory walkthrough, of course. I stressed to them that to do this I will need upfront cash for NEW deposits for the new place to live (staff housing does require a deposit) as well as new utilities and incidentals, not to mention the rental truck. Yes, I am cash poor right now and was not expecting this, nor were they, but I can work with them: they've been good and it's no problem. They sounded more curt and abrupt with me than usual, however. I noted this.
That was yesterday. Talked to them today and they started saying things like "You should probably get 'most' of your deposit back" and "getting a professional service to come in and clean out the home and it would come out of the deposit." I then replied (and this is where I should have reiterated my "FULL refund" conditions stated the night before for early exit) that a "service" not be necessary, that we could do two walkthroughs, one before and one after my thorough cleaning. They played along with "uh-huh" but something was amiss.
I know selling a house is a stressful time: (a) they want the sale to go through and close without a hitch; (b) they have had only four people look at this rural home despite being listed for 2 and 1/2 years and here is finally their golden opportunity; (c) it's been their family home for decades, they built it by their hand, it's being sold, and there's family emotions involved; (d) they're doing all of this from their new home out-of-state.
There is nothing in the lease about "a cleaning service" nor is there anything about the tenant (me) footing the bill. If so, I would have questioned this before signing the lease.
I also think they finally see the light about their inflated views of their home's value (as many folks do regarding their home's true worth), and may have taken a low-ball offer just to get out from under it, as the house has had few nibbles and no offers after all of this time. This is adding to their stress. Of course, this is all just my assumption...more unsettling is their language to me and their reactions, which have never been the case previously.
What are my options, over the next few days, to have this go as I need it to go? I am not a vindictive person, and we've had a good past, but their current actions are surprising, and I know this is business. I also know that I have the upper hand if need be: without my early exit (and waiving of their 30-day notice), the sale of the home falls through. Which is why their actions even with my agreement to vacate early (and in some important ways, doing them a huge favor) is puzzling. Not to mention I sure am being nice about packing up a house and moving on not much notice, no problem.
I just want my deposit back. In full. I feel based on their request, it's more than deserved. And I truly hope I'm overthinking all of this.
The use of "clean OUT" vs clean kinda struck me. I had tenants a few years ago who left a lot of "stuff" - they were hoaders so even after they moved out - left ALOT of things that needed to be dealt with, some of it I had to pay to dispose of - used motor oil, large panes of cracked glass, had to get extra bins for the stuff they left (broken hula hoops in backyard).
You need a written agreement and separate this as a one time 'payment' from landlord to tenant for allowing the landlord to break the lease early. Since you don't have to leave early, they should be paying you a lump sum dollar amt to leave earlier, as long as you approve of this. It's also called "cash for keys" in slang.
Don't tie this break lease fee with your security deposit AT ALL. Tell them you get the entire 'lease break fee' at the same time that you hand over the keys/move out. Then the security deposit can be handled later as a separate item and follow standard security deposit rules for that. But you get the lease break fee regardless and it doesn't get deducted from security deposit.
The lease break fee is a lump sum payment from landlord to tenant in return for tenant willfully moving out early at the request of the landlord. Get this is writing. Set the amt of this fee to the dollar amt you expect(same amt as security deposit or whatever you choose. You can round the amt to a different dollar amt so they don't confuse it with the security deposit.
If they deduct cleaning fee (later ) from security deposit likely they aren't allowed unless it's for dirty that was beyond normal wear and tear. But deal with that later. Get your free and clear lump sum fee at move out.
Good job! Glad it worked out for you and that you held your ground.
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