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Yeah, they can do that. I doubt that they will re-rent for much lower just to spite you. How rude were you? They know their odds of collecting on you are slim, they're in the business of collecting rent, not ruining credit. But they'll do what they have to.
You broke a contract, did you think you would just move away and never hear from them again?
Let me clarify some things here: I wasn't the rude one. The wife hung up on me twice! They have my email and my phone number. In fact, their exterminator just called me yesterday to come by and treat the house. I told him I no longer live there. I'm sure they'll get that info and that he called me. They can get a hold of me. They just haven't tried. Plus as of today, they still have not put the house back up for rent. It's the 25th of April. It doesn't take 25 days to put a sign back up especially when you have a Realtor working with you and the house was left in perfect condition!!
I tried working with these people on every option. I originally told them I wanted to talk with them regarding termination the lease and to please call me. They refused. I told them to please come over and inspect the property to make sure it was in the same condition I moved into. They refused. I offered for them to put it back on the market and show it while I still lived there so there wouldn't be any gaps in payment. They refused. I called them to talk about this matter as adults and the wife hung up on me saying as landlords they didn't have time to talk to me. TRUST ME I TRIED!!! I finally gave up. You don't understand. These people tried to say by coming by and picked up their old mail at the property was a "property visit". I, as a courtesy, had left it in the mailbox for them to pick up. They tried to demand an additional $500 from me for a cat deposit after coming by and seeing my cat. Mind you they already had $3200 deposit. I made it VERY clear to the renting agent that I had a cat because a house that didn't accept him was a NO GO!!! I wouldn't have moved over 500 miles to a house that didn't accept him. BTW, this is a house with ALL TILE!! I also had made some small holes while moving in. I patched and sanded the walls and asked for the name or brand of the paint so I can repaint it so there wouldn't be any evidence and it would look as good as new. Guess what??? They even refused to give me the name of the paint!!!!
Trust me, I'm ready to go back down to Miami and go to court with no problem at all. I've got all my ducks in a row and can prove these are malicious people.
Sorry to here your having problems, but if you go to court, you must be aware that the judge will looks at the hard facts i.e, you broke a lease, you never gave the landlord a forwarding address.
ahh the wonders of ignorance.
Thus far, I've only seen a couple of replies here with fairly accurate information.
First, your landlord DOES NOT have the right to collect on the remainder of the lease. So for example: if you had 6 months left on the lease at $1000 a month, he DOES NOT have the right to collect $6,000 for immediately breaking the lease.
If you break the lease, he has a duty to mitigate his damages.
This duty will include him getting the apartment back to par so that he rent it out to another tenant. If it takes him a whole month, you are liable for the months rent plus reasonable costs it took him to get the apartment in a rentable fashion.
Again, he does not have the right to collect on the remainder of the lease.
To allow him to do so would result in him benefiting from the windfall of your 6 months rent plus the new tenants rent.
The real issue is going to be with your deposit. You may either be entitled to it all back after he relets the apartment, or not entitled to it until after the remainder of your lease is over.
First, your landlord DOES NOT have the right to collect on the remainder of the lease.
You can't make that statement without knowing the terms and conditions of the lease or the laws of the state in which the lease is written. In Texas, we absolutely can and do accelerate the rent and I will even place it into collection on a credit report once I know the final loss.
Yes, landlords do have to mitigate. Failure to do so provides the tenant an affirmative defense in court against an attempt to collect the amount owed.
In real life practice, most of us allow a tenant to continue paying the rent monthly until a substitue tenant is found. So long as they do so, I don't accelerate the rent, otherwise I do.
Wesside I let him keep the deposit of $3200 to cover two months rent of the 5 months rent I was breaking. I figured he would put the house back up for rent in max of one week after I vacated the premises. To date, they still have not put the house up for rent. It's now May 1st and they were notified on 3/14 that I was exiting the property before 4/1. I believe that they are not going to try to re rent the property but let it sit there and try to take me to court to finish paying the rest of the lease. Basically let it sit empty until the end of lease 8/31. The place was left in better condition than when I moved in. I vacummed and mopped prior to leaving. I did leave furniture there but it was expensive office furniture that couldn't be shoved into the Penske. I just didn't have the room. I have to travel back down to Miami for mothers day and will do a drive by to confirm it's still not up for rent and will take another dated picture to prove it if it does go to court.
Steve, I understand what you are saying but these people also shot themselves in their foot regarding their conduct towards me as landlords and I can prove it in several ways. So as far as them going after me in court may not be worth it because I can prove (in back and forth letter writing) that they refused to speak to me regarding terminating the lease and/or any other options. A judge will see that I tried to do the right thing in many different ways and they refused to even speak with me. I'm telling you these people even refused to come over and inspect the premises when I asked/told them to!!! Therefore how can I honestly be held responsible??? You cannot win with malicious people period
Therefore how can I honestly be held responsible???
The Judge won't care about the stories, he'll listen to the evidence and decide if the agreement was kept or not. You can't impose communication requirements on another party outside what is required in the lease.
In other words, if I was your landlord, there is nothing in the lease that says you can ask/tell me to come inspect the premises. You can request a repair if something isn't working, but you can't demand that I come over to see you.
Sounds like you and the owner were a bad match for each other. From what you've described, you both could have done things differently.
Demand I come over to see you?? I never did such a thing. I told them they are welcome to come at anytime and inspect the premises so they can see the condition it's in and how it would be left in. There needed to be communication regarding the terminating of the lease and they did not fulfill that on their part. Yes, we were a bad match from the very beginning. Including the fact that when I told them the oven wasn't working they came over and looked at it and said it was fine and left. Never sent a tech over and they are not appliance technician for a living. Mind you I never used the oven again in the next 7 months I lived there. They are not good landlords. I'm telling you I was their first tenant. I had just come from an $800K townhouse on the water in Tampa, FL. You don't get into that type of rental without being and proving you are a good tenant. The owners of that townhouse begged me to stay but I couldn't due to the job transfer of my bf.
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