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We signed a lease in November in VA...not too long after that, I found out that I would be laid off soon if the contract did not get renewed (which it didnt) I kept my landlord informed and gave a 30 day notice to break the lease, which he had no problems with and even gave me instructions on moving out. So we move out and have the walkthru in Feb. Now he is trying to get me to pay rent for March since he hasn't been able to rent it...even though he took the keys and had us turn over the utilities in his name...
Also, he is trying to rent it for more than we paid and for a longer period of time...not trying to mitigate his damages...
Consulted a lawyer and he was like let him sue you...what say you?
Let him sue you. It sounds like the LL was OK with getting notice that you couldn't pay and, as a LL myself, I would have appreciated you need to break the lease and move. The problem stems from the LL not being able to rent it right away. He might be trying to bluff and see if he can get another month's rent. Let him sue...what's he gonna get? If he's smart, he'll just eat the loss and keep trying to rent it.
If he does sue, make sure you have proof that he took the keys and the walk through was completed. The judge will laugh the LL out of the courtroom.
What does your lease say? More than likely, you are responsible for rent until the unit is re-rented or your lease expires, whichever happens first. It doesn't matter what the situation is, what communication you've had-the contract is the contract and the law is the law. It's extremely common for a landlord to charge rent after a lease break until the unit has been re-rented. I've taken several people to court for that and won. Judges aren't very sympathetic when it's obvious you breached the contract.
As far as him re-renting the unit for a higher price, that's also perfectly fine and completely irrelavent. Rental prices change all the time. Daily even. Landlords can get more rent in the spring/summer months than they can in the winter months. And as far as the lease term being longer, that's also his call and is irrelavant. The law says he has to reasonably attempt to re-rent the unit. His changes from your contract are not unreasonable by any means.
I'm sorry to hear about your circumstances. I hope things look up for you soon.
BTW, find a different lawyer for when you actually have to show up in court. That one sounds like a quack.
If he does sue, make sure you have proof that he took the keys and the walk through was completed. The judge will laugh the LL out of the courtroom.
Just because he took possession doesn't mean a thing. The contract still stands and the OP still has an obligation as set forth in his lease. A judge won't laugh the LL out of court...I've seen this happen so many times and the LL has always won. The lease and the law are pretty clear on this one, at least in my state anyway.
ETA: I see you're in TX...landlord/tenant law is very differnt there than most other states!
Last edited by Babytarheelz; 03-25-2009 at 08:28 PM..
Reason: added text
And as far as the lease term being longer, that's also his call and is irrelavant. The law says he has to reasonably attempt to re-rent the unit. His changes from your contract are not unreasonable by any means.
Tough break, but it's always been my understanding that the above statement from babytarheelz is universal... and I've rented in IL, MI, MO, OH, CA, NM, CO and soon to be Texas. See if you can help him find a tenant to help to mitigate your own losses. The sooner he finds an acceptable renter the better for you!
Just because he took possession doesn't mean a thing. The contract still stands and the OP still has an obligation as set forth in his lease. A judge won't laugh the LL out of court...I've seen this happen so many times and the LL has always won. The lease and the law are pretty clear on this one, at least in my state anyway.
ETA: I see you're in TX...landlord/tenant law is very differnt there than most other states!
here in new york a little known ploy to break a lease is that a landlord cant double dip, he cant claim hes holding you to the lease and then accept the keys back or repair and paint the apartment,..
one ploy is to send the landlord a certified letter a month or so in advance that on such and such a date you will be surrendering the keys and moving out. you give them instructions for returning your security deposit as well....
un-known to most all managing agents and landlords is that word surrender has powerful legal meaning... if they dont respond and say no your not and the day comes and they accept the keys back then under most states operational law they have accepted your terms of surrender
my ex wife had to break a lease because she could not afford the apartment..
my son who is an attorney advised her to do just that... they never responded and the day came and she dropped the keys off and they took them..
2 months later a bill comes for the balance of the lease... my son told them how they blew it. they thought he was sooooooo wrong as it sounded rediculous.
well they checked with their attorneys and found out he was sooooo right... they had no choice but to drop the case.
they cant come in and paint or fix either, if they do its also deemed they have taken possesian back..... alot of times they will hold you to the lease, sue you and try to re-rent...
they can try to re-rent on your behalf but if they do and get more money you get the extra dough not them but they need your permission to try to sublet and mitigate the damages first...
Last edited by mathjak107; 03-26-2009 at 03:50 AM..
here in new york a little known ploy to break a lease is that a landlord cant double dip, he cant claim hes holding you to the lease and then accept the keys back or repair and paint the apartment,..
one ploy is to send the landlord a certified letter a month or so in advance that on such and such a date you will be surrendering the keys and moving out. you give them instructions for returning your security deposit as well....
un-known to most all managing agents and landlords is that word surrender has powerful legal meaning... if they dont respond and say no your not and the day comes and they accept the keys back then under most states operational law they have accepted your terms of surrender
my ex wife had to break a lease because she could not afford the apartment..
my son who is an attorney advised her to do just that... they never responded and the day came and she dropped the keys off and they took them..
2 months later a bill comes for the balance of the lease... my son told them how they blew it. they thought he was sooooooo wrong as it sounded rediculous.
well they checked with their attorneys and found out he was sooooo right... they had no choice but to drop the case.
they cant come in and paint or fix either, if they do its also deemed they have taken possesian back..... alot of times they will hold you to the lease, sue you and try to re-rent...
they can try to re-rent on your behalf but if they do and get more money you get the extra dough not them but they need your permission to try to sublet and mitigate the damages first...
NY has some pretty inique landlord/tenant laws too. Most of what you just explained is completely bogus in most states. Yes, a landlord can't "double dip," but that means he can't accept rent from two parties for the same unit at the same time. In most states, the landlord can take posession to make the unit available for re-rental. Think about it, if he didn't take keys and prepare it for another person, the how could it get re-rented to release the original party from their obligations?
The issue is the landlord cant bill you for the balance of the lease or sue you if he trys to re-rent the apartment on his own and starts painting and repairing claiming its still your apartment...
with your permission he can try to sublet on your behalf and mitigate your damages .. if he gets more money for the apartment the overage goes to you... he can paint and repair with your permission too .... but he cant do any of this for his benefit only yours and only with your permission otherwise its deemed he has taken back control on his own and your are off the hook
The issue is the landlord cant bill you for the balance of the lease or sue you if he trys to re-rent the apartment on his own and starts painting and repairing claiming its still your apartment...
with your permission he can try to sublet on your behalf and mitigate your damages .. if he gets more money for the apartment the overage goes to you... he can paint and repair with your permission too .... but he cant do any of this for his benefit only yours and only with your permission otherwise its deemed he has taken back control on his own and your are off the hook
Again, this is not true in every state. I'd hate to see you misleading the OP when that's not the case where he is. I know in NC and many other states, that's not how it is. The LL can bill the OP for rent up until a new tenant moves in and not only can the landlord turn the unit, he's obligated to as he has to do everything he can to show the unit and make it desireable for prospective residents.
Also, I have never ever heard of rent overages for the new resident going to the tenant. I'd love to see where that's written in law in your state b/c I've never heard of that happening, ever, and I've been doing this a long time.
And finally, the contract and possession are typically treated seperately. For example, when I evict a tenant and take posession back of his unit, I can still enforce the lease. Even though I have posession, I can continue to enforce the contract and bill him for rent until a new tenant moves in. If a new tenant moves in and pays more, he will certainly not receive the overage. According to your theory, if a landlord evicts a tenant and they surrender the unit, they're off the hook and will get the overage in rent if the new tenant pays more? That doesn't make any sense. Are you a landlord or are you speaking of your ex's experience? Any skilled and educated property management professional will acknowledge that laws vary from state to state. Please be careful telling the OP what you think is fact if you're not educated in the laws of his state. It could be very misleading.
NY has many different landlord/tenant laws because of the city and coops and how things work there. It's very different than the rest of the country. I believe the OP is in VA. I'm just one state away and I worked for 3 years with another manager from VA. She and I seemed to have the same knowledge of landlord/tenant law and early termination, so I would venture to say that VA law is similar to the law here in NC.
So, all this to say, OP, you need to read your lease and read the landlord/tenant law in VA, which I'm sure you can find online. That is what you need to go by. Good luck!
The law says he has to reasonably attempt to re-rent the unit.
Its so hard to give legal advice in different states, since the laws are all so different. You would think the quoted law would be universal, but in Idaho, there is no written law anywhere that states that a landlord has to try to rerent or to minimize a tenants loss on a broken lease. After failing to find it in the code anywhere, we talked to two different attorneys to be sure. Its the right thing to do, but it is not law here.
The laws that mathjak107 is talking about are not the case here, I've never heard of most of those rules, so I would guess those are specific to your area. In fact, in your last post, you were talking about being off the hook once the owner "subleases" your unit. That is totally not true in most cases. The very definition of sublease is to lease in a secondary position to another tenant. Therefore, the original tenant is still ultimately responsible for rent and damages.
To the OP. Consult your lease. If your lease doesn't say, consult an attorney. Most likely, though, you are responsible until the end of your lease or until the LL rerents under reasonable terms (not necessarily the same as your terms).
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