I know if you join the military your apt. lease can be canceled without penalty?

Question

But does anyone know if this is just a coutresy the apt companies have or is this a law such as soldiers relief act?

My apt complex was orriginally going tolet it go but now they are playing BS because they lagged on obtaining my order papers and now that its near the end of the month they want to charge me for 30 more days even though I gave my notice 30 days ago and they lagged on getting the papers not me.

@ Pavano Carl

Thanks for your help man. Basicly my yer lease was going to be up in like May anyways so its not like theyr losing anything.

Basicly after I paid rent on the 1st I said im giving my 30 day notice, call the recruiter (gave them the card) get whatever papers you need cause they have them. They asked for the wrong papers and then I couldnt reach them untill this week (since im not actually living in the area) and now theyr like we need your enlistment papers. I said no prob ill have them friday morning for you, and shes like no you didnt give written notice saying your leaving and it has to be with your enlistment orders, I am like "your employee didnt tell me that, I asked what I had to do and followed it to the t, his lack of training isnt my fault" I will give you the written notice, and I will give you the paper, the employee even admits I came in on that day.

I just want to know if the military clause is a legal thing so when i go to court.

Answer 1

State Rental laws vary from state to state- but in all cases- you need to be able to show that you made a good faith effort to notify the landlord (even if you didn't yet have your Movement orders)

Most state courts will look at it this way- whether or not the landlord had adequate time to mitigate his/her loss- in other words if they know you are going to be leaving, how much time did they have to find another renter, were you cooperative in their efforts to show the place to perspective renter, and did they actually try to find a new tenant (as opposed to doing nothing under the assumption they could just go after you when you were about to leave.

I'd assume with the mention of 30-days- and no clarification on your requirements for leaving- that you have no actual lease- and are living month-to-month default lease status:

In such a case- I wwould say write a letter to the landlord voicing your cooperation- even offering to help find a tenant (even if you are not going to try) etc- appear as nice and helpful as possible- then do what you got to do and leave amicably- if they decide to pursue legal action- your voiced cooperation- their failure to take you up on it- and your deployment - equals success for you in any small clams court action

Answer 2

I think you're pretty much SOL if you didn't give them the notice in writing and didn't get them the papers. Both of those are your responsibility to get to them, not theirs to hunt down for you.

Even once you're in the military and rent a place with the military clause in the lease you're still required to give a 30 day notice (or whatever the state law requires) and provide copies of your orders for the owner to be required to honor it.

The basic military clause allows you to get out of the full term of the lease with notice and official orders that move you more than "x" miles away. (I've seen that "x" vary from 30 to 50 miles.) If you screw up and sign a lease without the clause attached there's not much even legal/JAG can do for you if the owner decides to play tough.

Answer 3

Actually it's now the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Federal law covering issues such as leases, and interest bearing debt. You don't need a lawyer, just a simple letter invoking the SCRA, and copy of your enlistment orders.

Answer 4

By law, they should work with you. Contact your recruiter, perhaps they can give you some advice on how to handle it, because, I am pretty sure there is a law about it. My bf also was able to get a 0% interest rate on his credit card when he was deployed, you may call them about that, every penny helps. It was an AT&T Platinum Universal card, I don't know if all companies do it though.

Answer 5

Most apartment contracts come with a Military clause in it. You will just have to show a copy of your orders and then you can be released from your contract.

You have to check your contract though.

Answer 6

It is part of the Soldiers and Sailors Act of 1972

Answer 7

From my experience, it has to be a clause in the contract.