Landlord wants to charge rent past the end of the lease. Is this legal? (VA)?

Question

My fiance and I currently live in Fairfax County, Virginia in a rented apartment. Our lease ends on May 17. We will be moving to Portland, Oregon in mid-April. Because we're moving before the end of the lease, we fully expect to continue paying rent on the apartment in VA until the lease expires.

My fiance called the leasing office this morning to inform them that we will not be renewing the lease. The office manager said that their leases are "auto-renewing" and they require at least 60 days notice to cancel this auto-renewing feature. Since it is currently 43 days before the end of the lease, she said they will continue to charge us rent into June until the 60 day notice period has expired. We will not have use of the apartment for this period of time.

The whole thing seems shady. If we were breaking the lease early, I could see why they would charge us extra rent. But can they legally charge us rent past the end of the lease because it "auto-renews"?

I'm an idiot. Buried on page 13 of the lease, there is a termination/auto-renewal clause. We have to pay for the entire month after the lease expires, and rent will be increased to "current market value" + $200. According to the landlord, rent will be increased by $500 total. Subsequent tenancy by someone else does not relieve us of the obligation. The landlord will be preparing the apartment for new tenants during the last week of April. All told, we will pay several thousand dollars in rent on an apartment that will be inhabited by a stranger. This is in addition to the costs of moving coast-to-coast (another several thousand dollars), plus the ongoing healthcare and living costs of an uninsured, terminally ill family member (way more than several thousand dollars). We are thoroughly f**ked. At this rate, I'll soon be posting questions about the process of declaring personal bankruptcy. *sigh* Always read the fine print. Thanks for the answers, anyway.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, this can be legal in your state. This is why it's so important to read ALL the fine print in ANY CONTRACT that you sign. I can't stress this enough. Know and understand what you sign and if you don't understand something, this is the time to ask, not after you sign on the bottom line. The landlord has the right to charge you after the lease is up as it was in the contract that you signed. If you had read the fine print BEFORE you signed, this could have been negotiated out of the contract, but you are stuck now. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Answer 2

What was your landlord's basis for terminating your lease early? If you have abided by the terms of your lease and the landlord simply wants you out for his own personal reasons, I'd say that you have a good standing to leave on your own terms. If you have violated your lease, then your landlord gets to set the terms and it would appear that he's being overly generous with 2 months notice. Assuming that the first situation is the case, I'd respond that you will agree to the early termination (effective whenever the new property will be ready) upon immediate tender of all security deposits and unearned advance rents already paid as liquidated damages for his violation of the terms of the lease. As a practical matter, you should be prepared to kiss off your security deposit, though. As always, you should seek competent legal counsel in matters such as this.

Answer 3

Read your lease. If should all be explained there. If they have a 60 day requirement for non-renewal notification I'm afraid that you will have to pay for that time unless they place another tenant before the end of the 60 days. This is NOT an unusual sitiation.

If the lease is silent on the notice required at lease termination, you only need give whatever notice is mandated by law, normally 30 days.

Answer 4

That question is really driven by your lease. If you signed the lease and it states there is a 60-day notification period requirement and an auto-renewing feature then you are unfortunately stuck paying it. Check your lease. If you signed, you agreed to their terms and you are probably stuck paying it. If there's no language regarding that in the lease, you don't. Also check to see if there are any special circumstances that would allow you to pull out of a lease without penalty...maybe there is a way out in there.

Answer 5

If the clause that allows auto-renewal is in your original lease contract then you are liable to pay. If it is not mentioned specifically then any extra payment should be unenforceable.

One exception would be if the auto-renew term had been accepted by you previously in which case the 60 day cancellation term would be applied by precedent

Answer 6

I am afraid that your apartment landlord is correct. However, they should pro-rate your lease for only the 17days until the 60days are met. So you will only pay 1/2 months rent. Living in FXCounty myself I assume that will cost you anywhere from $500-$800. But have fun in Portland! Go DUCKS!

Answer 7

yepper....if the leasing agreement states you are to provide a 60 DAY WRITTEN NOTIFICATION of your intent to terminate the leasing agreement... You are considered in default, and yes, they get to charge you for those 60 days....always remember to put your notification in WRITING

Answer 8

Inform the landlord, in writing, that you expect to end your lease as expected and copy your state's Real Estate Commission in Richmond.

Answer 9

I think that you are lucky. They could charge you for the entire next year since you have a new lease and it is for a year.

Next time read your lease.

Answer 10

They will screw up your credit if you don`t pay. I am sure they have you by the nose hair with small print. Shady but legal.