About a month before my 14 month lease was up, my boyfriend went into the leasing office and asked them if we needed to turn in a 30-day notice to let them know we'd be moving, they said no and that our last day would be the last day that is on the lease. We moved out on that date and turned in our keys. Well, 2 months later my boyfriend gets a call from a collections agency telling him that he owes the complex $2,486! Apparently, the lease states that we do have to give notice...a 60 day notice, and that because we hadn't...we were responsible for paying the past two months rent and late fees. During those two months, we were completely unaware that we were still being charged for the apt. I am not sure how these things are supposed to work...but shouldn't the leasing office tell you when you go in to turn in your keys that you need to give a 60 day notice first? Is there anything I can do to fight this?
2007-06-01 04:01:37 · 3 answers · asked by The Lore 3 in Business & Finance ➔ Renting & Real Estate
Yes. Read the Landlord and Tenant Act pertaining to your state. As you indicated, you and your boyfriend were unaware of the debt until you he receives a call from a collection agency. The landlord, by law, has to provide you, a Notice of intent to impose a claim on your security deposit (if you paid one) and/or an itemized list of the debt. The failure of your landlord from doing so, may result in them having to refund your security deposit, refund up to 3x your security deposit and more. Bostonianinmo answer pertaining to liability to time apartment remaining vacant would only pertain if you had broken your lease. The landlord, as Bostonianinmo indicated, would not be able to charge you and a new tenant for rent for the same period of time. Since you indicated that you moved out at the end of your lease, the landlord is charging a fee which is equal to 2 mths rent, not actually 2 mths rent.
2007-06-02 10:46:30 · answer #1 · answered by Logicalchaos 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sorry, but you failed to read your lease and are now paying the consequences. What some rube at the office told you is meaningless. The language in the lease governs your relationship and must be adhered to.
Sorry, but there is no way to fight this unless your lease actually calls for some other notice period. I would ask the apartment complex to prove that the unit could not be rented out for the full 60 days however. Your liability for rent expires as soon as they place a new tenant in the unit, regardless of the notice period in the lease. If they placed a new tenant in 3 weeks, your liability would be limited to those 3 weeks only.
You've learned an expensive lesson. I'm quite sure that you'll never make that mistake again.
2007-06-01 11:15:02 · answer #2 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Lore: Unfortunately, you both are responsible for what is written in the lease, not what was verbally told to your boyfriend. It's bad that the leasing agent told you that no notice was due, but the lease protects the property owners against just those kinds of mistakes.
If you signed it, it's binding.
2007-06-01 15:43:14 · answer #3 · answered by talldude 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋