Breaking Lease, LL disagrees with lease wording

[SinisterBlack]

Jurisdiction

Arizona

My 1 year lease ends on June 30th, but I am moving out March 31st for a job in a different state.

I Prepaid the last months rent ($499), before I moved in, and have a $400 deposit.

I went to put in my 30 days and they said I have to pay $1500. They would apply my last month's rent to that, lowering it to $1001 and that I would be forfeiting my $400 deposit.

Here is the Lease Breach section of my lease:
________
LEASE BREACH AGREEMENT: I UNDERSTAND AS A PENALTY FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS APPLY

I am liable for rent until the expiration of the lease or until apartment is re-rented and re-occupied OR;
I will pay lease break fee equal to two (2) month's rent or $1,500.00 whichever is greater payable prior to move-out in the form of a cashiers check or money order ONLY.
________

So the "OR;" makes it read to me that it can be one or the other, and does not specify who gets to make that choice.

Am I wrong?
(The lease is full of typos, looks like they printed some random one off the Internet)


The lease breach section of the lease, and a separate page that they had me sign, have been attached.

 

[army judge]

It continues, WHICHEVER is greater.

No confusion, the words are very clear.

You pay the 1500 less the $499 equaling $1001.

If not, you risk harm to your FICO and a possible lawsuit,

 

[mightymoose]

If you move at at the end of March and pay nothing, and you have given written notice and you return your keys, the landlord SHOULD attempt to rent the apartment.
If it rents then you are only responsible for rent to that point, which could be significantly less than $1500.
If the apartment doesn't rent for three months then the rent is $1500 anyway.
The $499 you've already paid can be applied to either situation.
Your deposit is not forfeited and does not apply to rent.... Unless maybe you have some wording about that in the contract but it is not typical.
If the landlord doors not handle your deposit proudpro you could have a reasonable counterclaim that cancels out any action he might attempt against you later.
Make sure the place is clean and do a walk through with the landlord before you leave. Take photos.
Make sure you understand the time requirements for the return of your deposit then wait to see what happens. You should either receive your deposit in full or a letter detailing expenses.
Make sure the landlord has your new address.
After all that.... It's up to the two of you to decide what to do from different states.
It is likely the landlord will keep all your money and not pursue you out of state.
It is likely you will not return from out of state over a thousand bucks.

I'd bet you could move away and never hear a word about it. I see this as a stalemate.

 

[SinisterBlack]

Thanks for the replies.

The "OR;" has a semicolon after it, which lead me to read it as the "whichever is greater" applying only to the 2 months rent or $1500 option.

When I first moved into the place, the fridge and AC did not work. It was in the middle of summer in Arizona, so I didn't stay here for a over month and a half... the time it took them to finally get around to fixing the AC and replacing the fridge.

If they bring on a lawsuit, can I counter claim for the rent during that peroid?

Also, the place was flithy... all listed in the walk-through and logged in a video. If I move out right now, without cleaning a thing, it would be 10x cleaner than when I got it.

(Had to get a place ASAP at the time, took what I could get)

 

[army judge]

If they bring on a lawsuit, can I counter claim for the rent during that peroid?

Anyone can bring a lawsuit for even spurious reasons.
One can also counterclaim using any defense.
A judge settles the dispute.

 

[mightymoose]

If it went that far you would likely get hosed in the claim for unpaid rent, however if the landlord does not handle your deposit right you could potentially counterclaim on that and even things out, effectively making it a big waste of time for both of you.

 

[army judge]

The mere filing of a lawsuit harms a person's FICO (yes, I know it shouldn't), as does regular NEGATIVE reporting to the three credit dictatorships further erodes a person's FICO (but Dictators don't concern themselves with laws the commoners must obey).

 

[zddoodah]

So the "OR;" makes it read to me that it can be one or the other, and does not specify who gets to make that choice.

Am I wrong?

No.

The provision you quoted allows you to choose between certainty (the $1,500 payment to terminate the lease early) or taking a chance on the landlord being able to find a new tenant quickly.

When I first moved into the place, the fridge and AC did not work. It was in the middle of summer in Arizona, so I didn't stay here for a over month and a half... the time it took them to finally get around to fixing the AC and replacing the fridge.

If they bring on a lawsuit, can I counter claim for the rent during that peroid?

Yes. Whether or not you'll prevail is, of course, a different question.