Double-rent

[brookelefort]

I have been living in my rental for 5 months. I signed a one year lease. On Feb 2nd, I told my landlord that I would need to break my lease. He told me that I would need to pay March's rent, and March 15 would be my move out date. I paid $1000.00 deposit. He showed the apartment, and now wants me to be out before March 1st, so he can rent it to someone else. He still expects me to pay for March. Is this legal? I need advice, please.

 

[jharris352]

I suppose by legal you mean can he do it, because it obviously isn't a crime. If you agreed to move out on March 15th then that is the date that you have to move out. If he has the property lease on or before that date, you only owe him a penalty for the days that his property is empty. If you agree to move out on March 1st you owe him nothing because he has mitigated his loss by rerenting the place. It is possible if he used a property management company to fill the place that you would still owe him the one month of rent that would go to them to rent the place out for him.

In my opinion, you move out on March 15th and owe him half a month's rent, or you move out on the 1st and owe him nothing.

 

[smthsonny62]

yah i totally agrees with jharris352!

 

[mightymoose]

Even if the landlord paid a management company the tenant would only owe the cost associated with that, not a month's rent.

As it is, if you are out by March 1 then you do not owe March rent and are entitled to your full refund IF there are no reasonable deductions for cleanup or repair. It sounds like this is going to be a problem for you either way. If you leave on March 1 the landlord will still want to be paid. If you stay until March 15 he will be mad and probably lose the new tenant.

If it were me, I would be out by the 1st and make sure the place was SPOTLESS to get my full refund. Don't let the landlord keep anything... sounds like he is trying to hose you.

If you stay after March 1 and pay that rent you will have a hard time getting it back even if it is owed to you.