Breaking a Lease Early move out!

[angelman1601]

A friend of mine moved out of his apartment 3 months before his lease was up; left the apartment totally clean, etc, because his company transfered him to a location several hours away! He has no problem with losing his deposit, but the complex manager has told him that he owes $1785.00 for the 3 months; he has only been gone for two weeks, and they have rented the apartment! Does he still owe the entire 3 months to the complex?

 

[mightymoose]

Most likely the landlord would not be able to collect that money since the apartment was rented out. A small amount may be owed for the cost of advertising for a new tenant or for any brief period rent was due and not paid... however the deposit amount surely covered that.

Consider responding with a letter to the landlord indicating you are aware the apartment was quickly rented out and that your deposit covers any small loss he might have had.
You would only be on the hook for the three months rent had the landlord been unable to find a new tenant.

 

[army judge]

Tell your pal to Read the original lease. The lease determines how much notice must be given. Apparently he broke the lease. You can't just do what he did to break a lease even if a good reason exists. Usually breaking a lease is expensive.

The three month fee is probably what he agreed to in the lease for early termination. In many cases the landlord will sue you to recover the fee.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Georgia is a very landlord friendly state. As others have suggested, your friend needs to review his former lease to determine if it contained information on a lease breaking fee. It's not unusual that the fee would include losing the security deposit, paying for advertising in an attempt to re-rent the unit and rent until this occurs.

If sued for three months worth of rent, your friends argument in court would not be that a job transfer justified this (it does not) but rather that the unit was re-rented within two weeks of his move out (and he would have to show actual proof of this) and that by demanding this amount management/the landlord is "double dipping" for the rent.

Gail