Lease Notice & Termination
We had a lease that went from Aug 15 2008 – Aug 15 2009. In the lease it states that if I want to renew the lease or end the lease I need to give at least 60 days notice so the landlord have time to find a new tenant. I told him when it…
We had a lease that went from Aug 15 2008 – Aug 15 2009. In the lease it states that if I want to renew the lease or end the lease I need to give at least 60 days notice so the landlord have time to find a new tenant. I told him when it was less than 30 days left until the termination of the lease ending date (Aug 15), thinking the lease was expiring on the Aug 15 anyway and there is no automatic renewal in the lease or mention of month to month. Really confusing. He said nothing to me when I told him that we were leaving, just a OK, no problem.
Now my security deposit is being used to pay for the rent until my Landlord finds a new tenant, since he claims I never fulfilled the 2 months notice the lease says. He is also starting to accuse me for damages in the house common areas. The landlord refuses to listen and have nor stopped communicating with me. His last word was, you will hear from us when whatever is left of your deposit shows up in the mail.
If a lease terminates at a date without a option to automatic renewal, do you need to notify by law if you don’t intend to stay?
Also I paid to much in rent I found out since he added $150 to the rent after it was signed, claiming extra cost to fix a boiler, this in a email and not in the signed lease.
And is all of this legal action from the landlord?
On a personal note. All other Landlords we have been having for the last 6 years have loved us.
They are still contacting us every now and then when they available apartments to get us back. Not sure if this could be worth something in a court though.
No I have not informed the LL yet, we are having the lawyer drafting up a letter to him, informing him on what is going on and what laws he are breaking. We are figuring it’s better to have the proper legal language and paper trail going into court (cause I have a feeling that’s were this case will end).
I informed him early on that we would seek legal help regarding the questionable notice, but he only answered, “I am not playing these games, sue me then, it’s a free country” and then said “the next communication you will hear from us is when whenever is left of the deposit comes in your mail”.
And it’s right about the questionable lease, the notice he has there is BS, so is the extra charge and that was confirmed by the lawyer as well. But since it’s a illegal premise, the lease is not even worth the paper it’s written on.
I’ll update more as we move forward!
ha that is awesome, bet the LL never figured you would question things so much! they probably thought you would be a pushover since you paid that initial overcharge on the rent. have you informed the LL you have retained an attorney and discovered the illegality? i’m not saying you should blackmail them, but it would probably be cheaper for the LL to return your deposit plus overcharges than get caught for incorrect C of O.
and honestly, your lease ran out mid-august; your responsbilyt ends there. the 60 days notice thing is clearly for terminating the lease early. your LL is either a simp or thinks you are, don’t let them get away with it.
From what I am reading, you actually gave your landlord 12 months notice of your intent to terminate the lease. Your statements reads as follows.
“We had a lease that went from Aug 15 2008 – Aug 15 2009. In the lease it states that if I want to renew the lease or end the lease I need to give at least 60 days notice so the landlord have time to find a new tenant”.
Accordingly, you already gave your LL a full 12 months notice. You gave your LL the 12 month notice the day you signed the lease. The lease, which was signed 8/15/08 clearly states that it terminates on 8/15/09, so there you have your 12 month advance notice. You do not need to give 2 notices, no matter what the LL says.
Furthermore, pursuant to law, a lease is a contract and when the is ambiguity in a contract, it is interpreted against the party who drafted the contract, who, in your case is the landlord.
You will have no problem prevailing in court.
You will get a judgment for your deposit and probably have to put a lien,
it’s unlikely such a scuzzy landlord will actually pay. It’s very easy to win when you are right in housing court, to get paid is another story. On the plus side there are absolute jackasses whose business is to buy liens on pennies on the dollar. For $150 you can be assured your scuzzy landlord will suffer a long term relationship with an equally disgusting person. Karma!
Update:
After meeting a lawyer, who made a investigation of the building, it turns out it is a illegal premises which are breaking the multiple dwelling laws 301 and 302-a.
The house was apparently registered as a 1 family house, but now holds 4 units which of 3 are rentals and 1 basement unit were the landlord lives.
We can’t claim back the money we have paid during our 1 year stay but we can claim back the full deposit since the lease is invalid.
Does anyone have experience with these multiple dwelling laws in a court?
orestes said what I was trying to say, only better.
Technically, you have breached a covenant of the contract. However, the problem for your landlord is that he has not suffered any damage as a result of the breach. Furthermore, he has a duty to mitigate his damages. This would have been done by asking you if you intend to renew on day -59. The apartment was going to be vacant after the term of the lease regardless. Your breach did not cause this. Sue him- and do it fast so he may just relent quickly.
Seriously…you’re coming off like a jerk.
vinca,
You’ve given a lot of very helpful advice on many forum threads. But you do come on awfully strong. Blowfish wasn’t criticizing your advice about housing court services, but was complaining that you ridiculed the OP for seeking advice here. I thought you were a bit over the top on that as well, even if the advice was good. It’s a good idea to take a deep breath before you post. Cheers.