How to protect my renting interest

[Cathy]

I am renting for over 3 years from the same place. I renewed my lease on June 26 for another 13-months, from July 1, 2010 to July 31, 2011.

 

On July 16, I found out the office is renting out the same floor plan with $41 cheaper each month. I am very much surprised that I was not notified of the change, or the landlord did not honor the new rent for a years-long tenant.

 

Is there any business regulation to help me getting back the difference? I havn't talked with the landlord about this issue yet, but I want to get prepared before going to the office.

 

I found this out because I was trying to notify the office that I wanted to move out. I have been looking for a house and is checking on a townhome recently. In Florida, when you sign a new lease or renew a lease, you could choose either be responsible for the whole lease until the apartment could be rerented out, or you could pay 2 months-rent to break the lease if you need to. I chose the latter. July 16 was the middle of the month, and I only lived in the new lease for half month. I was asking what I needed to do to move out at the end of this month. While I was waiting, I found out the rent difference. The assistant told me that since I was moving out at the end of this month, I did not need to pay for the rent in August, but need to pay the 2-months-rent fee to break the lease. It sounded reasonable.

 

However, when I was talking with the manager on the phone later, she told me that I needed to give her 30-days notice from the beginning of the month, which would require me to pay for the rent in August. And, I needed to pay the 2-months-rent fee. And, I needed to pay her back the half month rent for July's promotion because of renewing the lease. She said she was looking at the lease renewal and that was what she was going by. I told her that she could rent out the apartment from August if I moved out at the end of July. She said she had plenty apartments to rent.

 

I've never experienced this kind of service. I rented in Michigan for years before. When I needed to move out, it was only one week away from the end of the month. The landlord approved it right away without any condition added.

 

Is there any rules that I could find out to arm myself before talking with the landlord in person? How could I find it out? Or, was I trying to ask too much favor, and I am just simply screwed?

[dnoblett]

My suggestion would be consult a lawyer. But you signed a lease which is a contract, the time to renegotiate a lease is before renewing it.

[Stone]

About the rent difference: this is very common in large property management company. In oder to lure new tenants, they lower the rents and give out incentives. For existing tenants, they do not care. The whole system is geared toward new customers. In my state of MA, rents are very expensive. Paying 2 months penalty is quite a lot of money. But what can you do? Another option is to go out and buy your own home so that you do not have to deal with the landlord. I agree with Dan that it may be a good ideal to consult a lawyer. I pay less than $200 a year and have unlimited consultation to a lawyer and some limited legal representation. The lawyer really helped me last year in dealing with my landlord.

[Sam and Fen]

A lease is a legally binding document and it is very common for different tenants to pay different rents.

I doubt if a lawyer will be able to anything, but he/she will gladly take your money.

 

If you are buying your own place I would suggest just moving on and dealing with breaking the lease.

 

Congratulations and good luck with your own home, trust me you are going to have bigger headaches but they will be worth it.

[Cathy]

Here is some update on this issue.

 

After talking with the manager on the phone, I went to the office one day and got a copy of the renewed lease. I told the assistant that nothing written saying that I needed to: 1, repay the promotion; 2, give her a notice from the beginning of the month. The assistant asked me if I wanted to let the manager know my opinion. I said, Yes, let her know it.

 

So when I went to the office to fill out the vacant notice, it was retro-dated from July 16. I needed to pay 16 days rent in August and 2-months-rent for breaking the lease.

 

My next door is moving out to their new home as well. They have been living there for 7 years and still need to pay the breaking fee although the lease is only 2 months away to fulfill. This is not how things were done in Michigan when I was there. When I needed to move out the apartment after staying there for about 2 years, the office said I could just go with nothing owed. Sometimes, I wonder if this is related to education. I was in Ann Arbor where University of Michigan located.

 

And, I found out more. The rent for the same floor plan was $41 cheaper last year, and is $91 cheaper this year. And, my neighbor told me there was no insulation above the roof, and that was why our electricity bill was soo high.

 

We were cooked. And, I thought America appreciated honesty most. Now I know how tricky the business is done in Florida.

 

I am glad I am working for a company honoring honesty and integrity.

 

I moved to my new home as planned. It only takes about three weeks from our first step into the house till closing. Something is just meant to be.

 

I don't understand why I had stayed at that apartment for so long. After next Monday, I will be away from that place, FOREVER.

[Randy W]

The laws have changed. When I broke a lease in Houston in 1978, the apt tried to sue us for one months rent (the maximum they could collect back then). They lost because they had allowed another resident to occupy the apartment when we left (it was already leased out, even that left a vacancy in a different apartment).

 

We lost our security deposit (expected), but had sued them (and won) our pet deposit.

 

Fun and games in small claims court - my ex-wife was still in school, so we had a student lawyer who gave us some good advice.

 

Now, they can sue you for the rest of the lease (until it's re-occupied).

[bokiwen]

I just went through a similar situation. I was 6 months into a year lease, when we bought a house. It was clearly spelled out that I could give 2 months notice to break a lease, however, written notice had to be given by the beginning of the month, which is basically Cathy's landlord stance on the issue. I was very careful to send notice before closing, but with also a statement that if closing did not happen as expected, I could continue my lease.

 

I purposely opted for a longer closing date so my first house payment would be made after I paid rent two months.

 

One of the things which may be legal would be to not pay last months rent, but allow the security deposit to be the last month rent.