I moved in march of 2011 into a bigger house because i was expecting a child and needed more room. i found a house i loved and i had to pay my deposit that day if i wanted the house in order to hold it and rent was due the first of the month. i payed the deposit on the 12th of march and he gave us the keys. i immediatley mailed a letter to my rental company sayin i was moving immidiatley due to no room and my son was due in a month and i needed to be set up before he was born. i wad out of that house that day and turned my keys in on march 13th i paid the full month of march but only stayed 12days there was no way i was paying april seeing how i was out and they had my keys on the 13th its now aug 2012 and i recieved a collection letter from them sayin i owed 600 for the month of april since i didnt give 30days notice. my lease says nothing bout u have to pay if u dont give 30 days notice they kept my 600 dollard deposit and rent was only 475 i didnt bother getting it back since i knew there was not a 30 day notice. how the heck do i still owe them for april. Can they legally do this they just mailed it and its been a yr and 5months ago
Answers & Comments
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You are required by law to give a 30 day notice. Because it is a law it does not hve to be in a lease.
In most states you will owe rent for the full month of April. In CA you would only owe rent to April 13th.
They have until the end of the SOL to sue you for the money you stole from them. You did not mention your location, but you are well within the SOL fort any state at all.
LAWS VARY BY STATE
Ignore Cletus. His reference is for COMMERCIAL rental, NOT Residential rental. That's why it's called the Uniform COMMERCIAL Code.
Yes, every state requires, by law, a 30 day notice. Depending on the state, a full rental period is required (30 day minimum). In this case, this means that even if you gave 30 day notice on March 1st, you would be responsible for April because you didn't give notice before the rental period of March had begun.
It sounds like your state requires a full rental period as notice. Therefore, by giving notice March 12th, you would, in fact, have been giving notice that April was your last month.
The above info ONLY applies if you were a "tenant-at-will". This means you did not have a lease (a fixed term contract, usually 1 year). You might have had a "rental agreement" which is similar to a lease but automatically 'renews" monthly.
Now, if you had a lease, you cannot merely give notice to terminate it. You have to either have just cause or an agreement with the landlord to terminate the contract early. Unjust early termination can leave you liable for the rest of the term. For example, if you terminated your 1-year lease after 6 months, you are still liable for the remaining 6 months or until the landlord secures another qualified tenant.
"my lease says nothing bout u have to pay if u dont give 30 days notice "
It doesn't have to, it's the law. And ignorance of the law is no excuse (that's what the judge will say).
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" In all of those years as both a landlord and a tenant, I've yet to see a lease that did not include a minimum 30 day notice requirement to break or terminate the agreement"
NOT required in MA. There are few legal reasons one can terminate a lease without prior approval from the other party. And "ignorance of the law is no excuse" is a well used concept by the justices of this state. Most states, I'd wager.
I've been a landlord since 1994. I've also been a tenant on and off since 1971. In all of those years as both a landlord and a tenant, I've yet to see a lease that did not include a minimum 30 day notice requirement to break or terminate the agreement. Virtually all leases include the state minimum notice in the body of the lease. That's typically 30 days though a couple stipulate 60 days.
Notice must further span a full rental period. That means that notice given on 13 March is effective on 1 May, assuming that rent is due on the 1st of the month.
If the lease does not stipulate any notice requirement, then legally it reverts to state law, typically 30 days spanning a full rental period as noted above.
Reread your lease. However, since it automatically reverts to state minimum requirements if the lease is silent, the odds are virtually 100% that you owe the amount that they are demanding either way.
State law likely requires you to give a full rental period as notice or 30 days. The law does not have to be included in your lease.
The Uniform Commercial Code says that the lease must be made with full disclosure. If it isn't in the lease or the local letter of the law then no. They can't. What I would do is send a certified, return receipt letter requesting that they make a specific and unambiguous identification of what part of the lease makes you responsible for that.