Do I owe money after giving a 2 months notice??

[T***@dog-play.com]

I will really appreciate any help/suggestions/opinions on my
landlord-tenant situation.
I signed a one year lease last december on a one bedroom apartment in
Philadelphia metro area. In May 2003 my company decided to move me to
Arizona. I gave my landlord a 2 months notice in May 2003, and vacated
the house in July 2003. Even though I was in that apartment only for 4
days of July, still I paid full July month's rent, also my landlord
kept my security deposit since I was breaking the lease.
Now in August, I have again got a letter and a bill from my landlord
that since he was not able to find any tenant for the place, and since
I signed a one year leae originally, I owe him money till December
2003.
Now my question is, can he leagally do that? I gave him 2 months
notice, one full month's rent and security deposit, still am I liable
to pay for the rest of my lease period? Do I need to file a formal
complaint against him, and for that do I need to be physically in PA?
Under PA law, do I have any protection from this harrasement? Can he
mess up my credit history?

http://www.business-services.upenn.edu/offcampusliving/assistance/lawyerQandA.html#4

You could try finding an alternate tenant and see if he will accept that
alternate.

In some states he wouldn't be able to anticipate inability to re-rent -
you'd owe as each months rent became due and the property remained
vacant. I don't know the law in your state. In most states you DO owe
until he DOES re-rent but not all states require that the landlord put
some effort into finding a new tenant.

Diane Blackman

[Jeeters]

I signed a one year lease last december on a one bedroom apartment in
Philadelphia metro area. In May 2003 my company decided to move me to
Arizona. I gave my landlord a 2 months notice in May 2003, and vacated
the house in July 2003. Even though I was in that apartment only for 4
days of July, still I paid full July month's rent, also my landlord
kept my security deposit since I was breaking the lease.
Now in August, I have again got a letter and a bill from my landlord
that since he was not able to find any tenant for the place, and since
I signed a one year leae originally, I owe him money till December
2003.
Now my question is, can he leagally do that? I gave him 2 months
notice, one full month's rent and security deposit, still am I liable
to pay for the rest of my lease period? Do I need to file a formal
complaint against him, and for that do I need to be physically in PA?
Under PA law, do I have any protection from this harrasement? Can he
mess up my credit history?
Please help.
Thanks

What *exactly* does your lease stipulate? The standard lease of the
Pennsylvania Apartment Association says nothing of early terminations and
even states that the "Tenant promises to Not move out of the property before
the lease ends.", which implies there's 'no way out' for the tenant. (
http://www.pa-apt-assoc.com/default.htm ) Many leases do have some Early
Termination clauses, though, that usually amount to the tenant forfitting
their security deposit and/or paying some sort of early termination fee, as
long as written notification by the tenant is given within some amount of
time specified in the lease.

[John A. Weeks III]

I signed a one year lease last december on a one bedroom apartment in
Philadelphia metro area. In May 2003 my company decided to move me to
Arizona. I gave my landlord a 2 months notice in May 2003, and vacated
the house in July 2003. Even though I was in that apartment only for 4
days of July, still I paid full July month's rent, also my landlord
kept my security deposit since I was breaking the lease.
Now in August, I have again got a letter and a bill from my landlord
that since he was not able to find any tenant for the place, and since
I signed a one year leae originally, I owe him money till December
2003.
Now my question is, can he leagally do that? I gave him 2 months
notice, one full month's rent and security deposit, still am I liable
to pay for the rest of my lease period? Do I need to file a formal
complaint against him, and for that do I need to be physically in PA?
Under PA law, do I have any protection from this harrasement? Can he
mess up my credit history?

You signed a 1 year lease. That is a legal contract that says that
you will pay for 12 months of rent. You have not done that yet, so
you are in breach of the contract (lease). The landlord can sue you,
and likely will if you do not pay. You have already messed up your
renter history by breaking the lease, and if you are late with the
rent that you owe, the landlord can place it on your credit. In
addition, if the landlord has to take you to court, you may end up
with a judgement against you, and that is like a brick on your
credit record, and it stays there from 7 to 10 years after being
satisfied. You would also have to pay court costs.

In many states, if you break a lease, you are responsible for all
costs related to releasing the unit. That includes the cost of
advertisements and the landlord's time to show the unit. This can
quickly get expensive.

One think to note is that once you break the lease, and the land
lord has other units open, which units is he/she going to show to
new tennants? Likely, the will want to show other open units, and
keep you paying your rent. Some states have laws that state what
order they can fill units. Generally, the can fill any open units
first, then your unit, then any units that open up after your unit
is available to re-rent.

-john-

[Sugapablo]

I signed a one year lease last december

If you signed a lease, then regardless of what notice you gave, or what
securities you surrendered, you are still obligated by law to pay the
entire amounts owed in the lease unless you received written permission
to the contrary from the landlord.

Most leases today are worded very careully. Yours probably is worded as
such:

Let's say ren was $100/month just for a nice round figure.

Your lease would say "...owes $1200, payable in 12 monthly installments
or $100 per month".

This means that you owed the landlord $1200 the moment you signed the
lease. Doesn't matter how many months you stayed, you owed that $1200
for the get go.

And even if your lease isn't worded like this (which is a LOCK in court,
because as a property manager I went to court a lot and never lost), you
STILL owe the full contants of the lease regardless.

Sorry about that. It sucks, but you signed it, so you owe it.

[Sugapablo]

http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/pei/know/landlord.cfm
... the page doesn't contain an answer to your specific question but
searching through the website it looks to me, and I'm not a lawyer so
don't go by my take on this by any means, tenants have certain rights
that can't be waived by the lease, even if the provisions are not
included in it.

Tenants have certain rights, yes. MOST can be waived by the lease.
MOST leases have a clause or two at the end stating things like "Tenant
agrees to waive all advanced notice provided for in Section 501 of Act
No. 20 approved April 6, 1951".

One is, or so I interpret, an early termination provision must be
included in the lease and if there isn't one the lease isn't valid.

Not true. Not even a little bit. People are advised to seek such a
clause in their lease, and many leases have such a clause, but it in no
way is required to be in a lease.

Again, most leases have language such as "The total rent for said term
shall be X payable in Y equal monthly installments of Z". Meaning that
it doesn't matter how long you occupy the premises. You owe the total
(X) the moment you sign the lease. The rest is simply your payment plan.

I've defended such lease before local magistrates and they are iron-clad.

[Paul]

Post by Sugapablo

One is, or so I interpret, an early termination provision must be
included in the lease and if there isn't one the lease isn't valid.

Not true. Not even a little bit. People are advised to seek such a
clause in their lease, and many leases have such a clause, but it in no
way is required to be in a lease.

And just as a follow up...

Here's a link to a site that provides pre-written lease documents for
landlords that are specifically designed to be compliant with
Pennsylvania law...

http://www.humanresourcesupply.com/rentallease-pennsylvania.html

... although it certainly isn't the final or say I note that the second
item listed under "Pennsylvania Requirements for" is "Termination:
procedure and required minimum written notification" which is seperate
from the "Default / Breach procedures: minimum required eviction notice
times"

Combined with what I read earlier at the SAG's web site if I'd bet money
that such a provision is required in a lease and failure to provide it
invalidates the lease - despite what any landlord might want the tenant
to believe.

It's defintiely worth a call to the SAG to find out.

[Bill Smith]

Post by Paul

Post by Sugapablo

One is, or so I interpret, an early termination provision must be
included in the lease and if there isn't one the lease isn't valid.

Not true. Not even a little bit. People are advised to seek such a
clause in their lease, and many leases have such a clause, but it in no
way is required to be in a lease.

And just as a follow up...
Here's a link to a site that provides pre-written lease documents for
landlords that are specifically designed to be compliant with
Pennsylvania law...
http://www.humanresourcesupply.com/rentallease-pennsylvania.html
... although it certainly isn't the final or say I note that the second
procedure and required minimum written notification" which is seperate
from the "Default / Breach procedures: minimum required eviction notice
times"
Combined with what I read earlier at the SAG's web site if I'd bet money
that such a provision is required in a lease and failure to provide it
invalidates the lease - despite what any landlord might want the tenant
to believe.
It's defintiely worth a call to the SAG to find out.

And you would lose that bet because it has no basis in Pennsylvania Statutes
68 P.S. §§ 250.101-250.602. It's simply your interpretation of good advice
by the PA Attorney General's Office. It is, however, not the law. You can
read the law here:

Go here for the full Pennsylvania Landlord/Tenant Act of 1951:
http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/ppd/bcp/PDF/landlord_tenant_act.pdf

It makes absolutely no sense for a landlord to enter into a contract for a
specific period of time and bind himself to it while the tenant had an
escape clause. This is patently stupid. Of course, from my perspective as a
longtime landlord, residential leases are inherently stupid. It is much more
advantageous for a landlord to use a written month-to-month tenancy
agreement.

[Arthur L. Rubin]

Hi All,
I will really appreciate any help/suggestions/opinions on my
landlord-tenant situation.
I signed a one year lease last december on a one bedroom apartment in
Philadelphia metro area. In May 2003 my company decided to move me to
Arizona. I gave my landlord a 2 months notice in May 2003, and vacated
the house in July 2003. Even though I was in that apartment only for 4
days of July, still I paid full July month's rent, also my landlord
kept my security deposit since I was breaking the lease.
Now in August, I have again got a letter and a bill from my landlord
that since he was not able to find any tenant for the place, and since
I signed a one year leae originally, I owe him money till December
2003.
Now my question is, can he leagally do that? I gave him 2 months
notice, one full month's rent and security deposit, still am I liable
to pay for the rest of my lease period? Do I need to file a formal
complaint against him, and for that do I need to be physically in PA?
Under PA law, do I have any protection from this harrasement? Can he
mess up my credit history?

Well -- if he REALLY attempted to find a tenant, he's absolutely
correct. Except he has to return the security deposit when
the apartment is rented or the lease is up, less cleaning and
repairs required which are not "ordinary".

There being no easy way you can tell whether he's attempted to
find a tenant, I think you're out of luck. If you file a
complaint against him in PA (probably by attorney), and if
you CAN determine he has not attempted to find a tenant, then
you might win -- possibly including your filing fee and
investigation costs. Those costs probably being higher than
your remaining rent, and noting the "possibly" above, I
think you're better off ignoring this option.

Although there's no simple way to determine if he's trying to
find a tenant, you may be able to determine if he's REFUSING
tenants, if you have a colleage who's interested in moving
to that apartment. That might be adequate.

Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, nor have I lived in PA. I've been both
a landlord and a tenant, and I've researched some of the lease laws
in CA and AZ.

[Nobody]

Hi All,
I will really appreciate any help/suggestions/opinions on my
landlord-tenant situation.

OK

I signed a one year lease

What did the lease say?

last december on a one bedroom apartment in
Philadelphia metro area. In May 2003 my company decided to move me to
Arizona.

Why is that the landlords problem?

I gave my landlord a 2 months notice in May 2003, and vacated
the house in July 2003. Even though I was in that apartment only for 4
days of July, still I paid full July month's rent, also my landlord
kept my security deposit since I was breaking the lease.

Goddamn right.

Now in August, I have again got a letter and a bill from my landlord
that since he was not able to find any tenant for the place, and since
I signed a one year leae originally, I owe him money till December
2003.

Yes, that sounds right.

Now my question is, can he leagally do that? I gave him 2 months
notice

For a one year lease? What does lease mean to you?

one full month's rent and security deposit, still am I liable
to pay for the rest of my lease period?

What does the lease say?

Do I need to file a formal
complaint against him,

Beacuse you broke your lease?

and for that do I need to be physically in PA?

I don't know.

Under PA law, do I have any protection from this harrasement?

No. He is not harassing you. Later when he sues you ... that's
harassment. NOT!

Can he
mess up my credit history?

Yes, I hope he does.

Please help.

Help what? Help you honor a written contract? Looks like you better
get out the checkbook...