I know this is not a board for landlord-tenant issues, but my question has to do with credit reporting and judgments against a tenant. I have a lease till January 03, but due to job transfer, I am trying to move out in September. I gave the landlord a notice July 10th, so its almost 2 months, however according to lease, i need to keep paying until they locate a new tenant. My question is as follows: Since this is a rental management company that oversees a lot of apartments, will they landlord bother suing me, or she would just sell my debt to collection agency.And also, in order to garnish wages or put a lien on bank acounts, do they need a court judgment, or they can be done without it? If I do not accept certified letters, can a judgment be entered against me? SInce they will think that I am not aware of being sued... any advice will be appreciated
Two points. First, you are liable to them, you agreed to the full term of the lease, you should pay it all if you can. Two, if you move out before lease is out, then they should stop charging you once it's rented, keep in mind they are under no obligation to rerent. Call an atty, this WILL get messy.
Take another look at your lease. Some will have language to the affect that if you relocate due to a transfer that with proper notice you can break the lease. Also, check and see if the relocation package from your employer will include buying out a lease. As to not accepting mail. All states have a procedure where you can be sued even if you are not personally served. Big mistake to ever assume process is flawed if they don't personally serve you.
In most states the landlord is obligated to make a good faith effort to rerent your apartment when a lease is broken. You will still be obligated to pay the time it was vacant and whatever monies spent by the landlord to rerent(usually advertising). You may even try to find a tenant on your own. Also many leases may have a lease buyout where you pay a fixed amount. Do you have a large security deposit? When a lease is broken usually the tenant loses all of it. See what your lease says about this. Also another thing to be careful of is when you move out you get a move out checklist from your landlord. Take pictures of your entire place and document everything. Many landlords nowadays are trying to scam tenants into paying for "damages" particulary the carpet. After you move out (say 2 weeks) have a friend of yours go to your ex-landlord and pretend to be interested in renting your old place. If the landlord does not show the unit to your friend then you could say your landlord has not made a good effort to rerent the place. Make sure everything gets documented. A good website to visit is www.badlandlords.info You can find links to your states landlord/tenant laws and links to a tenant union in your state as well. Just stay away from the forum board though. It is dominated by landlords and they will crucify you if you asked the same question there. It might be a good idea to consult with a lawyer (tenant union can refer one). Make sure and take a copy of your lease with you. Sometimes leases can be invalidated. Unlikely though.
You might want to ask Fla-Tan about this one. I was going to break my lease and the management company wanted a total of 2 months plus my security deposit. After some research for MY state, a landlord may not request more than 2 months pay (the landlord CAN force you to pay this in a lump sum before moving out). The tenant only needs to give 10 days notice, and if it takes the landlord longer than 2 months to fill the apartment, too bad for them!! Plus after the 2months has passed the security deposit is fully refundable. Call your states AG.
It has been a long time since I was a landlord. Our policy was to find a new tenant as soon as possible. We then charged our previous tenant what we actually lost in rent, and refunded the rest. It was break even for us. This was all explained to the tenant when he gave notice, and we encouraged him to cooperate with us in renting out the unit. Our units were nice and rented quickly, so we usually only took a few days rent. I think the idea above is good. Have your friend go by two weeks after you move out and make an attempt to rent. At least you will see if the landlord is making a good faith effort to rent it out. I was lucky to work for good honest people who never took advantage of people. That is why we were always full. I realize some others are real bad. My suggestion is to help the landlord as much as you can. Do not assume he is out to cheat you.
