Lease was up july 31, i moved out june 30. i gave noticed on may 1. why are they saying i owe them 1 month.?

Question

my lease was up on 7/31/07. I moved out on 6/30/07 after i gave noticed written noticed on 5/15/2007 that i would be moving. My original lease was year to year. I moved there 7/15/2005. I had a $600.00 down payment on the books . They keep harassing me about owing them another months rent and other outlandish fees. I cleaned the apartment thoroughly before I left, nothing was left in the apartment. Why would I still owe them any money?

Answer 1

Your lease -- the legal agreement which YOU signed -- was up on July 31. You moved out on June 30. From June 30 (when you moved) to July 31 (when your lease was up) is one month.

Answer 2

You have a contract that expires on 7/31, no matter what date you move out.  That means you are responsible to pay until your lease is expires.  Written notice to leave a month early doesn't release you from paying that month that you are not there.

If you had plans to move at the end of June, you SHOULD have renewed for an 11 month lease, if that is possible for your apartment complex.  That way you would not be responsible for a month that you are not living there.  Another way to have approached the situation is to move at the end of July (living and paying for the full year) or early August (your complex would prorate your rent for any additional days past the year you stay in the apartment, as long as you gave them 30 days notice to move - for example, notice given July 15 means you can move August 15, and they will charge you for 2 additional weeks only, rather than renewing for a new lease term).

Answer 3

You admit that your lease was up on 7/31.  You admit that you were a year to year lease.  I don't see how you think that just because you weren't there you don't have to pay.  You are signed a contract stating that you were renting the place until 7/31.  You broke your lease by leaving early.  Just because you gave notice doesn't let you out of your contractual obligation.  You are still obligated to the terms of the lease.  

I see a lot of "Why would I pay for July" since you wouldn't be living there.  I have to ask, why wouldn't you pay since your lease wasn't up until July 31?  

If you lease a car for 12 months, the car dealership doesn't care if you let it sit unused for the last month.  They will still expect 12 payments as that is what the contract you signed said.  A lease is simply a contract.  You signed it, your held to the terms of it.

Flip it around.  Supposed you went to renew the lease and the landlord said "sorry, we are going to re-rent the place to someone else.  We don't want to rent to you anymore".  Then on July 1 someone sticks a key in the door and begins to move their stuff in.  Are they allowed?  Heck no, you have  lease until 7/31 and no one is allowed to move in until you are out on the 31st.

Answer 4

Heh.  If your lease was ended at the end of July, and you moved out at the end of June, not expecting to pay July rent, of course you owe another month's rent.  Do you not know the requirements of giving notice to move out at the end of a lease (and not one month BEFORE the end of the lease) ?

Answer 5

Your lease was not up until July 31st. You owe rent until that time.  

Answer 6

1.  What was the notice period on your original lease?

2.  Did your lease have an "automatic renewal" clause?

Answer 7

Maybe you don't.  But what did your lease say about required notice?

Answer 8

If you signed a year lease, you're expected to pay for every month on that lease, regardless if you gave them notice. All notice does is inform the landlord if someone is living there or not. Just because you gave them notice in May doesn't mean you still didn't have to pay for July; that's what a year to year lease is. A month to month works differently, where you only pay one month at a time.

What are the "other fees"? They may be charging for carpet cleaning which may not be covered in your security deposit.