Broke apt lease with a somewhat sketchy landlord. Am I leaving $$ on the table?

[blackomen]

I'm not sure what's the best way to present my situation so I'll do so in a timeline format:

Early 2018: I had signed a 6 month lease for an apartment in a VERY hot rental market for April 2018 through the end of September 2018.  (Look up Midland, Texas and rentals and you'll find TONS of complaints about a shortage of housing.  People have set up huge camps around the outskirts of town - that's how bad the rental market is and is something to consider when I describe the full scope of my situation.)  This apartment rented for way below market rents but the landlord has been quite negligent in making repairs like a leaky roof that wasn't fixed for months.  I also didn't plan on staying in this town for TOO long since I was living away from my wife at the time due to our jobs but wanted to find a job and move back in with her.

June 2018: My landlord hands out a notice that my rent will be going up by about $100/mo after my lease expires in September 2018 AND I have start paying for the water.  I get scared esp due to the rental shortage around town so I sign the 6 month lease.  If I wanted month to month, it would have been an extra $300/mo over what I was paying before.

Aug 2018: I finally receive a job offer in my target city (where my wife and I are living now) and accept it.  I wait until the background check completed before turning in my resignation and also approached my landlord about terminating the lease and not starting the new 6 month lease that begins in mid September.

Landlord's resolution, late Aug 2018: Obviously, the landlord wasn't happy.  Also my unit requires a 60 day notice period plus the remaining days of the month (since you're only "allowed" to move out at the end of the month), my landlord required that I pay the following upfront:

September Rent: $750
October Rent: $750
Reletting fee: (forgot but something like $650)
Total amount: $2150

Note that the October rent was supposed to go up to $850 due to the new lease but she said something like she's gonna be "nice" and only charge me $750.

Mid-September 2018: I move out of the unit and drop off the keys.  However, I don't cancel the electricity in the unit on purpose to see if anyone ends up moving in to the unit before the end of October.  I monitor my unit's electricity usage over time and don't see any unusual spikes so I conclude the unit remained empty.  On November 1, my electricity account is abruptly closed (probably due to a new tenant moving in.)

Here's one thing I don't understand: In the worst case, I know I could be liable for paying rent through the end of the lease (October 2018 through March 2019) but the landlord is required to put forth a reasonable amount of effort to find a replacement.  It's pretty clear that this landlord didn't do that and is pocketing the extra 2 months of rent.

Also, it's already the end of December now and I haven't even received a single cent of my security deposit back yet.

Do I have a solid case for taking this to court?  Also, I had accidentally left my only copy of the lease agreement in the landlord's office a few days before I was gonna move out and the office was closed the day I was gonna move out.  Long story, but I had rented a moving truck by the hour that day and had to make a 300+ mile drive before it got too late so I didn't wait another day to look for her and get my copy of the lease agreement back.

[Eric]

Did you pay that $2150?

How would you prove that the landlord didn't put forth a reasonable effort to rent it prior to Nov 1?

I'd expect my security deposit back, but not much else.

[blackomen]

Did you pay that $2150?

How would you prove that the landlord didn't put forth a reasonable effort to rent it prior to Nov 1?

I'd expect my security deposit back, but not much else.

1) Yes, paid the $2150.

2) You tell me (or someone else can)..  unfortunately, I'm at a loss for how to prove this but all I can say is that apartment vacancies in that city was so low it's scary.  Also, as far as I know, landlords are required by law to "mitigate damages" when a tenant breaks the lease and it's clear this one isn't doing so.  https://flip.lease/learn/get-out-of-a-lease/mitigating-damages

3) Same.. I would have been happy to get my security deposit back and not deal with these guys anymore but it looks like I'll have to put up with dealing with them again, and because of that, I'm looking to get back some of the $2150 I had to pay.

[Eric]

2) You tell me (or someone else can)..  unfortunately, I'm at a loss for how to prove this but all I can say is that apartment vacancies in that city was so low it's scary.  Also, as far as I know, landlords are required by law to "mitigate damages" when a tenant breaks the lease and it's clear this one isn't doing so.  https://flip.lease/learn/get-out-of-a-lease/mitigating-damages

I completely agree with you that's what they are supposed to do, and it's highly likely bullshit that it took that long.  I just think it's going to be nearly impossible to prove.  It doesn't seem like Texas is a very renter friendly state either, so that makes is more difficult.  It's kind of like being asked to prove a negative.  You can't prove that the apartment wasn't posted for rent.  You can't prove that the landlord didn't care about renting it out during that time.

Hopefully someone else can come up with a brilliant idea that will prove me wrong, but I'm just not seeing a path forward.  Sorry.

[Catbert]

I think what your landlord did was probably "fair".  If your electricity had been turned off in Sept or early October that would demonstrate that he re-rented it early and you'd be entitled to some money back.  Clearly he didn't make any extra money.  You paid through October, the next person picked up in November.  A landlord is unlikely to let something sit vacant on purpose - especially that time of year.  Units that are vacant Nov 1st tend to stay vacant until January.  No body wants to move in December.

Even in a hot market it takes some time to get vacant units filled.  Best case is likely 2 weeks to get the apartment up to snuff for re-renting.  Not so much the work itself, but getting estimates and scheduling.  Then prospective tenants need to give notice so round to the next month

[wageslave23]

I don't know what your contract said but my contracts always say that you are liable for rent for the entire lease.  If I want to be nice, I might come to an agreement with the tenant and let them break the lease for two months rent.  This way they limit their liability from the full lease term to a fixed amount.  I'm guessing that's what happened here.  By paying two months rent you locked in your cost regardless if it takes a week or a year to find a new tenant.  I think what happened is very fair.  I also worked for a management company and their lease breaking policy was the same.

[use2betrix]

Sounds like you came out ahead and it could have been worse. Renting has some strict rules because a lot of people are very irresponsible and the landlords have to protect themselves somehow. Many times in my life have I paid more for shorter contracts for that exact reason. We are moving in March and I gave my 60 day notice about 90 days ahead of time. I have a new place secured and being held as it opens in March, but we’ve agreed I won’t formally sign the contract until late February so I can protect myself in the event something happens.

[bacchi]

In Texas, a landlord has to mitigate damages when a lease is broken. This means that a landlord can't sit on the property and you're only responsible for the time the unit is empty.

Now, you left in mid-September and the unit was rented as of Nov 1, according to the utility bill. That timeline doesn't seem that unusual, as catbert mentioned -- painting, cleaning, advertising, and checking out multiple tenants. Most people sign for a lease at the start of a month.


NOTE: The "reletting fee" is used for getting a new tenant in the unit (advertising, repairs, etc.) It's not a penalty against the tenant. It's not an award to the landlord. This is important. It's used to make the landlord whole and not to punish the tenant. if you end up in court, ask for an itemized list of what the reletting fee was spent on (e.g., cleaning the carpet and painting the walls and advertising).

The good news for you is that the landlord has 30 days to return the deposit or send an itemized statement. Did you provide a forwarding address?

I'd first send a certified, return receipt, letter asking for the full security deposit because the landlord failed to send an itemized receipt within 30 days.


btw, not returning the deposit or an itemized list within 30 days has a large penalty. In Texas, it appears to be 3x the deposit, +$100, +court and lawyer costs. A smart landlord won't risk it.

See https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/chart-deadline-returning-security-deposits-29018.html and the exception for Texas. If you didn't give written notice, you (or a lawyer) would have to decide if making a deal with the landlord for 1.5 months rent + the reletting fee effectively served as a written notice. After all, you didn't leave in the middle of the night and you acted in good faith.


IANAL

[blackomen]

In Texas, a landlord has to mitigate damages when a lease is broken. This means that a landlord can't sit on the property and you're only responsible for the time the unit is empty.

Now, you left in mid-September and the unit was rented as of Nov 1, according to the utility bill. That timeline doesn't seem that unusual, as catbert mentioned -- painting, cleaning, advertising, and checking out multiple tenants. Most people sign for a lease at the start of a month.


NOTE: The "reletting fee" is used for getting a new tenant in the unit (advertising, repairs, etc.) It's not a penalty against the tenant. It's not an award to the landlord. This is important. It's used to make the landlord whole and not to punish the tenant. if you end up in court, ask for an itemized list of what the reletting fee was spent on (e.g., cleaning the carpet and painting the walls and advertising).

The good news for you is that the landlord has 30 days to return the deposit or send an itemized statement. Did you provide a forwarding address?

I'd first send a certified, return receipt, letter asking for the full security deposit because the landlord failed to send an itemized receipt within 30 days.


btw, not returning the deposit or an itemized list within 30 days has a large penalty. In Texas, it appears to be 3x the deposit, +$100, +court and lawyer costs. A smart landlord won't risk it.

See https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/chart-deadline-returning-security-deposits-29018.html and the exception for Texas. If you didn't give written notice, you (or a lawyer) would have to decide if making a deal with the landlord for 1.5 months rent + the reletting fee effectively served as a written notice. After all, you didn't leave in the middle of the night and you acted in good faith.


IANAL

Oh yeah, i did give written notice both in writing and via email and can look up the email sent to them via my account in August that served the notice.

Looks like this might be worth fighting for and I'm considering lawyering up through my employer's Group Legal benefit.

Sent from my LGUS997 using Tapatalk

[SKL-HOU]

I had to research this in Houston for the security deposit. Not sure if it was a Texas thing or Houston thing.

The landlord has 30 days from the day of surrender to give you an itemized list of what he is keeping the deposit for. If he doesn't do this, you can take him to small claims and get 3 times the deposit plus $100 plus lawyer fees (or something very similar). In my case, my landlord attempted to put up a fight, even tried fraud with paperwork (sent me a Word doc claiming it was mailed to me but it was created after I inquired about the deposit). In short, he ended up sending me the full deposit.

I don't know if you can prove that he didn't try to find someone in your place but I think you can definitely fight the deposit.

ETA: Now that I went back and read the responses, I see someone else already mentioned this. The threat of the additional money was enough in my case to get the landlord to refund my deposit in full. Also, I also looked up my company's legal benefits and it was very difficult to find a lawyer that would take this on. They were very reluctant since it was a small amount (in my case $2750 deposit) and they all said to take him to small claims.

[ReadySetMillionaire]

Attorney here, but I'm not giving you legal advice, blah blah disclaimer blah blah.

***

The concept of mitigating damages is a general concept that applies into every of area of law, not just landlord/tenant.  Basically, you can't sit on your ass and/or let things get worse, and then claim that the other party should pay you for sitting on your ass and/or letting things get worse.

An important point, though, is that the person who has a duty to mitigate only has a "reasonable" duty to mitigate. They don't have to go out and make it their life mission to mitigate; they just have to make some reasonable effort to mitigate their loss.

To illustrate -- I had a construction case where the plaintiff sued the builder (my client) for alleged construction defects, then didn't put a roof on the property over the winter (Ohio). Then the plaintiff wanted paid for all the damaged wood.  You guessed it -- court told him to go fly a kite, because that's completely unreasonable.

But here, it seems to me your landlord took reasonable efforts to mitigate.  The place was only vacant for six weeks. That's pretty damn good (think about it -- the landlord also needs a tenant to be ready to move on from his/her old lease).  I don't think there's a mitigation issue at all.

***

As for the security deposit issue, I'm not going to spend the time to research that in Texas.  I'll defer to other people here, and it seems like you should get that back by sending notice to the landlord.

***

But as far as the other stuff, it seems to me that you came out ahead.  I had to terminate a lease in Cleveland and had a much, much, much stiffer buyout than you.

Think about the practical matters, too.  If you file a small claims case, you are going to have to take time off work to file the complaint, to maybe attend a pre-trial hearing, to maybe respond to discovery, and to appear at trial.  You want to use vacation time for that?

And trust me, if you don't have a lawyer, you're probably going to go into small claims and look like a doofus.  Even the most educated people in there who think they know what they're doing end up making a fool of themselves, especially if the other side has a lawyer.  Here in Ohio, a corporation must be represented by counsel at any hearing; so if the property is owned by an LLC, and Texas law is similar, your landlord will have counsel. Which means you should have counsel. Which is expensive.

You want to do that over this amount of money?

***

What I'm getting at here is if you came into my office, I would tell you to move on, and that this fight isn't worth it.  But maybe your priorities are different, and if so, go have at it.  Best of luck to you.

[bacchi]

Many small claims courts in Texas require pre-trial mediation for landlord-tenant disputes. The OP should check the filing court as this would reduce the risk of going to trial.

I'd guess the certified letter would be enough to force the landlord's hand. Give the landlord 2-3 weeks to respond.

[tralfamadorian]

I'd guess the certified letter would be enough to force the landlord's hand. Give the landlord 2-3 weeks to respond.

+1

Six weeks in the leasing off season is an excellent time frame for pre-listing clean-up to move-in. Most highly qualified tenants are looking 2-3 months out for a place to live. I'm not a TX landlord but getting the reletting fee back would be difficult in the markets I invest in. All the landlord has to show is that they listed it for rent (craigslist, zillow, etc).

You do you but I think a certified letter for the deposit with a pdf printout of the pertinent law with a highlight over the passage discussed in this thread with 30 days and 3x deposit wordage. Assuming you haven't done so several times already, I would also call as well with the presumption that the landlord is a mom-and-pop and just forgot your deposit.