Location: Texas
We have a copy of the lease agreement that was signed, and as the title states, it clearly outlines that early lease termination comes at a cost of 0$ and giving 60 days notice. However, my wife just called to speak with them about an early termination, and they are telling her that instead we would have to give 60 days notice, pay rent like usual for the two months following, and then pay another lump sum equal to 2 months rent at the time of the termination.
I suppose my main question is, is this legal? I don’t see how it’s fair that a lease agreement was signed with detailed & outlined terms, yet apparently they can change them/demand whatever they want despite that? Any advice would be appreciated.
Comments
A fee of 2 months would be common in a lease to terminate; zero dollars is pretty unheard of. Does it actually say 0, or is the space blank? Is there anywhere else in the lease the fee is mentioned? You can try to fight the fee according to what’s in the lease, but if it can be established as an error, you may have an issue.
When you terminate a lease early, you always owe rent for the notice period. So you owe two more months of rent after that notice is delivered.
After that, you owe rent until the end of the lease or until the apartment is rented to someone else, whichever comes first.
There is no issue with the landlord demanding that rent upfront, providing he agrees to reimburse if it gets rerented. Similarly, unless the lease specified otherwise, you are free to decline that request and pay monthly.
That 0$ cost likely refers to an early termination fee, which is different from the rent you owe.
The signed lease controls. But you do have to pay rent for the 60 days.
The right thing here is “As per section X of our lease, we are giving you 60 days notice that we are terminating the lease on [Date]. We note that section X of the lease also specifies that there is no fee for this early termination. Have included a copy of our lease. Following termination, our address will be [new address]. Please send a check for our security deposit to that address.”
You probably have to make the 60 days correspond with the end of the month (look at the lease).