Angry White Pyjamas

Im not obsessed if you did or didnt. But many people dont bother then whine about it afterwards. But if you read it and happily signed it then why complain about it now?

You complained that they were going to charge you until the lease was ended or they re-rented the property...thats legal and in the contract you read and signed so I would say you are sh1t out of luck there if they want to get nasty with you.

As for the termination fee dont pay it then they cant enforce it legally. But they sure as hell can make your credit based life difficult for you rightly or wrongly.

Either way they have the upper hand, more money and better lawyers should you wish to challenge them. However if you have been civil with them then theres no reason for them to deliberately bowl you over and they will most likely attempt to reasonably rent your place out and you will be not out of pocket. Good luck.

Personally I think you're in the wrong here and they have the legal and moral high ground. If I made a legal contract I would expect the other person to honour it too.... If I were you I would take the nicey nicey approach and they may play ball with you. But thats just me.

fatbrit

If they want to play about with your credit, fine! If they do it wrongly, however, you can correct this with a visit to the court and include suitable recompense in your own pocket for this. It seems stupid to have to do it this way, but when in Rome...

Angry White Pyjamas

Indeed. But its time money and effort regardless. However failure to pay a fee that is legal (ie the rent until end of lease or re-let) would be deemed to be acceptable in dinging their credit rating....then theres the blacklists (that dont exist...honest).

fatbrit

Many of the silly clauses exist within a gray area. And the landlord's try it on all the time! There's an almost automatic assumption that if you rent you must be stupid and therefore you're fair game. All you have to do is clearly demonstrate that you're better informed than them and you have a nasty bite if they push you too far and most will crumple pretty quickly.

Local landlord blacklists aren't going to affect you if you're buying a place (or moving area).

neil

I started this thread simply asking for advice on whether to pay what they are asking, or to hold out and risk paying rent until they find someone to move in; and if anyone has experiences of this. I might have complained about the amount they want to charge but I'm not complaining that they want to charge something - that was expected. I am simply trying to work out my best option. An amount was not mentioned in the lease but we were verbally told what to expect (unfortunately by the previous staff who are no longer there).

I've not talked about avoiding paying, although if it did get to the point when we feel they have not been trying to rent out the apartment then that would be a possibility and by NJ law they would have to demonstrate they have tried to re-let.

BritGuyTN

if early termination (which it seems they are not obligated to give you contractually) is an option and is less than paying rent until the end of the lease, I would take that

Angry White Pyjamas

and in the end it has to be your choice. if you think they are bluffing go for it. most companies will make concessions to a fair argument. then again theres always the exception. a lot will come down to your approach.

BritGuyTN

As a landlord, and I know this makes me sound like a cnut, I would offer the same offer they have made - 2 months and a fee. this I presume is considerably less than paying out the rest of the lease. The fact that there are other units unoccupied means that in any scenario other than you paying out the full lease, the landlord is out of pocket.

However, if the tenant was being an ass, I would withdraw the offer and make them pay up until the end of the lease

Why should I be out of pocket just because someone found a house early?

Maybe get a lawyer to look at the lease - they maybe a loophole although i doubt it

Englishmum

What a pity that there isn't the equivalent of the 'Citizen's Advice Bureau' which is in most British towns and cities where one can get advice on situtations such as this..

(If there is something like this in New Jersey then I'd love to hear about it - and I'm sure that Neil would too). Somehow I can't imagine it....American lawyers offering to give a 30 minute conversation for free...?!

Neil: try http://www.maplewoodonline.com - there is a 'Please Help' section in the forums and it's possible that one of the attorneys who post on the board might offer some advice (or perhaps not if it's for free - but worth a try anyway).

Good Luck.

RoadWarriorFromLP

One thing to bear in mind that there are often laws at the state and local levels that govern some aspects of what can or cannot be in a lease. For example, there are often limits placed on the amount of security deposits, the time in which deposits must be returned, lease termination, the eviction process and so forth.

If a clause in a lease does not conform with the law, that clause is voidable, i.e. you can ignore it. In a dispute, the law will supercede the language of the lease, even if both parties agreed to the exception.

Also, ambiguities in the lease can sometime favor the tenant, because US civil law puts a higher burden on the author of the document. In the event of fuzzy language, it may put the burden on the landlord if he attempts to take a hard line, because he had the power of the pen.

All this may not help you in this case -- I don't know NJ law -- but it might.

neil

A friend of ours is a lawyer, and has suggested that since they have not requested this fee by a certain date, that we should hold off and see what the situation is when we move out. Her advice was definitely don't pay it now, because if they rent out the apartment almost immediately it would be difficult to retrieve this money; but if we wait then it may be best to pay them this money. Sounds fair to me. Not requesting the payment by a specific date has left them open on this one.

neil

Good news - they agreed to a 1 month rent termination fee, which we're more than happy to pay as we didn't expect to get them to go that low. They must know they can rent it out pretty quickly.

LeedsGirl

Well done Neil. Now you can move with piece of mind. Good luck in your new home

Chorlton

I'd forgotten all about that!

Celsius

What if the students can afford the rent? Who are you to argue that you don't want students as neighbors?

If any neighbor of mine makes a nuisance of him/herself, I'd take it up with the management office, regardless of whether the neighbor is a student or not.