NY Apartment Lease breaking Law

[nammal]

Hi,
Sorry for the long history-
I was living in an apartment in NY for around 4 years and moved out in January 2008 even though my lease agreement was due till April 2008 due to a job change. (I moved to NC). Last November 2007 I requested the NY apartment Office to release me from the lease agreement because I am moving out of state by giving a two months notice. Initially they agreed and later they changed their mind and said they cannot do it and asked me to pay the full lease amount before I vacate. I didn’t have the money at that time and decided to keep the apartment till April by paying monthly rent and informed the same to the management. By thinking the same I gave my NY apartment manager’s name and phone number as a reference for my NC apartment searching agent. When my NC apartment office called for my rent history, my NY apartment management was unwilling to give any of my rental history. ( I never failed paying my rent during my 4 year stay there. ) So the last minute, when I came to NC, NC apartment office was not willing to give me the promised apartment due to the lack of my NY rent history and I stayed in a hotel for 4 weeks to get another apartment. Naturally, I got irritated and told the NY apartment office that I am breaking the lease and gave them the keys back. Now the NY apartment is trying to get the rest of the money back from me via a debt collection agency. The debt collection agency called my old employer for my new address. So my old employer informed me about the same. I thought of paying the money and called the Debt collection agency and they says since I moved out of NY they don’t have the right to collect money from me, so they gave the case back to the apartment people and they will contact me.

Now I am wondering, since they put me and my family ( includes 3 year old son ) in a hotel for 4 weeks, do I really need to pay this lease breaking amount?. I heard from different people that if you move so many miles away from NY, you can legally break the lease. Or Can they legally collect that money from me since I gave a 2 months’ notice(verbal notice)? Where can I see the NY lease breaking rules? In my lease agreement they say that we have to pay the whole lease amount when you vacate, and they will give the money back when they find a new tenant. This rule seems so ridiculous, looks like people has to live their lives based on apartment leases. Also at any circumstance can a landlord reject a tenant’s rent history request whatever it may be?
Please advice.

Regards
Nammal

 

[Zigner]

Hi,
Sorry for the long history-
I was living in an apartment in NY for around 4 years and moved out in January 2008 even though my lease agreement was due till April 2008 due to a job change. (I moved to NC). Last November 2007 I requested the NY apartment Office to release me from the lease agreement because I am moving out of state by giving a two months notice. Initially they agreed and later they changed their mind and said they cannot do it and asked me to pay the full lease amount before I vacate. I didn’t have the money at that time and decided to keep the apartment till April by paying monthly rent and informed the same to the management. By thinking the same I gave my NY apartment manager’s name and phone number as a reference for my NC apartment searching agent. When my NC apartment office called for my rent history, my NY apartment management was unwilling to give any of my rental history. ( I never failed paying my rent during my 4 year stay there. ) So the last minute, when I came to NC, NC apartment office was not willing to give me the promised apartment due to the lack of my NY rent history and I stayed in a hotel for 4 weeks to get another apartment. Naturally, I got irritated and told the NY apartment office that I am breaking the lease and gave them the keys back. Now the NY apartment is trying to get the rest of the money back from me via a debt collection agency. The debt collection agency called my old employer for my new address. So my old employer informed me about the same. I thought of paying the money and called the Debt collection agency and they says since I moved out of NY they don’t have the right to collect money from me, so they gave the case back to the apartment people and they will contact me.

Now I am wondering, since they put me and my family ( includes 3 year old son ) in a hotel for 4 weeks, do I really need to pay this lease breaking amount?. I heard from different people that if you move so many miles away from NY, you can legally break the lease. Or Can they legally collect that money from me since I gave a 2 months’ notice(verbal notice)? Where can I see the NY lease breaking rules? In my lease agreement they say that we have to pay the whole lease amount when you vacate, and they will give the money back when they find a new tenant. This rule seems so ridiculous, looks like people has to live their lives based on apartment leases. Also at any circumstance can a landlord reject a tenant’s rent history request whatever it may be?
Please advice.

Regards
Nammal

No - people need to uphold their end of agreements.
There is no law requiring the NY apartment to provide a rental history.
You should pay what you owe.

 

[FarmerJ]

N the terms of a lease are just that. The lease is a legally binding contract. Your former LL is under no obligation to share any information about you with a new LL. You wrote >Last November 2007 I requested the NY apartment Office to release me from the lease agreement because I am moving out of state by giving a two months notice. Initially they agreed < Was that agreement in writting ? like a signed letter stating that if you paid 2 months of rent your obligation to them was canceled ? or any other words that add up to a canceled lease with no penalty? You wrote >Where can I see the NY lease breaking rules?< there are no such statutes , Leases are a legally binding contract and if a tenant negotiates any variation of what is written on the lease the variation /special terms need to be in writting and signed by the LL, Your former LLs offer to seek a replacement if you paid them off is abit extreme most LLs I know of already know they can just sue for the months a tenant failed to pay for or the unpaid vacant time inbetween when a tenant moves out and doesnt pay

 

[Alaska landlord]

Do yourself a favor and stop listening to people that don't know what they are talking about.
If you don't know your state laws regarding notice, security deposit, and your liability for breaking a lease, then look them up on the Internet.

 

[BL]

Hi,
Sorry for the long history-
I was living in an apartment in NY for around 4 years and moved out in January 2008 even though my lease agreement was due till April 2008 due to a job change. (I moved to NC). Last November 2007 I requested the NY apartment Office to release me from the lease agreement because I am moving out of state by giving a two months notice. Initially they agreed and later they changed their mind and said they cannot do it and asked me to pay the full lease amount before I vacate. I didn’t have the money at that time and decided to keep the apartment till April by paying monthly rent and informed the same to the management. By thinking the same I gave my NY apartment manager’s name and phone number as a reference for my NC apartment searching agent. When my NC apartment office called for my rent history, my NY apartment management was unwilling to give any of my rental history. ( I never failed paying my rent during my 4 year stay there. ) So the last minute, when I came to NC, NC apartment office was not willing to give me the promised apartment due to the lack of my NY rent history and I stayed in a hotel for 4 weeks to get another apartment. Naturally, I got irritated and told the NY apartment office that I am breaking the lease and gave them the keys back. Now the NY apartment is trying to get the rest of the money back from me via a debt collection agency. The debt collection agency called my old employer for my new address. So my old employer informed me about the same. I thought of paying the money and called the Debt collection agency and they says since I moved out of NY they don’t have the right to collect money from me, so they gave the case back to the apartment people and they will contact me.

Now I am wondering, since they put me and my family ( includes 3 year old son ) in a hotel for 4 weeks, do I really need to pay this lease breaking amount?

.

You have to pay any unpaid rent and damages until the property was/is re-rented . The LL has to try and re-rent it.

I heard from different people that if you move so many miles away from NY, you can legally break the lease.

You heard wrong.

Or Can they legally collect that money from me since I gave a 2 months’ notice(verbal notice)?

Hold it there . First you say you broke the lease ,then you say you said you'd live there until lease was up , then you say you broke the lease .

So , yes they can .

Where can I see the NY lease breaking rules?

In your lease , and of course any clauses in the lease that go against State Law are not enforceable .

In my lease agreement they say that we have to pay the whole lease amount when you vacate, and they will give the money back when they find a new tenant.

Hogwash , that's why LL's collect first and last months rent , and security deposit if they're smart .

This rule seems so ridiculous, looks like people has to live their lives based on apartment leases.

The rule may be ridiculous , and people do not have to enter into leases if the choose not to . They can find month to month rentals . Also, they do not have to sign a lease they do not like , they can shop elsewhere.

Also at any circumstance can a landlord reject a tenant’s rent history request whatever it may be?

I can not decipher what you typed , but there is no law or penalty , if a LL/management choses not to answer rental history .

Please advice.

Regards
Nammal

Your welcome.

 

[xylene]

Paying the full remaining rent is PLUM STUPID.

Landlords cannot collect double rent.

Inform the landlord that you will not pay any double rent, only the rent owed.

Also inform the landlord of his obligation to actively re-rent, and that if he failed to actively re-rent, the court will not abide his failure to mitigate damages.

On the hotel room, you are on your own.

The landlord is doing you a favor by not disclosing your breech of lease.

 

[Zigner]

Paying the full remaining rent is PLUM STUPID.

Landlords cannot collect double rent.

Inform the landlord that you will not pay any double rent, only the rent owed.

Also inform the landlord of his obligation to actively re-rent, and that if he failed to actively re-rent, the court will not abide his failure to mitigate damages.

On the hotel room, you are on your own.

The landlord is doing you a favor by not disclosing your breech of lease.

I think it is reasonable for the LL to collect the balance of the rent and then refund it when the unit is rented. Particularly if the LL is required to submit a detail of how the security deposit has been used...
Of course, this is New York we're talking about and the LL/T laws there are incredibly complex

 

[MIRAKALES]

Technically, an annual lease agreement is for a total amount of money for the twelve (12) months of rental. The monthly rental payments are an extension of credit to which the total annual amount is divided into agreed upon payments. Now, with that said, technically the total annual rent balance is due at time of move-in. (It is not common practice to collect the annual amount in one lump sum because standard practice is to collect it on a monthly payment agreement.)

People DO “live their lives based upon an apartment lease” as tenant has learned. Living in a hotel rental for one month confirmed that fact. Hotels are daily or weekly rentals that are much more expensive than monthly or annual rentals. The financial burden of living in a smaller space for more money should help tenant to appreciate the financial benefits of living in a multiple room apartment for much less money.

That annual lease agreement helps most tenants to maintain a comfortable living space for their family. It should be appreciated, but judging from the post tenant believes it is their privilege to live at-will although an annual contract agreement was signed.

For the record, tenant did not provide proper written notice. Verbal notice is like no notice at all when a dispute arises. A dispute that LL will prevail in because of the lease agreement signed by tenant (YOU). Now, if the tables were reverse and LL terminated the lease agreement at-will (although there was an annual obligation), tenant (YOU) would complain that THEIR rights were being violated. However, when tenant (YOU) violates the lease agreement and the LL’s rights then that is a non-issue from tenant’s perspective.

Just as there are NO laws that allow LLs and tenants to violate lease agreement, there is no provision for the LL to provide a rental history as a reference. That is a courtesy extended to tenants that comply with the lease agreement.

 

[nammal]

thank you everyone for your time and answers.