What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Connecticut
I signed a 12 month lease back on 5/27/09 and it ends on 5/26/10. I received a rent renewal form from my management company and started reading the first paragraph. I had no intentions of renewing my lease because the place was extremely overpriced. I continued to read and found out they wanted to increase my rent if I renewed. So at that point I stopped reading the letter and tossed it in the trash.
Since my lease was set to expire on 5/26/10, I expected my bill for the month of May to show a proration because I did not owe for the full month of May, but only until the 26th. So I went to the leasing office on 5/8/10 to ask them to revise the last month's rent because I only owed until the 26th. Then they told me that the renewal letter they sent out in March said I needed to give them 30 days notice before I was moving out. Isn't the purpose of the lease I signed to let them know when I am leaving? The lease I signed would tell them 12 months in advance when I was leaving. I did not see this fine print on the renewal letter because I was not ever interested in renewing and did not get to the bottom of the letter. Nothing I signed said that I had to give them 30 days notice before I was planning on moving out. So now they are telling me I have to pay them full rent (the increased rent rate at that) for 30 days after I told them on the 8th of May that I was leaving. So now I am stuck paying rent for an extra 13 days than my lease had written.
I do not feel this is a fair policy. If I was doing a month-to-month lease, I would understand that they need 30 days notice before I was planning on leaving. But I signed a 12 month lease and only intended to stay there that long. That is the point of a 12 month lease, to stay for 12 months. Is this a just policy? I am thinking about taking it to Small Claims Court because I have never heard of such a policy. Please let me know if they can do this because it seems to me they are trying to trick their tenant into being stuck with extra rent.
I signed a 12 month lease back on 5/27/09 and it ends on 5/26/10. I received a rent renewal form from my management company and started reading the first paragraph. I had no intentions of renewing my lease because the place was extremely overpriced. I continued to read and found out they wanted to increase my rent if I renewed. So at that point I stopped reading the letter and tossed it in the trash.
Since my lease was set to expire on 5/26/10, I expected my bill for the month of May to show a proration because I did not owe for the full month of May, but only until the 26th. So I went to the leasing office on 5/8/10 to ask them to revise the last month's rent because I only owed until the 26th. Then they told me that the renewal letter they sent out in March said I needed to give them 30 days notice before I was moving out. Isn't the purpose of the lease I signed to let them know when I am leaving? The lease I signed would tell them 12 months in advance when I was leaving. I did not see this fine print on the renewal letter because I was not ever interested in renewing and did not get to the bottom of the letter. Nothing I signed said that I had to give them 30 days notice before I was planning on moving out. So now they are telling me I have to pay them full rent (the increased rent rate at that) for 30 days after I told them on the 8th of May that I was leaving. So now I am stuck paying rent for an extra 13 days than my lease had written.
I do not feel this is a fair policy. If I was doing a month-to-month lease, I would understand that they need 30 days notice before I was planning on leaving. But I signed a 12 month lease and only intended to stay there that long. That is the point of a 12 month lease, to stay for 12 months. Is this a just policy? I am thinking about taking it to Small Claims Court because I have never heard of such a policy. Please let me know if they can do this because it seems to me they are trying to trick their tenant into being stuck with extra rent.