Breaking lease early, unjust enrichment in Pa

[pfan]

Unfortunately I will be leaving my apartment I received a notice which stated, I had to advise if I was renewing my lease, it states it would automatically renew by July31st.

(If I did not respond.)

I found out 9 days late that I would have to be leaving. So I called them August 9th. and said I will be leaving.

My lease states I have to stay 60 days and they will charge me a penalty of 3.5 months!

The apartment is very popular and units rent quickly.

If they rent right way , can they still charge me the penalty. seems like unjust enrichment? I will advertise, the apartment myself if I have to.

I cant find clear advice online

Thx

Paul

 

[reenzz]

Regardless of when the unit is re-rented, you are still responsible for the early termination penalty.

 

[pfan]

I was told this would be unjust enrichment, by an attorney, They would be double dipping, they want to charge 3.5 months rent as a penalty.

 

[FarmerJ]

When you said > I had to advise if I was renewing my lease, it states it would automatically renew by July31st.< did you actually mean that unless you gave them formal notice that you were not going to renew but vacate with your lease was going to auto renew for one year ? And the notice the lease called for was to give was to be sixty days ?

 

[pfan]

Yes unless I otherwise tell them I was leaving, it would auto renew. the last lease I signed said I could terminate by paying 3.5 months rent, which is absurd, the units rent quickly. So I have to give them 60 days notice and then pay 3.5 months rent.

I'll find them a tenant myself. One attorney I contacted they cant get unjust enrichment, if they find a tenant before the 3.5 months. They have to show they made every effort to rent the unit.

 

[FarmerJ]

So is there a neighbor you got along well enough with that they would notify you that a new customer has moved in ?

 

[pfan]

Yes, I can certainly find out, if I hire an attorney, they have to be truthful. My attorney can get a copy of their records. I would be willing to get the unit rented myself. Even paying a few hundred off the first few months for the new tenant.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

You need to make certain the attorney you spoke with IS familiar with landlord/tenant laws in your state. Some states (mine, for example), allows me to keep the funds from the early termination clause in my lease (30 days notice and 2 months rent) even if a replacement is found the day after the tenant vacates.
In some states this is a perfectly legal clause in a lease when signed by both the tenant and the landlord/management.

Gail

 

[xylene]

I found out 9 days late that I would have to be leaving. So I called them August 9th. and said I will be leaving.

My lease states I have to stay 60 days and they will charge me a penalty of 3.5 months!

You missed something or left it out. What did the management/landlord say when you gave notice?

 

[Taxing Matters]

If they rent right way , can they still charge me the penalty. seems like unjust enrichment?

In what state is this taking place? That matters because this is an issue of state law. I disagree with the lawyer that told you it was "unjust enrichment." That attorney may have forgotten that unjust enrichment is a remedy for situations in which a party benefits at the expense of another but and there is no contract between them. The courts remedy that unjust circumstance by imposing relief much like there was a contract, thus unjust enrichment is known as quasi-contractual remedy since the situation is not truly a contract, but the court effectively treats it like one.

But that's not to say that attorney got it wrong that there is a problem here. The basic rule of contract law here is that the tenant owes rent through the end of the lease term. Thus, the tenant must continue to pay rent even if the tenant leaves well before the lease term expires. But there is also a rule in at least most states that the landlord must mitigate his damages by trying to lease the unit to someone else at a fair market rate. Once the landlord is able to rent it to someone else, the old tenant is only responsible for whatever rent shortfall there is with the new tenant. That is, if the landlord had to lease it at a lower rental rate than the old tenant had the old tenant is still liable for the difference so that the landlord still comes out whole on the deal he made with the old tenant.

The landlord might point to the lease and say you still owe a penalty of 3.5 months rent even if he can lease it right away. The problem for the landlord is that in general penalties are not favored in contract law and courts will generally only uphold them if the penalty is a reasonable amount that roughly compensates for the extra costs/damages that the party incurs from a breach. I have a hard time seeing a penalty of 3.5 months rent as being a reasonable estimate of what those costs would be.

You might want to see a local contract or tenant attorney if the landlord is really going to push that 3.5 months penalty or if the landlord tries to charge you rent for months in which he has a new tenant in the space.

 

[adjusterjack]

Pennsylvania does not impose a duty to mitigate on a landlord.

Stonehedge Square Ltd. P'ship v. Movie Merchants, Inc., 715 A.2d 1082 (Pa. 1998).

The landlord would have no obligation to re-rent and could leave the rental unoccupied for the remainder of your lease and charge you accordingly.

Obviously, you wouldn't be paying anything after you left so he would be foolish to do that while collecting nothing. Once he does re-rent you would only owe for the period that the unit was unrented plus appropriate expenses involved in re-renting the unit.

 

[quincy]

In what state is this taking place? That matters because this is an issue of state law. ...

The state (Pennsylvania) is mentioned in the thread title.

 

[HRZ]

At least in my area of PA that exit fee begins to smell like a penalty ...and a LL who makes no serious attempt to mitigate might have a bad day at DJ level to enforce that "fee" .

I would suggest OP make a effort to find a replacement of equal financial ability to pay

Carefully worded liquidated damages might slide past the penalty issue

 

[adjusterjack]

Carefully worded liquidated damages might slide past the penalty issue

It's not the words that the court looks at, it's the amount.

 

[pfan]

You missed something or left it out. What did the management/landlord say when you gave notice?

They want me to stay for 2 more months, and pay a penalty of 3.5 months

My rent is 1500 per month.