Need Help - Landlord Charging For Another Month

[olopjop]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Wisconsin

Hello, I was renting on a month-to-month lease that required a 28 day notice to vacate. We gave notice in writing on the afternoon/evening of Dec. 1 that we would not continue renting the residence after Dec. 31, 2017. This notice was placed into the office "dropbox" on Dec. 1, which was a Friday, so my landlord did not see the notice until Monday, Dec. 4 (which was no longer outside of the 28 days). Our lease contained no language stating notice had to be handed directly to our landlord or given during business hours or on business days. My former landlord is now attempting to charge us for another complete month's rent. I do not think this acceptable; can they do this?

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

According to the Landlord/Tenant Guide published by the State of Wisconsin
Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection https://datcp.wi.gov/Documents/LT-LandlordTenantGuide497.pdf

The tenant may terminate the rental agreement by giving the landlord a written termination notice at least 28 days before the next rent due date, unless they agreed to give a longer notice (that is, more than 28 days) in their rental agreement. The tenant may serve the written notice in person or by certified or registered mail.

You did not serve the notice in person or by certified or registered mail.

 

[xylene]

Is the apartment vacant?

The landlord is never entitled to double rent.

 

[HRZ]

I know what the exact words are...but around me (!Im not in WI ) a tenant friendly judge might well hold if it was my drop box and tenant was credible as to delivery to my box...tenant wins ! AS a LL I'd not bet the ranch on precise words in DJ court ....apparently it was LLs practice to use a drop box .

I have lost cases where even the postmark is 10 days wrong.

THe language quoted also invites debate over may serve vs shall serve .

OP, Can you win the credibility test as to actual delivery on 1st?

 

[olopjop]

I believe the apartment was vacant throughout the month, so no double-rent should come into play.

I think we're credible tenants. Never had any complaints against us, always payed rent on time; in a follow-up conversation over the phone with our landlord, she said that we were "great tenants".

What are my options on this matter? I was going to call my landlord and try to explain the situation, see if we can resolve the issue. It would help going in if I knew whether I was in the right on this matter (possible a middle-ground settlement could be reached?).

Any advice on this is much appreciated.

 

[HRZ]

WEll THe actually law , not a handbook , in WI does NOT help you!
(2) Notice by tenant. Notice by the tenant or a person in the tenant's behalf must be given under this chapter by one of the following methods:
(a) By giving a copy of the notice personally to the landlord or to any person who has been receiving rent or managing the property as the landlord's agent, or by leaving a copy at the landlord's usual place of abode in the presence of some competent member of the landlord's family at least 14 years of age, who is informed of the contents of the notice;
(b) By giving a copy of the notice personally to a competent person apparently in charge of the landlord's regular place of business or the place where the rent is payable;

 

[olopjop]

WEll THe actually law , not a handbook , in WI does NOT help you!
(2) Notice by tenant. Notice by the tenant or a person in the tenant's behalf must be given under this chapter by one of the following methods:
(a) By giving a copy of the notice personally to the landlord or to any person who has been receiving rent or managing the property as the landlord's agent, or by leaving a copy at the landlord's usual place of abode in the presence of some competent member of the landlord's family at least 14 years of age, who is informed of the contents of the notice;
(b) By giving a copy of the notice personally to a competent person apparently in charge of the landlord's regular place of business or the place where the rent is payable;

What is to be done if I attempted to deliver notice to the landlord's office, during posted business hours, but no employee was present in the office (appears to have left early; no replacement was present nor arrived during remainder of business hours). At that point, we put the notice into the dropbox.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

That is not what you originally posted. You simply wrote that the notice was placed in the office "drop box" on December 1. Just how do you prove what you are now claiming?

Gail

 

[HRZ]

Well, perhaps your LL,does not read actual law either and you can buffalo the point of having made actual delivery to her designated drop box..and did so during ordinary business hours about XX ...and if she does not see your view...take it before the judge. And let him or her decide...

 

[FarmerJ]

Use of drop boxes may be common but they offer no proof of anything just like using regular mail with out something to help prove delivery such as certificate of mailing, confirmed mail delivery , certified mail or registered mail. Did you have a written month to month lease that said you must give a whole rental period of notice ? if your written lease did not say that or you simply were in a oral month to month lease then offer to the LL to pay a additional 4 days of rent to cover the days between the date you left the notice in the box and the date they discovered it. if your written lease did call for a whole rental period of notice then LL can fairly argue that you did not give proper notice and you would owe BUT if the written lease did not clearly say whole rental period of notice and LL will not accept a pro rated amount for 4 days then tell the LL to take you to court and show the court where in the written lease it said the notice had to be a whole rental period instead of WI statute allowing 28 days.

 

[olopjop]

Use of drop boxes may be common but they offer no proof of anything just like using regular mail with out something to help prove delivery such as certificate of mailing, confirmed mail delivery , certified mail or registered mail. Did you have a written month to month lease that said you must give a whole rental period of notice ? if your written lease did not say that or you simply were in a oral month to month lease then offer to the LL to pay a additional 4 days of rent to cover the days between the date you left the notice in the box and the date they discovered it. if your written lease did call for a whole rental period of notice then LL can fairly argue that you did not give proper notice and you would owe BUT if the written lease did not clearly say whole rental period of notice and LL will not accept a pro rated amount for 4 days then tell the LL to take you to court and show the court where in the written lease it said the notice had to be a whole rental period instead of WI statute allowing 28 days.

Actually, a 28 day notice is what my lease stated. We put our notice in the dropbox on Dec. 1st, which was 30 days before Dec. 31st (so proper notice would have been given). However, Dec. 1st was a Friday and the landlord did not see the notice until Monday, Dec. 4th, which was only 27 days out.

I will attempt to try and work something out where we can just pro-rate the amount for the first four days of Dec.

 

[HRZ]

YOu are missing the critical point...does delivery to LLs drop box count when made absent a person there getting it ......seemingly many a tenant gets many a benefit of doubt in SC court ...frankly as an old LL I would not want to waste the time to test the point in court ..don't like my odds with pro tenant bench n that fact pattern even if technically you did not get it quite right as the law s written . I can just hear the Judge telling me I put the box there for my convenience and I bear the risk to make sure contents are promptly and properly processed. IF your credibility as to putting it there holds up.

 

[olopjop]

YOu are missing the critical point...does delivery to LLs drop box count when made absent a person there getting it ......seemingly many a tenant gets many a benefit of doubt in SC court ...frankly as an old LL I would not want to waste the time to test the point in court ..don't like my odds with pro tenant bench n that fact pattern even if technically you did not get it quite right as the law s written . I can just hear the Judge telling me I put the box there for my convenience and I bear the risk to make sure contents are promptly and properly processed. IF your credibility as to putting it there holds up.

I understood everything you are saying, I just wanted to double-check I suppose.

If you have any other information to share that could be helpful for me, please do, but otherwise, thank you for your assistance; much appreciated.

 

[FarmerJ]

Since your lease does not call for whole rental period of notice pro rate the rent to 4 days of rent and if they wont accept it then flat out tell them that it will be fun to watch them explain how a lease that says you can give a 28 day notice morphed into a whole rental period of notice to a judge.