What is the name of your state? Nevada
Hello all,
I just had a few questions about breaking a lease in Nevada. I will ask those first, then post our story with details for any additional info that may be needed.
Question 1:
My wife and I signed a document stating we were breaking our lease and vacating our apartment on approximately June 18th 2018, giving a 30 day notice as well as notifying them of our new address, as of we believe was July 18th. We do not have a copy of this. On July 11th 2018, we turned in our keys to our landlord and did a final walkthrough with them, as well as signed a "move-out condition" document. Now without seeing the 30 day notice document we signed, would we need to do anything else "officially" to break our lease and give notice, other than turning in our keys and signing that particular document?
Question 2:
If we have "officially" given notice, when does the deposit disposition time frame start? Is it 30 days from our 30 day notice, or 30 days after we have turned in our keys? The landlord was adamant about not being able to rent out the apartment and the lease being over until we turned in our keys. The 30 days would be August 17th from the date of notice, or August 10th, from the date of turning in the keys.
Thanks in advance for any help that can be given as to the questions above.
-Pat
Details about the apartments and breaking the lease:
We moved into some apartments in Mesquite, NV in the middle of April 2018. We signed a 6 month lease. We paid partial 1st month as well as deposits required. The temperature in Mesquite, since it's in the desert, started increasing quickly, and was steady in the low to mid 100s, from about the middle of May until we left in June. The apartment's air conditioning worked fine, but as you all know, you really need to keep your windows up in your apartment to keep it cool and habitable inside.
Smoking marijuana is now legal in Nevada, including in private residences. As part of our lease, we had to sign a no smoking clause, as well as no drug use, including marijuana even if it is now legal.
The problem started in which quite a few tenants would smoke cigarettes inside their apartments, and due to the poor construction nature of our apartment, it ALWAYS smelled like cigarette smoke inside our apartment, including some days, it smelled and made us cough like someone was smoking in the same room as we were. The big problem however was our next door neighbor would smoke marijuana in his apartment, and when that would happen, the pot smoke smell was so bad inside our apartment it would make us sick to our stomach and we would need to leave. Now, remember the temperature outside was over 100 degrees, so airing out the house was not an option, unless we wanted the temperature in the house to rise very quickly.
We complained to the apartment manager 3-4 times. She always would state she checked it out immediately, and even brought her dog to smell around his apartment. Each time she stated she found nothing and smelled nothing. This was virtually impossible, because the last time this happened with the pot smoke, I went over to our neighbor and knocked on his door. He came outside with a billow of pot smoke (could smell it where I stood coming from inside his apartment), as well as smelling it on his breath. He stated he was not smoking pot at all, but sometimes the downstairs neighbors would smoke cigarettes and he could smell that from time to time.
The very next day we found a different place to live (this was approximately June 18th 2018), went and notified our apartment manager. She said it was an unlawful way to end the lease, but she would try to find tenants, and if she did, she would just move them in, and we wouldn't be on the hook for paying out the rest of the lease. (this is Nevada law by the way). She then wanted us to turn in our keys before she could find tenants but still wanted us to pay rent until she did find tenants. We didn't feel comfortable with this because of her attitude and demeanor before with her, so she had us sign a document stating we were moving out on a certain day (gave 30 days notice) on July 18th.
We moved out immediately but kept the keys, and moved into our new apartment. We then proceeded to clean, and take care of the old apartment in Mesquite, and had a "move-out" walk through on July 11th 2018. At this time we gave our manager the keys to the apartment, and filled out the move-out checklist. I actually video taped it, just to capture the audio of the entire walk through but did not record any pictures of her (just kept the phone pointed at the ground) but did take pictures of a small crack/hole in a closet door she stated was an issue.
We then went to see a lawyer. He stated she would have to give us a letter of deposit disposition before a 30 day period elapsed (NRS 118A.242) but we aren't sure exactly when that time frame started. The apartments have an online portal, in which you could pay your rent online, they would assign it as being due on the 1st of the month, as well as you can submit maintenance requests and send messages, etc. We paid our rent for all of July through July 31st, but did not pay August as of yet. As of August 9th, there was no amount due on the online portal, so we were expecting the deposit disposition letter by mail. However as of today (August 11th), they have assigned an amount due for the August rent. Per the civil code, they either hand the deposit disposition letter to us at their office, or they mail it to our address, not assign an amount due in their resident internet portal. Over the weekend, I think, we're going to visit our old apartment, knock on the door, and see if it has been rented.
So, as of now, I'm not exactly sure how to proceed, because of the timeline and the unorthodox way this landlord has dealt with this breaking of the lease. I really believe she just doesn't like dealing with confrontation, hence not taking care of a drug using tenant causing other tenants in your apartment building to leave. I don't even know if she understands the law completely to even know about the disposition letter, so I really don't want to ask her questions or talk with her to ask her whats next. My concern is that I never wrote a letter, or sent an email as to giving our 30 day notice. The only thing we did was sign that particular document.
We are aware if we do not receive that deposit disposition in a timely fashion, we would need to sue the landlord to either receive our deposits back, or end this situation. I'm just concerned the landlord is uneducated in this matter, and her negligence will cause this to be drawn out for quite a while.
Hello all,
I just had a few questions about breaking a lease in Nevada. I will ask those first, then post our story with details for any additional info that may be needed.
Question 1:
My wife and I signed a document stating we were breaking our lease and vacating our apartment on approximately June 18th 2018, giving a 30 day notice as well as notifying them of our new address, as of we believe was July 18th. We do not have a copy of this. On July 11th 2018, we turned in our keys to our landlord and did a final walkthrough with them, as well as signed a "move-out condition" document. Now without seeing the 30 day notice document we signed, would we need to do anything else "officially" to break our lease and give notice, other than turning in our keys and signing that particular document?
Question 2:
If we have "officially" given notice, when does the deposit disposition time frame start? Is it 30 days from our 30 day notice, or 30 days after we have turned in our keys? The landlord was adamant about not being able to rent out the apartment and the lease being over until we turned in our keys. The 30 days would be August 17th from the date of notice, or August 10th, from the date of turning in the keys.
Thanks in advance for any help that can be given as to the questions above.
-Pat
Details about the apartments and breaking the lease:
We moved into some apartments in Mesquite, NV in the middle of April 2018. We signed a 6 month lease. We paid partial 1st month as well as deposits required. The temperature in Mesquite, since it's in the desert, started increasing quickly, and was steady in the low to mid 100s, from about the middle of May until we left in June. The apartment's air conditioning worked fine, but as you all know, you really need to keep your windows up in your apartment to keep it cool and habitable inside.
Smoking marijuana is now legal in Nevada, including in private residences. As part of our lease, we had to sign a no smoking clause, as well as no drug use, including marijuana even if it is now legal.
The problem started in which quite a few tenants would smoke cigarettes inside their apartments, and due to the poor construction nature of our apartment, it ALWAYS smelled like cigarette smoke inside our apartment, including some days, it smelled and made us cough like someone was smoking in the same room as we were. The big problem however was our next door neighbor would smoke marijuana in his apartment, and when that would happen, the pot smoke smell was so bad inside our apartment it would make us sick to our stomach and we would need to leave. Now, remember the temperature outside was over 100 degrees, so airing out the house was not an option, unless we wanted the temperature in the house to rise very quickly.
We complained to the apartment manager 3-4 times. She always would state she checked it out immediately, and even brought her dog to smell around his apartment. Each time she stated she found nothing and smelled nothing. This was virtually impossible, because the last time this happened with the pot smoke, I went over to our neighbor and knocked on his door. He came outside with a billow of pot smoke (could smell it where I stood coming from inside his apartment), as well as smelling it on his breath. He stated he was not smoking pot at all, but sometimes the downstairs neighbors would smoke cigarettes and he could smell that from time to time.
The very next day we found a different place to live (this was approximately June 18th 2018), went and notified our apartment manager. She said it was an unlawful way to end the lease, but she would try to find tenants, and if she did, she would just move them in, and we wouldn't be on the hook for paying out the rest of the lease. (this is Nevada law by the way). She then wanted us to turn in our keys before she could find tenants but still wanted us to pay rent until she did find tenants. We didn't feel comfortable with this because of her attitude and demeanor before with her, so she had us sign a document stating we were moving out on a certain day (gave 30 days notice) on July 18th.
We moved out immediately but kept the keys, and moved into our new apartment. We then proceeded to clean, and take care of the old apartment in Mesquite, and had a "move-out" walk through on July 11th 2018. At this time we gave our manager the keys to the apartment, and filled out the move-out checklist. I actually video taped it, just to capture the audio of the entire walk through but did not record any pictures of her (just kept the phone pointed at the ground) but did take pictures of a small crack/hole in a closet door she stated was an issue.
We then went to see a lawyer. He stated she would have to give us a letter of deposit disposition before a 30 day period elapsed (NRS 118A.242) but we aren't sure exactly when that time frame started. The apartments have an online portal, in which you could pay your rent online, they would assign it as being due on the 1st of the month, as well as you can submit maintenance requests and send messages, etc. We paid our rent for all of July through July 31st, but did not pay August as of yet. As of August 9th, there was no amount due on the online portal, so we were expecting the deposit disposition letter by mail. However as of today (August 11th), they have assigned an amount due for the August rent. Per the civil code, they either hand the deposit disposition letter to us at their office, or they mail it to our address, not assign an amount due in their resident internet portal. Over the weekend, I think, we're going to visit our old apartment, knock on the door, and see if it has been rented.
So, as of now, I'm not exactly sure how to proceed, because of the timeline and the unorthodox way this landlord has dealt with this breaking of the lease. I really believe she just doesn't like dealing with confrontation, hence not taking care of a drug using tenant causing other tenants in your apartment building to leave. I don't even know if she understands the law completely to even know about the disposition letter, so I really don't want to ask her questions or talk with her to ask her whats next. My concern is that I never wrote a letter, or sent an email as to giving our 30 day notice. The only thing we did was sign that particular document.
We are aware if we do not receive that deposit disposition in a timely fashion, we would need to sue the landlord to either receive our deposits back, or end this situation. I'm just concerned the landlord is uneducated in this matter, and her negligence will cause this to be drawn out for quite a while.