End of Lease Issues

[blakecr]

I live in Texas.

I gave my 30-Day notice at my apartment complex on April 19th. My last day is May 19th. Because I am not staying a whole month in May, I have to pay a prorated amount. On that day (April 19th) the lady who works at the complex game me an amount of $205.48 that I owed for those 19 days. She wrote it on a document and signed her name to it.

On May 1st, I couldn't remember the exact amount that I needed to pay. Due to time constraints, I decided it would be easier to stop at the complex and ask them rather than go to my house and search for the written document. There they told me I owed $300. When I confronted them about this, they acted as if they didn't know what I was talking about. So I went home and got the document and brought it back and showed it to them.

At that time the lady I was talking to took the paper to go talk to her manager. When she returned, she had marked out the amount of $205.48 and wrote $300 and attatched a computer printout to it, and stated that they had made a mistake in determining a prorated amount. She also claimed that they would not honor the amount of $205.48.

My question is this, is that document not a contract? It was an offical Apartment document and was signed by a representative of the complex. If I wasn't pressed for money (I'm a college student) then I wouldn't mind paying the extra $100.

 

[LL]

No, it is not a contract.

Whatever is the correct amount of money that you owe, is not wiped out by a clerk's mistake. You still owe the correct amount.

I am disappointed in your approach. As a college student, you should have been able to reason for yourself enough to get this result.

If the clerk had written down an amount which is too large, would you then have agreed that that amount, having been written down, is what you must pay? Or, would you have argued that it is the wrong amount, and should be corrected to the right amount?

 

[blakecr]

I see your point. In all honesty, I probably would aruge if the amount was too much. I'm not a dishonest person, it's just that I had planned my budget around paying the $205. Now I have to come up with an extra $100 on top of the money I owe my new apartment for deposits and such.

Thanks for the response.