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how much I need to pay to break a lease

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kongla

New member
Maryland.
I have to break the lease which ends on June 30. I gave a 60-day notice on Jan 26 of my intent to vacate on March 28. I was told twice by leasing office that I only need to pay one month rent as penalty. However, today I was told to pay rent for all months until June. My lease writes "you can still terminate the Lease provided: 1) Your account is in good standing and there is no outstanding balance. 2) You give the Landlord at least sixty days' written notice of your intent to vacate. 3) You pay all rent due during the sixty-day notice period. 4) You tender, with your notice, the full amount that would have been due for the last month of the lease term. This amount shall constitute liquidated damages and is not a penalty."

I have paid the rent for March. How much more I need to pay for breaking the lease?
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
When you gave notice on January 26th, did you also give them a payment for June?
I know that it seems to read the way you are going with that, but the OP also said:

However, today I was told to pay rent for all months until June.
So obviously they are reading it differently, or at least someone in the management's office reads it differently.
 

kongla

New member
NO, I did not pay the rent for June when I gave them the notice. I planned to give it together with the rent for March but they told me a different story.
 

adjusterjack

Senior Member
"I was told" is the most dangerous phrase in the English language.

Rely on the terms and conditions of your lease, not on what you were "told."

People who "tell" you things tend to be long gone or suffer amnesia by the time you get to court but if you comply with the terms of your lease and keep your lease permanently in your files, you're good to go.

NO, I did not pay the rent for June when I gave them the notice
Then you have not complied with your lease:

4) You tender, with your notice, the full amount that would have been due for the last month of the lease term.
What part of "with your notice" didn't you understand?
 

kongla

New member
I am not a native speaker. I understood it as as long as I have the notice, not at the time of giving the notice.
 

stealth2

Under the Radar Member
I am not a native speaker. I understood it as as long as I have the notice, not at the time of giving the notice.
That likely won't matter. All that will matter is how the judge understands it if it gets that far.
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
The blessing in this mess is that if the lease really is worded 4) You tender, with your notice, the full amount that would have been due for the last month of the lease term. This amount shall constitute liquidated damages and is not a penalty." since it gives you one heck of a lot of room to argue > last month means just that and if you intended it to mean something else then that is not what my lease says`` See if a LL writes a lease that leaves things with what appears to be two answers then the LL cant just pick and choose and tell you something else or claim that part of the lease was a error, the courts tend to not reward LLs for a term that contradicts another term in the lease
 

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