Notice promised, not given

[MomGT123]

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

I have tried to do some research on this and have found partial answers so I'm hoping someone here is more knowledgeable on this.

My husband and I are in the process of building a house. We went to our apartment's main office in person and spoke to a rep there about what we needed to do as far as notice (we tried to give notice then, but they said it was too soon). She assured us that we didn't need to worry about it, that the apartment would give us renewal options at least 90 days in advance of our current lease ending. I do know that the standard notice for this property is 60 days, but again I didn't think about it any further because we were assured that we would be given our options 90 days out.

I called today and found out that our lease actually ends in 9 days. The only reason I didn't know the ending date for sure is because our last renewal was for an odd number of months so I wasn't positive on the date. Yes, I know I could have checked but I honestly thought it was in April or May. So now, they are saying that I have to pay my current rent plus $150 per month until I do move out.

I understand that what the apartment rep told me was verbal and I have no way to prove it, but it is their standard practice because that is how I have renewed my lease in the past. Do I have any standing to at least keep my rent at the same rate for a couple of months since I wasn't given any kind of notice? I have seen a couple of places where it states that in TX the landlord is required to give at least a 30 day notice before changing the lease over to a month to month and increasing the rate. Would I at least have that in my favor? I'm hoping to work something out for at least two months since I was not given the promised renewal notice. I don't have a copy of my current lease, they didn't give me one and I failed to ask so assuming that it doesn't specifically spell out what kind of notice they will give, what are my rights as a tenant?

Thank you for any help

 

[MomGT123]

For any others who come here with a similar issue, I finally found some back-up. I have read that regardless of what is in the lease, that state statutes/codes take precedence and I have also ready that the lease takes precedence. Not sure which one is accurate but there is no language addressing this in my lease, so I believe my situation would revert to the state property codes.

Texas Property Code - Section 94.055. Notice of Lease Renewal - States that landlords are required to give at least 60 days notice of renewal options (including rent amounts) or a notice to vacate. In my case, this notice has not been given. Even today on the phone, they couldn't give me a solid figure just estimates from other people in the office. This particular property code mentions manufactured homes but yet I have found countless places where this code is referenced in response to questions similar to mine.

Texas Apartment Association (my complex is a member) - Under the TAA Lease Contract: To increase the rent (or any other amount noted on page 1 of the lease) at the end of the inital lease term, the owner must give you the same amount of notice that you are required to give if you plan to move out at the end of the term, plus five days. <--This would mean 65 days notice for me.

So, it looks like either way I should have received something at least 60 days before the end of my lease.....

 

[HomeGuru]

So you answered your own question.

 

[Searchertwin]

My husband and I are in the process of building a house. We went to our apartment's main office in person and spoke to a rep there about what we needed to do as far as notice
I called today and found out that our lease actually ends in 9 days.

Most written leases state that at the expiration date, the lease is automatically renewed either for the same period (e.g., one year or six months) or on a month-to-month basis, unless one of the parties indicates otherwise.

LL, assumes that you are going to renew the lease, you walked in before nine days giving notice
It doesn’t work that way.

I understand that what the apartment rep told me was verbal and I have no way to prove it

This is correct, it can be verbal by the LL.
And you can't prove they didn't. A good lesson to learn for next time.

So now, they are saying that I have to pay my current rent plus $150 per month until I do move out.

Because they stated they told you, that's why you have to pay the rent plus the $150.00 till YOU give the 30 days notice to vacate on the month-to-month that you are now in.

 

[MomGT123]

Most written leases state that at the expiration date, the lease is automatically renewed either for the same period (e.g., one year or six months) or on a month-to-month basis, unless one of the parties indicates otherwise.

LL, assumes that you are going to renew the lease, you walked in before nine days giving notice
It doesn’t work that way.


This is correct, it can be verbal by the LL.
And you can't prove they didn't. A good lesson to learn for next time.



Because they stated they told you, that's why you have to pay the rent plus the $150.00 till YOU give the 30 days notice to vacate on the month-to-month that you are now in.

I'm not arguing that the lease has to at least continue month-to-month since I did not sign a renewal (I'm not asking to give notice of move out), I'm just saying that there was no 65 day notice that rent was going to increase which I found is part of TX property code and also ended up being stated in the very last paragraph of my extremely long lease. They even say that they will give their tenants 65-90 days notice of renewal options and new rent rates, which they did not.

I found out that I don't have to pay the $150 more a month until 65 days after they notify me in writing, which they still haven't done even though I've been up there to talk to them. In fact, we still weren't given any concrete rates, just vague percentages that were "likely". The person there this weekend didn't have the authority to do anything so my husband is going back up there today when the manager is in. The weekend person even admitted that sometimes their computers mess up and don't give notice to tenants that their leases are expiring and renewal notices are not distributed.

My only issue was: 1) I could have signed a short-term (3 months) lease back on 12/26 when I should have been given notice but now my move-out day is less than that, so I would just end up having to break that lease and pay the financial consequences. 2) I still plan on giving a full 60 day notice before I do move out, even though technically according to the lease, I could give 30 because they failed to give me any type of notice. I'm still going to give 60 though since I am holding them to their part of the agreement. 3) I'm only asking that the apartment follow the property code, the Texas Apartment Association's policies (that they are a member of) and their own lease clause that states they cannot raise rent without giving 65-90 notice to the tenant. They even have in their computer that I was never given a renewal notice.

Now, if in my lease, there was a clause stating that a lease transitioned to month-to-month would go up by $____ or ____% then it would be more of a gray area without the notice but there's nothing stating that. Just that it goes month-to-month, which is fine....just not ok with the increased rent without proper notice.

 

[HomeGuru]

Ok, I get your point. Next time follow the law. And if the office does not give you notice, you give them notice.

 

[MomGT123]

Ok, I get your point. Next time follow the law. And if the office does not give you notice, you give them notice.

I did follow the law...I have no intention of moving in the next 60 days and that's the only thing I am required to give notice of. My husband went to speak to the office manager yesterday and she immediately began apologizing because she saw that it was a mistake in their computer system and said that until they were able to get a 65 day notice out to us from corporate, we did not need to pay anything other than our current rent amount. It was actually much easier than I thought, I was being pessimistic and assuming that they would try and cover up their mistake so they could get more money but they were very nice about it.

I think maybe I was misunderstood and it seemed as if I was wanting to leave without giving any notice....that was never my intent. Trust me, I do wish I had kept better track of my lease end date....I normally do. It just completely slipped my mind.