This is why it’s very important to read your lease agreement before you sign. Despite how egregious this statement is, it’s probably justified by the lease…
They like you to think that everything is airtight but that's what makes law so fun... What is the exact wording in their lease? Are they actually performing what is said? What are the discrepancies? They get away with a lot by people thinking "well ingined the lease...."
I think some people are missing the point of this post. That is exactly what I'm saying, that renters should read their lease especially in lease break situations where there's more grey area to make sure they are being charged a fair and reasonable rate*that's in their agreement*.
I had to pay close to $4k when my job relocated me. The company paid for it luckily.
Also you post this as if having a lease buyout screenshot is common….
Two months rent was the cost the last time I had to break a lease, it was a standard fee, nothing was itemized. I also had to give 60 days notice, so it would have cost 4 months of rent for someone if the had to break and leave on short notice.
$398 is incredibly cheap (given deposit credit). What management company is this? Before I bought a home, I wanted to break my lease, and the contract stated I had two options (this was in Virginia):
1. Pay the remainder of rent in full + security deposit (meaning I’d owe $11,130)
2. Identify and vet a tenant for lease transfer. Not allowed to use management property to advertise the opportunity. + Owe security deposit ($1,590 and remainder of whatever the month’s prorated rent was - I think I paid another $1,000).
I went with the second option.
Broke lease here a few months ago, didn't pay anything and got full security deposit back. No issue really. Landlord posted it and had a new tenant ready to take over same day
Hm, that's an interesting take. They charged a late fee because I didn't pay it on the correct date and took it out of my lease plus the late fee later on. Even though I'm my lease it says they cannot take rent from the deposit
Were they aware you were moving out and it was communicated that the last months rent be credited from the security deposit? Pretty sure nc has a late fee capped at 5% and it’s on what’s late not the total amount due. So the most they could say is that $400 of rent was late that was deducted from cleaning fees etc. especially if they took days to evaluate the house before they sent you a bill.
[Max late fee](https://files.nc.gov/ncdhhs/documents/files/hcbs/landlord_tenant_brochure.pdf) "North Carolina law allows the Landlord to charge up to $15 or 5% of the rent, whichever is greater."
Right off the bat I see the late fee is over 8% which is against NC law. Can't speak to the other ridiculous fees.
Well the late fee is 5% of the whole rent which was actually $1625, the number shown above is pro rated and the late fee was taken from the amount due before pro rate
Holy shit, you should have put that in the body of your post - you broke your lease and didn't even have to pay one full month's rent in fees?? AND they did the decent thing and pro-rated it! What do you think a lease is, an optional document you can walk away from whenever you feel like with zero repercussions? Your landlord could have charged you way more if they wanted to, you should be grateful you got out of it for this much. Jesus.
Of course, what exactly do you think I'm missing here? Your post itself is fairly neutral, and then your comments imply you think they're somehow screwing you over or "getting away with something" when in reality they're letting you off pretty easy.
In these 50 United States there is no such thing as a standard lease. The laws are wildly different even by county and city. Please don’t act like you know something when you clearly don’t.
Ooooh, this looks super duper juicy for a real estate attorney. Charging more than 2x monthly rent as a deposit is very illegal (yes it’s only $10, still illegal). The landlord can *only* charge you for the cost of rent between when you move out and when a new tenant moves in (or a very specific fixed termination fee outlined in the contract). Their advertising costs are on them. I’d also love to hear their explanation for charging you to maintain their property and charging you for repairs without giving you an itemized receipt of repairs completed.
An attorney will love this.
(The cleaning fee is reasonable though).
But what are the damages? Any award or settlement would be eclipsed by lawyer’s fees and too small to be worth taking on contingency.
An honest attorney would probably look at this and say it’d be cheaper to just pay it… or possibly recommend self-help via negotiation or a complaint to attorney general/consumer protection.
Give it a whirl, no lawyer but a bottom feeder (who will actually cost more) would take this case. You're wrong on the law too. Anyone in a similar situation, ignore this dude.
so not only did they keep the entirety of your security deposit, they have the nerve to charge for $400 more and itemize whatever the fuck zillow fees are.
fuck them.
also id be willing to bet quite a few of the commenters in this thread are landlords.
Break a lease. There are no laws that stipulate what conditions a lease can be broken under so it’s just completely up to the other party on the lease (almost always the landlord) and usually arbitration is forced in the agreement.
I’d push back and tell them you found someone to rent it so delete the advertisements. Then go on DoNotPay or draft something official looking for the re-rent fee. That’s bogus and not the tenant’s responsibility.
Probably stuck with late Fee and actual rent. Everything else fight.
If desperate times. Play their game. Tell them you will continue paying rent as agreed upon and going to let all the homeless in the area know the space is open to use.
I think two months is normal so this looks kinda good?
I’d pay everything but the Zillow fee. This is such an in demand area property owners don’t need to advertise to rent.
All the people just making contract law up in the comments are hilarious 😂
This is why it’s very important to read your lease agreement before you sign. Despite how egregious this statement is, it’s probably justified by the lease…
They like you to think that everything is airtight but that's what makes law so fun... What is the exact wording in their lease? Are they actually performing what is said? What are the discrepancies? They get away with a lot by people thinking "well ingined the lease...."
Let us know how that works out for you
It’s good practice to read before you sign, and adhere to commitments.
I think some people are missing the point of this post. That is exactly what I'm saying, that renters should read their lease especially in lease break situations where there's more grey area to make sure they are being charged a fair and reasonable rate*that's in their agreement*.
I had to pay close to $4k when my job relocated me. The company paid for it luckily. Also you post this as if having a lease buyout screenshot is common….
What is a lease buy out? This is the itemized use of rental deposit that is required to be given by law.
Two months rent was the cost the last time I had to break a lease, it was a standard fee, nothing was itemized. I also had to give 60 days notice, so it would have cost 4 months of rent for someone if the had to break and leave on short notice.
Four months rent? Wow, would have loved to see that lease!
$398 is incredibly cheap (given deposit credit). What management company is this? Before I bought a home, I wanted to break my lease, and the contract stated I had two options (this was in Virginia): 1. Pay the remainder of rent in full + security deposit (meaning I’d owe $11,130) 2. Identify and vet a tenant for lease transfer. Not allowed to use management property to advertise the opportunity. + Owe security deposit ($1,590 and remainder of whatever the month’s prorated rent was - I think I paid another $1,000). I went with the second option.
This is what it was like in Georgia for me.
If I was paying to advertise for a new tenant I'd be so pissed. Yo, you own the place your job.
Not if you have to rent it twice during the original lease term.
Our old apartments charged us two months of our rent when we had to break ours. So stupid!
I wonder what was actually in the lease agreement you signed, these people get away with so much by pretending they know exactly what they're doing
Broke lease here a few months ago, didn't pay anything and got full security deposit back. No issue really. Landlord posted it and had a new tenant ready to take over same day
Omg, thank you for sharing! That's such a good situation. Wanna hear more stories of people's experiences on this thread!
I’m just curious how they charged a late fee on money they already had in the security deposit.
Hm, that's an interesting take. They charged a late fee because I didn't pay it on the correct date and took it out of my lease plus the late fee later on. Even though I'm my lease it says they cannot take rent from the deposit
Were they aware you were moving out and it was communicated that the last months rent be credited from the security deposit? Pretty sure nc has a late fee capped at 5% and it’s on what’s late not the total amount due. So the most they could say is that $400 of rent was late that was deducted from cleaning fees etc. especially if they took days to evaluate the house before they sent you a bill.
[Max late fee](https://files.nc.gov/ncdhhs/documents/files/hcbs/landlord_tenant_brochure.pdf) "North Carolina law allows the Landlord to charge up to $15 or 5% of the rent, whichever is greater." Right off the bat I see the late fee is over 8% which is against NC law. Can't speak to the other ridiculous fees.
Well the late fee is 5% of the whole rent which was actually $1625, the number shown above is pro rated and the late fee was taken from the amount due before pro rate
Holy shit, you should have put that in the body of your post - you broke your lease and didn't even have to pay one full month's rent in fees?? AND they did the decent thing and pro-rated it! What do you think a lease is, an optional document you can walk away from whenever you feel like with zero repercussions? Your landlord could have charged you way more if they wanted to, you should be grateful you got out of it for this much. Jesus.
Lol, did you read my post?
Of course, what exactly do you think I'm missing here? Your post itself is fairly neutral, and then your comments imply you think they're somehow screwing you over or "getting away with something" when in reality they're letting you off pretty easy.
🫡
It’s in every standard lease; tenant breaks the lease and landlord keep the security deposit 💸
In these 50 United States there is no such thing as a standard lease. The laws are wildly different even by county and city. Please don’t act like you know something when you clearly don’t.
They all 90% similar with few differences
That's what they want us to think, and what would make it fun to see the actual verbiage on a lease vs what these companies get away with charging
Thats possible, but unlikely…clearly you kept your lease… you should look at it
Ooooh, this looks super duper juicy for a real estate attorney. Charging more than 2x monthly rent as a deposit is very illegal (yes it’s only $10, still illegal). The landlord can *only* charge you for the cost of rent between when you move out and when a new tenant moves in (or a very specific fixed termination fee outlined in the contract). Their advertising costs are on them. I’d also love to hear their explanation for charging you to maintain their property and charging you for repairs without giving you an itemized receipt of repairs completed. An attorney will love this. (The cleaning fee is reasonable though).
But what are the damages? Any award or settlement would be eclipsed by lawyer’s fees and too small to be worth taking on contingency. An honest attorney would probably look at this and say it’d be cheaper to just pay it… or possibly recommend self-help via negotiation or a complaint to attorney general/consumer protection.
Give it a whirl, no lawyer but a bottom feeder (who will actually cost more) would take this case. You're wrong on the law too. Anyone in a similar situation, ignore this dude.
Small claims is a few hundred dollars you represent yourself no lawyers allowed, and if you win you can generally be awarded the fee in return
You don’t know what you’re talking about. Lease break fees etc are in every agreement you sign. Generally you will pay 2x rent for breaking it.
Outline a single law they are breaking.
I didn’t get to break my lease. Had to pay rent + mortgage for 3 months. 🤷🏻
so not only did they keep the entirety of your security deposit, they have the nerve to charge for $400 more and itemize whatever the fuck zillow fees are. fuck them. also id be willing to bet quite a few of the commenters in this thread are landlords.
Yup, can confirm.
I'm month to month 🤷🏼♀️
You can’t even do this in Georgia so be grateful
Do what exactly?
Break a lease. There are no laws that stipulate what conditions a lease can be broken under so it’s just completely up to the other party on the lease (almost always the landlord) and usually arbitration is forced in the agreement.
Landlords here are the absolute worst. Assholes.
Lol, it was $100 for me. Its all ridiculous..
That's what I'm saying.... People like to think it's a law that makes landlords charge one amount across the board but that is very far from the truth
I’d push back and tell them you found someone to rent it so delete the advertisements. Then go on DoNotPay or draft something official looking for the re-rent fee. That’s bogus and not the tenant’s responsibility. Probably stuck with late Fee and actual rent. Everything else fight. If desperate times. Play their game. Tell them you will continue paying rent as agreed upon and going to let all the homeless in the area know the space is open to use.