I signed a 13 month lease that expires in Sept 2012. I am in the process of purchasing a home. I gave the apartment complex a 30 day notice and stated I would pay a lease break fee. My move out date was scheduled for 6/9/12. The closing on my hou ...

Submitted by maynard on

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I signed a 13 month lease that expires in Sept 2012. I am in the process of purchasing a home. I gave the apartment complex a 30 day notice and stated I would pay a lease break fee. My move out date was scheduled for 6/9/12. The closing on my house changed from 6/8/12 to 6/22/12. I contacted the office as soon as I found out and asked to extend my move out date. I was told by the manager I could not because they rerented the unit for a move in on 6/23/12. I have not paid my lease break fee yet. Do they have the right to tell me I can not stay that I have to move out on the 6/9/12. especially since I have not paid my lease break fee. IF I move out do I have to pay the lease break fee. or Is it you either pay a lease break fee or your are rent responsible until your lease expires or the unit is rerented. Please help me

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DakotaLegal's picture

 

Submitted by DakotaLegal on

 
In reality, you could probably be able to stay through a full month, since it would take the police to actually move you out: and that’s not likely. That threat, however, can be pretty nerve wracking, especially if you have a family to worry about. Based on the facts as you’ve laid them out, we’ll take a look at Oklahoma law regarding “eviction” and the process it takes for a landlord to normally remove a tenant.
 
Two unknowns are important: (1) how did you tell the landlord you were moving? And (2) What does your 13-month lease say about moving and the breach of the lease? These two “unknowns” go to bigger, more complex, answers to your questions, and raise two very different ideas: is your written lease more powerful than your possibly oral promise to move? Generally, under Oklahoma landlord/tenant law, you have a right to limit “penalties” for moving out early, and the landlord is likely only going to be entitled to actual damages…often a month’s lost rental income. Here’s a good case for you to look at regarding what the landlord might claim as damages due from you… http://caselaw .findlaw.com/ok-supreme-court/1189594.html.
 
In cases where you might be accused of a crime (such as trespass) it is always worthwhile to try and get legal advice right there. Some affordable legal options include Oklahoma legal aid. Here’s a site to screen your eligibility for low-cost legal aid: http://www. legalaidok.org /rtf1.cfm?pagename=apply%20for%20help.
 


  • Oklahoma Eviction Laws

 
As we’ve mentioned in passing, the police would probably view this as a contract dispute and they wouldn’t get involved. This is not always the case, though. Sometimes (but not too often), in a very small town, a landlord may have friends or be able to influence the police.
 
I also suggest you look at some materials on landlord/tenant rights under OK law. For example, you suggested you gave a 30-day notice. What’s interesting about this is that the 30-day notice requirement may not apply in your case: it depends on what your 13-month lease says about notice. Under Oklahoma law (presented here…http://www.okbar. org/public/brochures/tenants-rights.htm), the 30-day notice is required when you have a month-to-month lease, and not a 13-month lease. This works for you in two ways:
 
1.      The thirty day notice is unenforceable (meaningless) since it probably doesn’t apply to your lease;
2.      But if the 30-day notice does apply, then it was ineffective in this case, because it had to include a full month’s notice. That did not happen in this case since it did not include all of June.
3.      You have otherwise kept all parts of your lease, including payment of rent for all of June.
4.      The landlord did not give you any notice of intent to re-lease or to evict you.
 
If one or more of these is not true, then your case is weaker. The importance of these points is that they are valid legal arguments. This tends to move it out of any allegation of your breaking a criminal law.
 
There’s still the unknown issue of whether you gave oral or written notice to move. Let’s look at that…
 

  • Written Versus Oral Contracts

 
You indicate you “gave” a thirty day notice. Was this in writing or did you simply tell the landlord verbally? The bottom line is that you want to enforce your written lease. It’s another legal issue, making this more a matter of contract than any criminal action. Be prepared for the landlord to say you have breached the contract, however, and that they “relied” on your representation (promise) to move. But under Oklahoma law, the landlord has to give you at least 10 days notice of the ending of your lease. You still have a right to go to court in order to contest eviction.
 
The risk of being taken to court is that the landlord can ask for twice the rental amount as well as damages. Your defense rests on proving you “held over” the rental into June, based on a good faith argument. Proving your “good faith” brings us back to the arguments we have talked about above.
 
 

All Comments

DakotaLegal's picture

 

Submitted by DakotaLegal on

 
In reality, you could probably be able to stay through a full month, since it would take the police to actually move you out: and that’s not likely. That threat, however, can be pretty nerve wracking, especially if you have a family to worry about. Based on the facts as you’ve laid them out, we’ll take a look at Oklahoma law regarding “eviction” and the process it takes for a landlord to normally remove a tenant.
 
Two unknowns are important: (1) how did you tell the landlord you were moving? And (2) What does your 13-month lease say about moving and the breach of the lease? These two “unknowns” go to bigger, more complex, answers to your questions, and raise two very different ideas: is your written lease more powerful than your possibly oral promise to move? Generally, under Oklahoma landlord/tenant law, you have a right to limit “penalties” for moving out early, and the landlord is likely only going to be entitled to actual damages…often a month’s lost rental income. Here’s a good case for you to look at regarding what the landlord might claim as damages due from you… http://caselaw .findlaw.com/ok-supreme-court/1189594.html.
 
In cases where you might be accused of a crime (such as trespass) it is always worthwhile to try and get legal advice right there. Some affordable legal options include Oklahoma legal aid. Here’s a site to screen your eligibility for low-cost legal aid: http://www. legalaidok.org /rtf1.cfm?pagename=apply%20for%20help.
 


  • Oklahoma Eviction Laws

 
As we’ve mentioned in passing, the police would probably view this as a contract dispute and they wouldn’t get involved. This is not always the case, though. Sometimes (but not too often), in a very small town, a landlord may have friends or be able to influence the police.
 
I also suggest you look at some materials on landlord/tenant rights under OK law. For example, you suggested you gave a 30-day notice. What’s interesting about this is that the 30-day notice requirement may not apply in your case: it depends on what your 13-month lease says about notice. Under Oklahoma law (presented here…http://www.okbar. org/public/brochures/tenants-rights.htm), the 30-day notice is required when you have a month-to-month lease, and not a 13-month lease. This works for you in two ways:
 
1.      The thirty day notice is unenforceable (meaningless) since it probably doesn’t apply to your lease;
2.      But if the 30-day notice does apply, then it was ineffective in this case, because it had to include a full month’s notice. That did not happen in this case since it did not include all of June.
3.      You have otherwise kept all parts of your lease, including payment of rent for all of June.
4.      The landlord did not give you any notice of intent to re-lease or to evict you.
 
If one or more of these is not true, then your case is weaker. The importance of these points is that they are valid legal arguments. This tends to move it out of any allegation of your breaking a criminal law.
 
There’s still the unknown issue of whether you gave oral or written notice to move. Let’s look at that…
 

  • Written Versus Oral Contracts

 
You indicate you “gave” a thirty day notice. Was this in writing or did you simply tell the landlord verbally? The bottom line is that you want to enforce your written lease. It’s another legal issue, making this more a matter of contract than any criminal action. Be prepared for the landlord to say you have breached the contract, however, and that they “relied” on your representation (promise) to move. But under Oklahoma law, the landlord has to give you at least 10 days notice of the ending of your lease. You still have a right to go to court in order to contest eviction.
 
The risk of being taken to court is that the landlord can ask for twice the rental amount as well as damages. Your defense rests on proving you “held over” the rental into June, based on a good faith argument. Proving your “good faith” brings us back to the arguments we have talked about above.