A Lease Agreement is a legal contract between all parties. In general, if a Lease is broken, the Tenant may be held responsible for the terms of the Lease Agreement (and all payments required...) until the Lease actually expires or until a new Tenant is found to replace the Tenant who broke the Lease, whichever comes first. Costs may include advertising the property, fees that were paid in Leasing Agent comissions, fees involved in qualifying the new Tenant, costs of showing the property, costs of utilities, etc. The ex-Tenant may also be held responsilbe for reimbursement of the Landlord's costs, if any, associated with returning the property to its previous move-in condition, less normal wear and tear.
Hopefully you have copies of inspections and photos and/or videotaped evidence of the condition that the property was in when you took possession and also of when you returned possession to your Landlord.
Landlord Tenant Laws do vary from State to State and sometimes between Counties/Cities within States. For peace-of-mind, re-read your Lease Agreement and also read through the Landlord Tenant Laws for the State/County/City where the rental property is located to see how a lease-break situation is addressed. While you are reading through the Laws, find out what method and amount of time your ex-Landlord has to advise you of the disposition of your Security Deposit. It is always possible to write your ex-Landlord if you have any questions. Additionally, it is always a good idea to have written proof that you provided your Landlord with your forwarding address.
Let us know what you find out by doing some research...
Last edited on Sat Feb 16th, 2008 08:53 pm by LandlordLaura
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