Okay, our lease is up February 28th.

We told the Landlord in December we plan on buying a house but didn't know how long it would take and if we could go month to month after the lease us up.

Our neighbors said that they're doing it.

Joe the son, said it wouldn't/shouldn't be a problem.

Jack our landlord would never call us back, never receive our letters, or respond.

Finally we talked to him and he acted like he doesn't normally do month to month but he would make an exception (LIAR!)

I wrote a letter mailing it certified on our agreements. This is my letter:

We're sending this letter as we agreed to over the phone as a notice for month to month (IF need to be, depending on how long the closing process takes) after our lease is up February 28th 2011 or to be able to extend our stay for a couple of weeks also if need be.

If the house closes before February 28th, we won’t have to go month to month because we will be moving out.

We are not sure how long it will take to close on the house and we’re not sure how long the Loan Application Process will take. It could take a couple weeks, or it could take a couple months. We are not sure. We are hoping the house will close around mid- March 2011, but it could take longer, there is no guarantee, but we just wanted to make you aware of our situation so you could make the necessary arrangements for renting out the house.


We will consider this our official notice and when we become aware of specific application/closing dates we will let you know as soon as possible! We want to make this a smooth transition as possible for all parties involved. We should know the closing date 30 days before the closing date, maybe even 45 days and we will let you know as soon we know so you will know at least 30 days before we move out.

Also, when we figure out when our closing date is, and if it happens to be in the beginning or mid way through the month, we would like to have our rent money pro-rated back to us since we would not be occupying the house for the entire month. If you disagree or have any questions, please call us at 904-382-4704 so we can discuss in further detail.



We sent it certified and he doesn't accept but jokes on him bc I have his email and send it to his email and this is what he responds:



We have not received the certified letter in the mail yet. However I do acknowledge receipt of the email letter and will address that.

As I told Brian before we will accommodate the month to month situation as you requested without a lease. Under these circumstances you should note that regardless of when you would plan to move during the month after you notify us, the monthly rent is due and payable for the entire month. There is no proration in that instance for the actual period of time you stay until moving out. The reason for that is that we will have to make sure the apartment is ready for the next tenant which will mean getting work done on the apartment.

We normally do not rent month by month. We made an exception for your case to facilitate your situation. We expect that you accept our terms as well in reciprocity.

Under the normal lease conditions we would be advertising and getting tenants to view the place until it is rented which would be by some time before the the lease is over.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.


Now My thing is this- If we give him sufficient notice, how can he charge us for a while month, if we wont be staying (if this is the case). NO work needs to be done on the apartment bc we only been there a year and it looks better than when we first moved in. Now what freaks me out, is there was no home inspection or list of things wrong with the house that he knew was clearly wrong before we moved in and I don't want him to blame it on us bc if he's being this shady...(but Ill have no problem suing him for my 950 deposit back)
Anyways, it seems like he just doesn't want to have to pay mortgage for the time no one is in the house but frankly that's not my problem. That's the risk you take renting your property. If he couldn't find someone to rent it out, what's he gonna do, make us pay for the next month..and the next?! NO! He cant do that! Its not my responsibility to make sure he has tenants. Plus summer is coming up and its 2 blocks away from the beach its not gonna be THAT hard to freaking rent out. So what do I do? What CAN I do. I've looked online at all different tenant laws, talked to my boss who is a landlord, etc.

All this is really stressing me out

In this situation, the Landlord is CORRECT and would win any court case brought against otherwise. It's standard practice. It may not be right...but it's how it works.

As for the Inspection list, The VERY first thing you should do as a tenet is to have a mutually agreed upon list. It's for YOUR protection later. In this case, if he does come back and try to charge you some something he says is wrong with the rental, you have NO proof that he is lying. The best policy is not only to have an agreed upon list, but also pics and possible video of everything that is wrong and on the list.

I guess Im confused as to WHY he is correct in not having to Prorate us back our rent if WE arent STAYING there for the whole month.
If we moved out Febuary 28th like the lease states, he wouldnt make us pay for March until he found someone. Makes no sense.

I forgot to add that if thats the case, then we will just stay the whole month then. By law he cant rent it out to another person while we paid rent on it, and by law we can keep the keys until the end of the month.

If you pay the whole month, that is your prerogative to stay that whole month. Legally, he can re-rent it as soon as you give him notice that you have vacated the premises. Situations like this are why people normally do NOT move in the middle of the month unless forced to.

I would suggest calling your local office of Legal Aid where you live. They can tell you more about your state laws concerning rental laws.

I guess I dont really need advice anymore.

Maybe I shouldve wrote down everything he's ever done to show just how shady he has been, so this just seemed like something else that was shady.

Thanks for all the replies. I dont know how to shut this down/delete/edit this.

Moved to Graveyard.

You have agreed to pay a monthly amount for your rent in your rental contract, if you wanted to pay by day or by week, then you should have found a landlord who was willing to do this before you signed anything.

As a tenant it is also your responsibility to ensure that either you have the landlord carry out an inspection of the property as soon as you move in and check it over yourself, or to do one yourself and then send a copy to your landlord so he if he has an queries, he can present them to you. Just as if something breaks in my house it is my responsibility to inform my landlord, as a tenant you represent yourself, you don't wait for someone else to take action.

However, you could still make yourself a good list of things in your house, including photo's with the date on them, then if he does charge you for anything when you get an itemised list of damages you can still go back to the list you have compiled.

The thing is, you're renting by the MONTH, not the day. If your lease said "each day you pay XDollars" you could prorate. Since your lease specifies monthly payments, you owe for the entire month. And no court could really do anything about it, as it's a legal contract that you agreed to.

I get it, he's not a hotel.
I understand.

I had talked to my boss who is a landlord and she usually pro rates, but shes also not a greedy bitch.