The landlord before him let me sign an 8 month lease just while I was in school. This new landlord doesnt believe me and wants to see the agreement. I cant find it but they would have to have it in their records. When I move out at the end of april I just want to make sure I wont be dinged for another 4 months. Thanks for any help.
Tags: Agreement, Apartment, Have, Landlord, Lease, Lost, Month, Rental, Signed, Thinks
Go to the landlord’s office, and politely insist that you see the original of the renter’s agreement. They have to have it on file. Have them make a new copy of it.
What you DON’T want to do is just assume that everything will be ok and ignore the problem — because even if you are technically, legally correct, the landlord can still make your life miserable by trying to collect.
Try to come to a reasonable, amicable solution with the LL. That’s the number one priority.
the previous landlord would have it in THIER records – doesn’t mean your new one does…
tear your house apart to find it, otherwise, since most leases are 12 month, you are going to have a hard time proving otherwise, unless you can find your old landlord.
It will be up to a judge’s discretion who needs the burden of proof – if the old landlord mainly had 12 month leases, and there is no one else with that exception – it goes against you. If you can prove either by your lease, or if you know someone else the same agreement was made with – you have the proof.
Who ever has the burden of proof is going to be the winner of this outcome.
The old landlord should have given the new landlord any copies of lease agreements. Ask for a copy. If they don’t have it, they have no proof of when you moved in. They may try taking you to landlord/tenant court, but I doubt they’d get a judgment with no proof you left 4 months early.
If the landlord wants to enforce a 1 year contract he has to produce that contract.
But he can have the assumption that you are a month to month tenant in absence of any contract from you.
So. make sure you give notice early enough to cover yourself on the month to month assumption.
Here is the deal.
If YOU don’t have a copy of the written agreement AND he doesn’t either?
Guess what? You have NO legal lease.
All you have to do is give him a 30-day notice and you can leave.
He can’t sue you for the balance if he doesn’t have a copy himself.
If you can’t track down your copy, I’d try to contact the previous owner to see what records he might still have. I’d also ask the current landlord if he has a copy of this supposed 12-month lease that he says you signed. If neither of you can produce the lease then it basically is your word against his, hopefully yours and the previous owner’s word against his.
if you can, try to get a hold of your old landlord to see if he has a copy. if its an apartment complex, they have to go by the original rental agreement or have you sign a new one through the new landlord. most places cant hold you to a 1 year agreement if it isnt in writing and they cant prove it. if he holds you for the last 4 months of rent , take him to court. he cant prove anything, on the other hand, you really cant either though. look up your local rental laws. its different everywhere. but in order for him to prove your on a 1 year lease, he HAS to have a copy of the signed lease
The landlord is required to keep the lease on file.
Unless the landlord can show proof that you DIDN’T sign an 8 month lease, you are good to go. They are required by law to produce a copy on request so you can request a copy.
They may still try and ding you but threaten them with small claims court and they will usually fold.
Ask him for a copy. Don’t tell him you lost yours, tell him you…. have it packed away or lost the key to your safety box and it is in there, you know the key will pop up but in the meantime you would like another copy to show to a friend who is writing their own lease agreement. Something like that. Then you have a copy and you can say; Oh look it’s only 8 months, and here i was thinking it was 12, guess I can go ahead and move out after all.
Tell them you..” want to see their copy that says it’s twelve months.
This has been a long standing agreement and i don’t owe you anything after __/__/08 unless you can prove it.”
The burden of proof is on their shoulders then
You could start out by being nice and ask to see their copy of the lease. If that doesn’t work then i would proceede with the previous.
If you live near a college, chances are most of the leases around you are 8 or 9 month.. and the new land lords are not catching on yet.
GOOD LUCK!
The landlord should have a copy of the lease in his files. If he doesn’t then it is just your word against his. The lease is very important and needs to be treated as a legal document. You will also have a hard time proving the amount of the security deposit as well as a last month already paid if the lease was a first, last and security.
This is a really informative post. Thank you for sharing it with us.