Failing to Move-in Apartment Lease 6 month contract … Need you advice (Houston: apartment complex, leasing)

[baxtyar]

Hello all
Long story but let me try to make short

I’m living in Europe and got an Opportunity to Move to Houston with a job position , the employer didn’t want to pay the relocation cost , so with my wife we decided to save cost we will lease apartment online , for 6 month lease contract and once we arrive we could stay for 6 month until we stabilize our life.

We filled the online form and we talked to the manager and we got approved and they withdraw the online form cost + Deposit from our account, and they send us a contract by Fax:
** We signed the last page only not the initials in each page ( we forgot )
** My wife Name was written wrong
***Then we fax it back to them {stupid me i even scanned it and send it back as PDF with our Signature only on last page) , and then we told them that we just realized the name is wrong and we didn’t put and signed our initials on each page of the contract , the manager said that is OK , because in any case you have to sign the original contract once you come to here …

Suddenly my Employer plan changed and the job opportunity moved from Houston to CA... and they don't care about my up head planing of leasing contract..

Now I even don’t dare to ask what will happen with our contract
Do we have to pay the whole 6 month rent (610 $ X 6 = 3660$ ) even if we fail to move in?
Or
We will pay a penalty?

In the lease contract is so complicated that I cannot understand it, one paragraph sending you to another one and from their they send you to another paragraph….etc
It is the standard …Texas apartment association form
With 6 month lease contract

Appreciate you help / advice
Baxtyar

[texags02]

Attorney here. If you signed the lease agreement, you're probably out of luck. You can talk to the apartment manager and tell them the situation, but they have the right to hold you to it most likely, based on the facts given. The fact that your wife's name is incorrect means very little; the fact that you didn't initial the forms also likely means little. If you signed the form and sent it back to them, you're likely out of luck. You'll be on the hook until they lease your apartment to someone else, which they have to take reasonable steps to do, but that likely won't help you if it's an apartment with a lot of vacancies (in other words, they can't refuse to rent it to someone who wants it by claiming it's already leased, but they don't have to go out of their way to show it to people either). Your best bet is to try and be cordial and talk to the apartment manager. They may let you off the hook, or they may do their best to rent it to someone else. Whatever you do, don't be rude to them because the law is not on your side here. Being nice will most likely result in the best outcome for you, no matter how frustrated you are.

[baxtyar]

texags02
You are right, after reading your reply I just sent the manager email, and I told him that it may come that our plan will be changed in next 5 days and we will not be able to move-in, because of the employer decision, and I was very nice and kind and careful with my words, and thanks god, he replied with email and she wrote in such a worse scenario you will lose the deposit
Now I can rest and take that email as confirmation isn’t
Thanks for great help
Baxtyar

[texags02]

You're welcome. I'm a new attorney, and it always feels good to help people with things like this. Makes me happy with my choice. Good luck to you and your family.

[wtchow]

[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]We want to downsize to a smaller condo in order to save some money and decide to rent out our house. However, we end up loss at least a couple thousands and put ourselves in deep trouble! Our Tenants signed a one-year lease contract with a monthly rent of $2,600 and $2600 as security deposit. We received $1,000 as partial security deposit on the signing date. Tenants promised to pay the remaining $1,600 security deposit and the prorated rent of $1,593 for the month of March on the possession date. We were able to deliver possession of the Property to Tenants on the move in day. Tenants failed to take possession on the date indicated on the contract. They terminated the lease contract without giving us any notice and just forfeited $1,000 partial security deposit. On the other hand, we signed another 1-year contract and moved into a condo in order to vacate our house to the tenants. So now we are paying both mortgage of our house and rent of the condo. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]After we signed the contract with our Tenants, we entered another contract with another Landlord to rent a condo. We started pack up things and sold our excess furniture at a substantially low market price in preparing to move out. However, when we called our Tenants two days before the move in date to let them know our house was available, they suddenly disappeared and never answered our phone calls again. We left them messages, sent them email, tried to reach them at work, and called their ex-landlord to ask what was happening. Their ex-landlord disclosed to us that my Tenants were in the process of purchasing her house and we were just kind of a back-up plan if my Tenants’ loan did not go through and they would at least have a place to live in. Finally, we found that our Tenants had no intention to move in to our house and they simply ignored the lease contract they signed and walked out of the deal so easily. They left us in a mess situation and we were binding by another lease contract at risk of violation. We were obligated to pay rents until we find the replacement tenant for the Landlord. We were underwater now! We were not able to afford to pay our mortgage and the rent for the condo at the same time. This is unfair for us to pay for the fraud and dishonesty of my Tenants. In this case, we were innocent and were too easy to build trust with other people. We admitted that we have made a very bad decision to rent out our house to our Tenants due to they were misleading and lied to us at the beginning. As they promised us that they would move in by March 13, 2009 and paid the remaining amount of $1,600 as security deposit and prorated rent from March 13 to March 31. Now we become victims and underwater when we met our Tenants who are irresponsible and dishonest![/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]We mention to our Tenants that we would sign a contract to rent a condo and would sell our furniture on Craigslist. Our Tenants NEVER disclose about purchasing a house before or after signing the contract and never warned us NOT to do these incase they walked out. They even requested if they could move in earlier?! What are SELFISH people they are!! They finally called me on the move in date and lied to us that they were not able to fulfill the lease contract because the husbandwas fired by his company and they intended to walk out the deal from us easily. The fact is that the husband is still employed by company because we could still reach him by company phone or fax. As landlord, if we discovered the fact that my Tenants were in the process of buying house and just used us as a back-up plan, we were absolutely NOT to rent our house to them. And absolutely would not sign another lease contract as Tenants with other landlord. We would rent our house to our Tenants on the conditions that they MUST take possession of our house and pay rents on time.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3] [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]1. Do we have rights to collect the unpaid remaining $1600 security deposit?[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3] [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]2. In the contract, there are no specifications on penalties for early termination and tenants’ failure to take possession of the property. However, we have mentioned about abandonment that tenants are liable to pay rents for the remaining terms or until we can find another tenants. If Tenants did not move in, do they consider abandonment? Do we have rights to collect rents for the unexpired term?[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3] [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]3. Should we file the small claim court? Or civil court? Are we able to file the claim to both courts or has to pick one?[/SIZE][/FONT]

[bsmith2010]

My Property Management Co. wants me to sign a 12 month lease renewal and they included a special provisions clause which reads:Lessee or Lessor may terminate this lease with a 30 day written notice, given on the first of a month.

They put this provision since I told them I have a medical uncerainty where at anytime I may need to leave Houston for a few months for surgery out of state or out of the country. My question to you is would this constitute breaking a lease? And would I owe the remaining months rent if lets say I gave 30 day notice after 3 months into 12 month lease or am I protected? Is it safe to sign or not?

[XodoX]

Originally Posted by bsmith2010

My Property Management Co. wants me to sign a 12 month lease renewal and they included a special provisions clause which reads:Lessee or Lessor may terminate this lease with a 30 day written notice, given on the first of a month.

They put this provision since I told them I have a medical uncerainty where at anytime I may need to leave Houston for a few months for surgery out of state or out of the country. My question to you is would this constitute breaking a lease? And would I owe the remaining months rent if lets say I gave 30 day notice after 3 months into 12 month lease or am I protected? Is it safe to sign or not?

TAA lease or private?

[l3m]

I don't have my apt. lease contract in front of me but there are certain conditions where you can break out of the lease without much or even no penalty. If you don't meet those criteria, then if you decide to break the contract early, you will be charged a reletting fee, which is specified in your contract (usually 80-95% of the monthly rent). This fee is unavoidable. You should tell your landlord that you cannot occupy your apartment. Your landlord is always looking for renters and until they find a renter for your apartment, you will have to pay the rent until the end of your end of your contract. They may find a renter quickly and you won't lose much. This is how they do it at my apartment complex. I'm sure yours will do the same.

[modster]

If it is the standard TAA lease form you will need to have your situation (breaking lease for health reasons) spelled out specifically and have it ALL in writing.

If you do not have any and all agreements reduced to writing and included in your renewal, you don't have it. If you need a special "out" for possible health reasons, get it in writing.

The cost of reletting, usually 85% of 1 month's rent, is NOT a buy out provision. The way the lease is written you owe that in addition to the remaining months left on the lease or until a new tenant moves in, whichever comes first. Depending upon the way the lease or addendum is written, you may owe any "specials" back too.

If you take the TAA lease as written, (unless they have changed this in the last few years), literally death of the tenant was not grounds for breaking the lease. I am not kidding. They could look to the estate for the balance. Of course in the real world I doubt that ever happened, but my point is there are few real options for breaking the lease. Home purchase, job losses or transfers, bad health, school withdrawal or transfer, divorce, etc were all specifically outlined as reasons that were not grounds for breaking the lease. If you want out for one of those type of things you will need to negotiate the provision in your renewal or you are at the mercy of whatever manager is running the place that week.

[lmg1982]

Originally Posted by texags02

Attorney here. If you signed the lease agreement, you're probably out of luck. You can talk to the apartment manager and tell them the situation, but they have the right to hold you to it most likely, based on the facts given. The fact that your wife's name is incorrect means very little; the fact that you didn't initial the forms also likely means little. If you signed the form and sent it back to them, you're likely out of luck. You'll be on the hook until they lease your apartment to someone else, which they have to take reasonable steps to do, but that likely won't help you if it's an apartment with a lot of vacancies (in other words, they can't refuse to rent it to someone who wants it by claiming it's already leased, but they don't have to go out of their way to show it to people either). Your best bet is to try and be cordial and talk to the apartment manager. They may let you off the hook, or they may do their best to rent it to someone else. Whatever you do, don't be rude to them because the law is not on your side here. Being nice will most likely result in the best outcome for you, no matter how frustrated you are.

Hello,
I was looking for help in a situation and ran across your post and wanted some help and advice...Back in 2007 I rented an apartment in Clear Lake City TX..Well after three months I had to break my lease and move back home..I told the apartment complex that I needed to break my lease because I was leaving the country and everything..Filled out paperwork they told me everything would be fine...So three days later I packed up, the maintainance guys even helped, and left out..About a week later I received a bill for 13K to finish paying the rest of the years rent to the apartment complex for breaking my lease..Will a couple months later the apartment that was previously mine was renting to someone else..I called and spoke with them and they still wanted me to pay for the entire year..I told them I dont understand how they can charge me the entire year plus charge the people in that apartment rent at the same time..They were just really rude and nasty...SO I am trying to find out what to do and how to go about the correct way to fight this...Thank you so much and I look forward to your response