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We arrived from the UK in February 2011 (company relocation) and leased a house in Texas for 2 years but with a special condition added to the lease to say that in the event we needed to relocate for business reasons more than 30 miles away after the first 12 months of the lease we can give 30 days notice and there would be no further obligations. The full lease terminates 28 February 2013. The actual wording in the Special Conditions section of the lease is "Tenants must follow the terms of the Lease for the first 12 months; however, if the Tenants are relocated 30 miles or more from home after that, we will accept a 30-day written notice to vacate."
I have now been asked to move as soon as possible to Colorado by my company but without incurring the company any break of lease costs. Can I give my 30 days written notice by the end of January for a move out beginning of March or do you think that by the terms of the lease I would need to have actually completed the first 12 months and then I am free to give 30 days notice, i.e. I would not be able to move before the beginning of April without incurring any other costs?
Also - to complicate matters, during our tenancy it became obvious that the owner is having financial difficulties (we communicate through a property management company and not with the owner direct) and ultimately the house is now advertised for short sale and we have a lock box on the front door. There have been a couple of viewings, including today. The viewer today is an investor and would continue to rent the property out if he bought it but I assume someone could buy it who wanted to actually move in. Where do we stand with regard to our security deposit as a friend told us that if the bank accepts a short sale they do not allow the seller to pay out any monies (as the assumption is that the seller is broke!) and the new buyer would typically not want to pay out the return of a deposit pertinent to a leasee before their ownership!
Any experience of similar situations gratefully received please! Thanks in anticipation
In case of a short sale the lease needs to be honored but for primary use there are States that allow a 90 day notice to vacate...
The seller/owner has to pay the security deposit back since that has nothing to do with the short sale and you are obligated to keep paying the rent. Make sure you document everything when you move out and if the owner doesn't pay it back than you have to sue the owner for the security deposit.
In Florida an owner is not allowed to sign a lease for longer than 1 year to protect tenants...I'm not sure if that is the same where you live but I would look into that since that might be your way out if that happened unless the lease is prepared by a lawyer and signed in front a lawyer who explained your rights, otherwise in Florida a lease has to be for the max. of 1 yr...
Can I give my 30 days written notice by the end of January for a move out beginning of March ...
I believe this would be perfectly legal and acceptable since by the time you move out your obligation to complete the agreed-upon 12 months would have been fulfilled.
Thank you both for your thoughts, I shall wait till I have the relocation package in writing from my company then give my notice which would then be maybe a couple of weeks longer than the required 30 days. Maybe the owners will be glad of the extra time to line up new tenants or whatever they will do with the property if it hasn't sold by then.
I believe this would be perfectly legal and acceptable since by the time you move out your obligation to complete the agreed-upon 12 months would have been fulfilled.
I agree with this, though the wording of the lease makes it confusing and interpretation of the lease wording can vary.
If the landlord pushes back after you give notice, you can always reply that the agreed-upon 12 months have been fullfilled.
It was very wise of you to get that clause inserted into the lease.
Best of luck with your job transfer. Don't forget to send the move-out notice per the terms of the lease. if it says certified mail, do that and keep the receipt for the certified mail.
ALso- TAKE PHOTOS of the place after you move out and just before you turn it back to the landlord. Interior and exterior photos if it is a single family home-in case they try to say there was damage. Even take photos of the inside of the fridge and oven.
If you left a security deposit, make sure to give your landlord your forwarding address so they can return the deposit. Typically they have X days after you move out-often 30 days but it varies by state.
ALso- TAKE PHOTOS of the place after you move out and just before you turn it back to the landlord. Interior and exterior photos if it is a single family home-in case they try to say there was damage. Even take photos of the inside of the fridge and oven.
We took photos of the place the day we moved in as well which are date and time stamped as there were some stains on the carpet etc, chips in tile, minor but there nonetheless and we documented the photos with the inventory, so yes we shall do the same at move out. We are thinking that as we are moving a long way away, out of state - not easy to pop back to discuss any dispute for example, we would like the agent to meet us at the property to do a walk through and hand back the keys etc. Is this something that agents do in this country?
If you have been dealing with the PMC, they are the ones who hold your security deposit and they are the ones to return it to you. If there is any doubt, contact them and ask how the short sale will affect the return of your deposit.
Is it common practice here in the States for PMC/owners to give a written reference on request so that we can show this to potential new landlords/their agents?
As we are "legal aliens" (I love that term, makes me think of Area 51 and green beings ) that have been here less than a year, we have no credit history here yet (I applied to see mine from Freecreditscore.com and they was not enough to produce a report apparently). We were under the mistaken impression that utilities companies reporting including cell phone providers, rental history etc would count towards building us some US credit but apparently these types of providers do not report good payment only might report negative so the non existent credit history remains non existent (better than bad I guess!).
I have been using my corporate credit card (which is in my name at my address and which I can use for personal expenditure, I am responsible for paying the bill off in full each month and could get fired if I didn't from my employer) but this doesn't report to me because it is a corporate card. Once I found that out I got a credit card in my own name but that was just very recently so they will be no long term history as yet. In order to rent this first house we are currently in, I provided the Landlord with a letter of employment and confirmation of salary, plus I showed them 4 yrs worth of exemplary rental references from the UK including photographic and written reports which the UK PMC carry out on behalf of the owners every 4 months) and this sufficed. Having been here a while now I am wondering what a prospective new Landlord will think of no credit history and wondering if I can provide the same sort of info including a reference from my current Landlord?
All you can do is ask as of course they're not required to give you a reference. But I wouldn't see why it would be a problem for them!
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) that have been here less than a year, we have no credit history here yet (I applied to see mine from Freecreditscore.com and they was not enough to produce a report apparently). We were under the mistaken impression that utilities companies reporting including cell phone providers, rental history etc would count towards building us some US credit but apparently these types of providers do not report good payment only might report negative so the non existent credit history remains non existent (better than bad I guess!). 
