Posted by Kenneth Lee on August 27, 1997 at 12:42:56:
We received a rent renewal contract about 80 days prior to the end of our
lease, which stated that if we did not respond in writing by a certain
date, we would be locked into another year long lease and we would have
to begin paying the new amount for rent. All of us were intent on leaving
the apartment pretty much the day we moved in (that's a long story itself)
Anyway, it turns out two of the roommates wrote the management company
telling them that they were not planning to renew. The other two of us
never saw the renewal agreement, we were just told that we should write
a letter to them, but never why. So we figured, why bother, we've never
had to tell someone we were moving out before, why start now?
Anyway we get a letter from the management company informing us that we
were ALL liable for September's rent and as far as they were concerned
we were on the lease for another year. Keep in mind we never signed this
lease renewal form.
So, I do a little research on our original lease. It had a section under
lease renewal and I noticed a few things. First of all, there was no
mention of any automatic renewal. Secondly, it stated that the landlord
was to offer us this renewal at least 120 days in advance (she gave us
2 1/2 months). Thirdly, it stated that if the tenant did not reply
indicating their consent to renew the lease, it would be considered a
rejection.
I attempted to talk with the management company regarding these issues,
but they refused to talk with me, stating that "they had nothing to
say and that everything was in writing."
Am I in the right here, or do we have to surrender our security deposit
to these people? The rest of my roommates do not feel too intent on
fighting this, figuring they weren't going to get their security deposits
back anyway. But I on the other hand have no desire to give it up without
some sort of fight. But what would you people recommend?
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