My lease expired 3/31/10.
Mid-April, I notified my landlord that was leaving mid-May, but never actually paid any rent for April.
I moved out in mid May and paid them half of what my rent was under my expired lease, but clearly labelled the check "May Rent - Apt xx" and they cashed they check.
They are telling me that they think I owe until the end of May at the previous rent, but I don't see anything that says I would owe until the END of the month following my notice of intent to vacate (I've seen some things say 30 days and the lease did not mention anything). As I hadn't actually paid any rent for April, I wasn't officially a month-to-month tenant, and according to this post http://www.tenant.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5024 they can not sue me for not paying rent.
My questions are as follows:
1) How much money do I legally owe for April? The link above has me confused and while it says they can't sue me for rent, I'd think they could sue me for something.
2) Do I really owe until the end of the month following my notice of intent to vacate? Does the fact that I hadn't paid rent after the lease expired and therefore wasn't legally a month-to-month tenant at the time make a difference?
3) Does the fact that they cashed my check labelled May rent make that the rent for the entire month? (thereby making the argument about the full/half month moot). Does this have any impact on the April rent (i.e. could it legally be assumed to be equal to they May rent which they accepted?)
Ethically, I want to pay them for the full month of April and half of May and since they have my security deposit of one month, I am essentially paid up. Legally I want to know how much I owe to see how much, if any, bargaining power I have.
They are telling me that they are going to send the amount they think I owe them to a collection agency, but is this possible? Wouldn't they need some type of ruling from a housing court first? They think I owe them a month and a half of rent and they will then refund some of my security deposit. I think I am all paid up but will pay some additional money that would have come from the security deposit to re-paint.
Thanks - all similar posts I've seen all seem to go unanswered, but hopefully someone knows the answers.