At the beginning of July last year I rented my first apartment; a beautiful, albeit expensive place downtown that’s close to all amenities. The landlords were sweet and accommodating and were one of the reasons that I choose this very apartment. However, at the beginning of February I found out that I will be leaving Canada to study abroad a month earlier than my rent is up. Now, I understand that a contract is a contract, but I gave them 5 months notice that if it was possible they could rent my apartment to someone a month early. I sent numerous letters to the head office and the landlords themselves and talked to them in person. I even made an online advert so that they wouldn’t have to look for people to view the apartment themselves.
This morning I called the head office wondering what was going on because I hadn’t heard anything for awhile. Guess what they did? After all of my work, they rented the apartment for July 1st! I’m not even going to be here in June and I would have appreciated saving a month’s rent for travel and study costs. I work hard to make just enough money to cover this apartment and they were rude and unkind enough to not give a flying f*** about my life. I found plenty of potential tenants that were willing to rent the apartment on June 1st, but NO! my landlords had to choose the one tenant that wanted it on July 1st. So not only have I lost an entire month’s rent, but also utilities. —Duped
This article appears in May 19-25, 2011.
Call the tenancies board, I think you only have to give three months notice in writing to end a yearly lease.
I don’t see why these people are landlords from hell. You entered into a contract and your lease was up on July 1st. A LOT of companies don’t allow subletting and that’s essentially what you’d be doing: subletting for a month.
Your landlords had no obligation to rent your apartment any earlier than the end of your lease. Could they have been accommodating? Sure, but they’re not required to.
Your landlord doesn’t HAVE to or SHOULD give a flying fuck about your life, whether or not you’re a student and could use that extra money. If you’re grown up enough to sign a lease, you should be grown up enough to accept the terms of a legally binding contract and not whine and bitch about the other party because they didn’t break the contract just for you (5 months notice or not).
You obviously sound like an immature dimwit who’s used to getting whatever they want and having others bend the rules for you. I understand you were trying to get them a tenant for June. Fine, whatever, but don’t say they’re landlords from hell because they didn’t pat you on the head and say “there there, it’ll be alright!”
It’s a business for these people. All they care about is collecting that rent cheque. They’re not in it to do you any favours.
…though I sort of agree with PK. This isn’t the end of the world, and, I think would have been avoidable with some homework (ie, call the tenancies board).
You could always just stiff them.. Just sayin
Cannatell — read the bitch again — OP wanted to break her lease early. The company took her notice to quit as ending her yearly lease at the end of June not the end of May like she requested. Her lease ended the end of june.
The residential tenancies board would laugh her out of their office if she went to see them.
Simple case of someone getting pissy because someone wouldn’t do them a favour and break the rules for them.
Part of being a grown up, OP is accepting responsibility for your actions. You signed onto that lease for a year. Unless you cannot live in the apartment for health reasons (stress, health, etc… — read the rental act), you’re shit out of luck.
It’s typical of this new crop of early 20 somethings who expect people to put themselves out or make a special exception or to do favours for them in order for them to get what they want because their parents coddled them and they expect the world to as well.
Well guess what? The world is a cold, cruel place where no one gives a shit about your self esteem and no one thinks you’re special or perfect, and we all gotta learn that sometime.
I have rented 3 different apartments in the city thus far, and have had one landlord from hell – and he was a MILLION times worse than yours. You may have found tenants that seemed suitable, but in the end it depends who they find more suitable – maybe the tenants renting for July 1 want to stay for 5 years. A long-term tenant is better than one only staying for a year. Maybe they have better references. Who knows.
Pay your rent, no one is going to make you pay utilities for the month you’re not there (unless you pay them through your landlord, which I guess is possible) and get out. Don’t burn any bridges because you know there will come a time again where you will need a reference from a previous landlord. It’s life, and since this is your first apartment, my guess is you’ve learned your lesson for next time.
Actually, there is a national registry, iirc where the landlords can report you as being a deadbeat. So hollah!’s right.
Actually PK you’re wrong on the subletting. A tenant can sublet but must advise the landlord. Here is the section.
5. Subletting Premises – The tenant may assign, sublet or otherwise part with possession of the premises subject to the consent of the landlord which consent will not arbitrarily or unreasonably be withheld or charged for unless the landlord has actually incurred expense in respect of the grant of consent.
So if the OB had a sublet they wanted the landlord cannot refuse unless there is good reason and the sublet only lasts until the term of the lease expires. However, that said, the tenant is still responsible for the lease, unless the landlord makes a lease with the subletee.
You’re leaving the country.
Move out & pay them nothing.
If it was me,I’d pay half of the last months rent & they can use the damage deposit for the other half.
You think for one second …any of you, that the tenancy board is going to chase someone into another country ?
Give your heads a shake that rattling sound is your brain, desicated & dying…go hydrate !
OB you did your very best, you should have subletted on your own, I’ll bet the ‘landlords are going to use the free month to do needed work for the new tenant.
SO screw them over, after all, that’s what they have done to you .
must be one of the killemagain places. they are the worst fucking assholes to deal with. friends have horror stories about them, and also the globule co. too.
you pay the rent,
You pay the phone bill if you wanna get out of the contract early, whats the big deal? I’m sure many people have been in that situation. Traveling abroad is no special dispensation as traveling west, east, south or down the road.
to get out of a yearly lease earlier, they usually have the clause where you pay 2 months rent that you’re NOT in the place (for them to get another tennant) and you can pop out early….
though that’s usually the only option and won’t help you here.
I can understand you knew well in advance and would have liked a break,
but it doesn’t seem they’re willing to give it to ya.
OP, why do you care. Fuck them. You’re leaving the country. Leave them with the mess. Don’t pay the last bit of rent, just leave. It’s not like they are going to chase you down overseas.
You need to give 3 months’ written notice on a yearly lease. This has to be 3 months before the renewal date of your lease. Consequently, if you didn’t do this…Too bad for you. A lease is a lease.
If you did write a letter 3 months beforehand, then you should call the tenancy board.
Another thing, if you’re breaking the lease, most landlords aren’t going to bother renting your apartment before renting the units that are rightfully going to be empty.
A month earlier is a month earlier.
HOWEVER, if you did find potential new tenants to take over, then it’s your own fault for not following through quickly enough. You should be thankful the landlord made the effort to find someone to rent your apartment. Also, they rented it from what it seems, on your proper termination date.
Suck it up.
I agree with hollah! The OP may have found some people who claim they would have been interested in renting, but how many would have passed the landlord screening? Depending on the wording of the online ad, which we haven’t seen, potential renters might have gotten the false impression that they’d be sub-leasing, or somehow else manage to avoid credit and income checks.
“Duped” my ass. I don’t see from this bitch that the landlords made any promises that weren’t kept. All they did was adhere to the lease. Furthermore, the OP is assuming that the landlords made no effort to find someone *suitable* for June 1st. He or she knows that how, exactly?
Cancel your utilities.. why are you still gonna pay for what you wont be using?
if they’re moving for june..
and it’s may already, it takes up to 1 month to cancel the utilities.
so they have to pay for them.
that’s my guess anyways.
What a terrible bitch. Why is everyone in this city not willing to take any responsibility for their actions! YOU signed the lease OP. It was of zero obligation for the landlord to find someone to take your apartment before your anniversary date of your lease, or termination, if you even bothered to give notice. If you were so concerned about getting out with 0.00 costs to you, perhaps you should have taken it upon yourself to sublet it rather than relying on the Landlord to do that for you. You seem to some have major entitlement issues-The world does not owe you anything! Nor does it care about your life. Did you ever stop to think OP that there may be many other people in your building looking to do the same thing. As we are a university city and everyone and their dogs want a 10 month lease-So do us all a favor and get over yourself-The world does not revolve around you.
Beware of Landlords from Hell and friends who ask you to help them move.
http://www.motifake.com/image/demotivation…
$3.99? That’s some damn cheap beer. 😛
they were at a bowling alley…
draught is under 4 bucks.
OP, Just don’t pay the rent. They can’t do anything. Most is you’ll lose your security deposit.
A lot of landlords do this on purpose. Imagine the amount of money they have to pay back if they accommodated everyone?
Specially the larger corporations!
I left a couple of months before my lease ended and I was lucky enough to have a great landlord who allowed me to leave without any penalties. She managed to rent the apartment within a couple of weeks mind you.
OH yes they CAN do something — they can take you to court and get a judgement against you which will fuck up your credit. They can ALSO report you to any registries (I believe there’s a national one) of shitty tenants which future landlords may consult before renting to you. Plus, a lot of landlords do credit checks and if they see a judgement against you for non payment of rent… yeah, good luck getting another rental.
So yeah, they can do tons and fuck you over big time.