Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in North Carolina

So I plan to end my lease early. I have them the 60 day notice form. In my lease, I am given concessions. I was told by them that I am required to pay all back concessions. I do not think that is right. So a previous apartment management where i lived sent me a page of the 2010 Apartment Association of North Carolina Legal Handbook which says that doing charge backs invites legal scrutiny and potential liability so the practice of doing so was abandoned and is not part of the AANC lease. For those who are not using the AANC lease contract and decide to do the concession repayment then it is likely unenforceable as a matter of law. "North Carolina landlords would be wise to approach such repayment schemes with a high degree of caution, preferable avoiding, the practice altogether"

My question is, in what part of the law, general statute,session laws, etc, is it that I would be able to fight the landlord so that I do not pay the concessions. I know it is being debated now in nc senate but there is somewhere there that makes it questionable. Also, I was given an addendum to sign which I did sign without fully understanding why I had to sign it (grrrrr) about having to pay concessions so why would they give me that if there was no exact law yet.

The other apartment told me that their lawyers said that by asking for charge backs, and if taken to court, then it was most likely that they (the apartment) would lose.


Asked on 6/01/11, 12:14 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Rachel Hunter

I don't know what you were told but your lease generally governs so if it says that you must pay back concessions, then you pay back concessions.

I don't know what the AANC Apartment Manual or what some other apartment complex says. However, the apartment manual or a particular apartment's management style is not the law in NC. In addition, there are other leases besides the AANC lease and these are ok so landlords don't have to use the AANC lease.

There is no right to break a lease in NC and if you were given a discount if you rented for the full term then you need to pay the full rent for the period plus extra months for the period remaining on your lease until the property is re-rented, generally about 2-3 months in rent.

If you believe that this is wrong, then go seek help from Legal Aid or one of the tenant's rights organizations or pay an attorney to represent you. You may find it just cheaper to pay back the concessions as litigation can be very costly.

Here is a link to the NC Landlord Tenant Laws:

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/statutes/StatutesTOC.pl?Chapter=0042

I have looked through them and nowhere do I see anything about paying back concessions being illegal.

This is not really my area of the law and you are welcome to get a second opinion, maybe from the author of the AANC Manual since he seems to be an expert.

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Answered on 6/01/11, 5:16 pm


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