Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Pennsylvania

Lease question

My lease expired May 2005. I never resigned another lease. Because of a family emergency, I gave notice September 7 that I was moving out. $500 rent was paid for September.

Landlord stated that owed $350 for October becuase I broke the lease. I asked him to take amount from $500 security deposit. Do I really owe for October? I moved out sept 22. Landlord kept entire $500 security deposit & claims I owe $350 for October's rent. How did I break the lease if it expired?


Asked on 1/26/06, 6:22 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Marc V. Taiani AAAL - Allegheny Attorneys At Law

Re: Lease question

You need to have a attorney review the lease...there might be an automatic renewal clause within it, if so you might have automatically renewed the lease. You have two options, be prepared to be sued or call an attorney now.

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Answered on 1/26/06, 9:20 pm
Charles A. Pascal, Jr. Law Office of Charles A. Pascal, Jr.

Re: Lease question

When a lease expires, it automatically converts to a month to month agreement UNLESS it has a clause which automatically renews the lease for a similar term under certain conditions.

If there is no such clause, then you would only have to give 30 days notice. If there is such a clause, then the lease would not expire until the anniversary date of the original lease.

Also, if the landlord did not give you written explanation of why they kept security deposit, you MAY be able to sue for 2x the security deposit. But, you're wasting time since this happened back in October.

You need to talk to a lawyer ASAP.

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Answered on 1/29/06, 10:22 am


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