Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

When is the effective date of the termination of an apt. lease?
I signed a 6 month lease with a June 30th termination date. At my choosing, I could continue the lease on a month to month basis. Early in the month of June I advised them that I did not need to hold over. I was told that I had to give 30 days notice of my desire to terminate and that my lease now extended until July 31st. There was a totally ambiguous statement about notification in the lease, but it was never pointed out to me or required that I initial to acknowledge the consequences. When I said that this was material to the contract and should have been pointed out, they said that it was too bad and that they were within their rights to charge the money. It seems to me that this is totally to the benefit of the landlord. The lease had a clear termination date, why was it not honored? What's the point of having it if it isn't honored? It should be that it terminates unless I advise otherwise. This is that it continues unless notified. The landlord is trying to catch people. I vacated at the end of June and they had all of July to refurbish and get it ready for rental. I received a bill for the month. What is the law on the subject? Thank you.

Asked on 8/12/05, 9:11 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys

Jonathon Moseley Jonathon A. Moseley

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Re: When is the effective date of the termination of an apt. lease?

I do not agree with my colleague. This will depend on the exact wording of the lease. If the lease terminates on June 30, subject to your renewing the lease, then in the absence of your

action, the lease would terminate on June 30.

In other words, you would have had to take action

for the lease to renew.

But if the lease is worded so that the lease

automatically renews from month to month, then

you would have to look even more carefully at

the exact wording.

What the landlord and my colleague are referring

to is a situation in which the lease is

ALREADY on a month to month basis. In that case

you do need to cancel before the last month

begins or it renews for another month.

However, in your lease, that is not the case.

The lease ends at a date certain, June 30.

Therefore staying in the place through June 30,

does NOT renew the lease (unless there is some

special provision saying otherwise), because

it is expected that you will occupy the place

through the end of the lease, June 30.

As a result, it is critical taht we look

exactly at the wording of the lease. If you

want I could

ALSO, they are obligated to "mitigate" damages

by renting the place to someone else, even during

the end of the lease period.

If they required a month to get it ready for

another renter, then this month would have to

count towards them renting to another renter,

and could not be charged to you. In other words,

had you stayed there through July 31, they

would have needed August to do the same thing,

the argument goes.

If you want, you can fax me the lease at (703) 783-0449 and for $110 an hour I can give you a

legal analysis of it.

ALSO, since you are in NC, and the case is in

Va., make sure they have your correct address

and make sure you do not miss a court date. If

you miss a court date, you will lose by default and noen of this will matter at all.

Answered on 8/13/05, 2:51 pm

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Robert Strupp Robert J. Strupp,Attorney at Law, PLC

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Re: When is the effective date of the termination of an apt. lease?

The answer depends on that "totally ambiguous" language. If the lease TERMINATES on June 30th UNLESS....., the lease is over. If the lease CONTINUES month to month, unless.... the mid June notice is properly treated as notice to terminate on July 31st. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me at 703-915-1401.

Answered on 8/14/05, 9:34 pm

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