I’ve read a couple of posts here about breaking a lease and am still not 100% clear. I need to move out in about a week. I’m due to pay my rent in about 4 days time. I’m not sure if I will get any money back (the contract says if I give one months notice, I get one months deposit back and therefore forfeit a months deposit.)
Can someone suggest what I am best to do? Obviously, I’m not going to pay another month’s rent. Am I stuck with just losing 2 months deposit? Do I just not pay the rent and give 1 days notice to avoid being evicted before I want to leave?
Don’t know your situation of course, but it seems like if you’re planning to leave at very short notice and your contract says you should give a month’s notice, expecting to pay for an extra month would be fair.
Hang on - I initially misread this:
Is that legal? That seems to suggest you can’t cancel the contract without losing at least one month’s rent from the deposit. How long is your rental contract for? I’d probably read the English version of whatever law covers rental agreements if I were you. I forget the name, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it before.
I’d probably just talk with your landlord and see what you can work out. I think the longer you leave it, the less chance you have of getting anything back, especially if you just stop paying.
I seriously doubt that will happen, and I wouldn’t deliberately try to give them less notice than you’re already giving. I don’t think that’s in either your interest or theirs.
Your contract is using the “old” rental rules, the new rules (which apply to your situation regardless of what your contract says) are that you must give notice at least equal to your payment period, i.e. pay by month must give one months notice, less than one months notice and you lose a months deposit.
If you pay by month and you haven’t yet given notice then moving out in a about a week will cost you one months rent.
Is it one month on a rolling basis, or one full payment period? That is, if he gives notice on the first day of the next period when the rent is due, would it still just be ca. 30 days or would it mean almost two full months?
I’ve always done it by period so I don’t know if rolling counts to be honest. Can check a new style contract (get one in 7/11) or contact Tsuei MaMa https://www.tmm.org.tw/ .
Thanks for your input, yes its a monthly contract for a year. I’ve been here 18 months. I was offered a job in Vietnam last night, and so I will leave in about 7 day days time. Obviously, I want to give as much notice as possible to be fair, and in lieu of notice 1 month rent would seem fair.
I don’t want to pay another months rent on Monday and then leave on Thursday or Saturday and have to try and get that back as well (i.e. lose 1 months rent just paid plus 2 months bond).
Many thanks, so I should give notice when my rent is due on Monday? I don’t want to pay another months rent and have to try get that back. Or, do I pay the extra 4 or 5 days on Monday?
What do I do if they say they are keeping 2 months rental bond, which I suspect they will do?
Hey in this case just be honest with your landlord about the job offer. I had a similar case, I renewed my apartment contract and after 2 months I got a job offer in another city. I spoke with the landlord and they wished me luck and only charged me the cleaning fee.
They are legally entitled to keep one month of the bond as you will not give the minimum required notice. The additional month of the bond they will try to hold onto in order to cover bills. Assuming you are renting a “normal” apartment on your own, you can try to address this by calling utility companies with the meter readings as close to move out time as possible and getting a bill/bill estimate, thereby allowing immediate deduction from the remaining months deposit.
Not knowing what type of apartment you are renting, how much money is involved and not knowing your landlord it’s impossible to answer! You are severely handicapped in that you have a leave date coming up which limits what actions you can take if your landlord decides not to be nice.
Personally if I wasn’t on friendly terms with the landlord and small amounts of money were involved I’d probably just not pay the rent on Monday, let them know I was moving out and expected 1 months deposit minus bills to be returned. If you think there will be hassle and, again, the amounts of money involved are small to you then I’d even consider not doing anything and giving the landlord a call before heading to the airport letting them know that I was leaving immediately due to a family emergency or some such.
TLDR Don’t pay Monday, let them know last minute and it will cost you 1 months deposit (no getting around this if you give less than a months notice) + 1 month deposit minus 1 weeks rent minus bills due. This is assuming you’re not renting a room in a shared apartment.
It seems from what @SuperS54 wrote that the new rules should apply whatever the contract says?
For me, if I ended up having to lose the full deposit anyway, I’d probably want to keep the apartment as long as possible. Maybe you have a friend who could just give them the keys back one month from now? (And not pay the rent in the meantime, saying it’s covered by your deposit.)
Don’t have the link to hand, but the free legal aid video consultation thing was pretty helpful when I used it. I guess you don’t want to go the legal route, but they could at least explain the law so that you can confidently dispute what your landlord is saying.
Tell them they can have one month “as per the law” or just don’t pay the rent for next month and leave without notice. This is assuming you’re renting an apartment where it will take a bit of time before they can start any eviction proceedings and not rent a room where they could just change the lock.
