A 2 year rental contract term expired earlier this year. The rental contract does not stipulate what happens after this term ends.
Before the expiry date, the landlord’s agent had asked by Line message if the tenant was willing to extend by another X months. Tenant answered they would be willing to extend if the rent is reduced to a certain amount. The Agent said they would prepare an extension contract for the landlord and tenant to sign. Tenant has not heard from them again, didn’t sign anything new. Tenant paid the original rent for the first month after expiry, still waiting for the contract. Then paid the reduced rent for 2 further months since expiry, still waiting for the contract.
Q1: Is the tenant currently bound by any contract, even nothing new was signed?
The original contract stipulated that if the tenant wants to break the contract before “expiry of the term” (already in the past) they need to give 30 days notice and 1 month rent will be deducted from the deposit. No stipulation about what would be the situation after expiry of the term.
A few months after expiry of the term, but ~3 months before expiry of “the term + the X months” (mentioned above), tenant told the agent they want to end renting the apartment as soon as possible and ask them to arrange the next steps.
Q2: Is moving out (ending the rental, stop paying the rent) 30 days after that notice OK?
Q3: Can the landlord deduct 1 month rent from the deposit?
Thanks for any thoughts. Yes, Tsuei Ma Ma is known
Yeah that would be my advice as well. But what I mean is how is the situation from a legal point of view? Of course, its always by far the best to talk and find a mutually acceptable solution. But for this it might help to know what’s the legal situation, just as reference for discussion. I guess talking someone into dropping illegal claims is easier than getting him to drop claims he’s legally entitled to.
If I read correctly, you are mainly worried about loosing part of your deposit. Just stop paying rent and tell landlord to take the unpaid months from the deposit.
Thanks, but as far as I read it’s not legal to ask a landlord to take the rent from the deposit. The deposit seems specifically meant to cover potential damages to the apartment.
My landlord have suggested this himself before. I guess it depends what kind of landlord you are dealing with.
30 days notice should be fine and no they can’t deduct 1 month from the deposit for nothing.
If the contract has finished that means there is no longer a contract, and you should normally sign a new one. If you didn’t then you can cancel your contract with 30 days notice.
But then again there are some nasty landlords that see the deposit as something they will try to steal from you, as they are not planning on returning it.
Thanks for your comments. The landlord that this tenant deals with is reasonable I guess, as is the agent from what I saw. Let’s see what they end up agreeing to.
I was mostly wondering whether some kind of oral contract extension is assumed you have happened based on what the three actors in this case did (discuss, agree, pay, accept). I might be in a similar situation at the end of my contract, since my landlord seems quite lazy (bordering unreliable).
Not if you have a verbal arrangement with your landlord. I’ve always done this with previous apartments here in Taipei. If you had a good relationship with them, a.k.a. paid rent on time and didn’t cause trouble overall, they’re most likely to agree. I haven’t taken back my deposit in the last 3 places I rented because they ended up as payment for my last rent. And if you’re wondering, I’ve also been lucky enough to negotiate only 1 month’s worth of deposit.
