Hi All,
I moved to Niagara Falls on Nov 15th,
I rented a place from Nov 15th for rent , I told the landlord I need a house for rent and I'm planning to buy a home so till that time I need a place to stay.I took the house for month to month and a 30 days notice to vacate.
I paid a mere 50 $ as a deposit as the landlord said any amount is fine.
When I moved in he took pro rated amount for that month of November.But by Nov 30th itself I was able to find a home and I bought the house.But the Move in date or closing date is Jan 9th.So I told my landlord I will be vacating by that time .
When he come to collect the Dec Rent , we informed about our decision , he demanded I need to pay Dec Rent and also last month rent.So I paid 2 months rent.
Now I vacated the apartment on Jan 10 and he is not giving me the remaining amount after deducting the last month period I stayed in his apartment.
Though I trusted him to repay the amount as he normally seems to be very good (like taking just 50$ to let some one in the house) .Based on that I trusted him and gave the amount for last month when I know I'm vacating on Jan 9th.
How I can collect the money back ?Is there any place I can complaint against him to get my money back.What are the legal options.

Thanks,
Niagara Guy.

Niagara Falls, NY or Niagara Falls, Ontario?

Hi All,
I moved to Niagara Falls on Nov 15th,
I rented a place from Nov 15th for rent , I told the landlord i need a house for rent and im planning to buy a home so till that time i need a place to stay.I took the house for month to month and a 30 days notice to vacate.
I paid a mere 50 $ as a deposit as the landlord said any amount is fine.
When i moved in he took pro rated amount for that month of November.But by Nov 30th itself i was able to find a home and i bought the house.But the Move in date or closing date is Jan 9th.So i told my landlord i will be vacating by that time .
When he come to collect the Dec Rent , we informed about our decision , he demanded I need to pay Dec Rent and also last month rent.So i paid 2 months rent.
Now I vacated the apartment on Jan 10 and he is not giving me the remaining amount after deducting the last month period i stayed in his apartment.
Though i trusted him to repay the amount as he normally seems to be very good (like taking just 50$ to let some one in the house) .Based on that i trusted him and gave the amount for last month when i know im vacating on Jan 9th.
How i can collect the money back ?Is there any place i can complaint against him to get my money back.What are the legal options.

Thanks,
Niagara Guy.

What date is your rent due on? The 1st or the 15th? You said you gave him the 30 day notice of vacancy when he came to collect December rent; what date was that on?

If you vacated the apartment on the 10th, then you need to pay rent for that month or at least a pro-rated amount for it. How much money have you given him total and what was the agreed upon monthly rent?

If rent was due on the 1st, the entire month is due, they do not have to give you the unused part back, if they rent it out before the end of the month, they will have to pay you back for those days, ( can not double rent)
But on a month to month rental you are to give them a 30 day notice to move ormally

Im in Niagara Falls ,ON, I gave them more than 30 days notice on Dec 1st itself.Also they ask me to pay the last month rent when I told them I'm moving on Jan 10th.
So they know I'm moving out by Jan 10th and on Dec 1st I gave them notice and 2 months rent(Dec rent) and last month rent.
How they can keep all the money otherwise they could told me I have to pay full month rent by Dec itself ,but they did not.
Also I moved on Nov 15th and that time it was pro rated.Also I told the landlord I will vacate when I buy a house before I move in which is why I took a month to month rental with 30 days notice .

Do I still need to pay full last month by law .Here I'm not talking about any long term lease.
It is already short term , and I gave 40 days notice basically.

Please advise.

Thanks,
Vinodh

If you gave them 30 days notice on Dec. 1st, then you should have vacated on Jan. 1st, not the 10th. The landlord is entitled to at least 10 days extra rent from you.

It could also be an issue that you gave 30 day notice but moved out 40 days later; the landlord may have had a prospective tenant who backed out seeing as they couldn't have the property until the 10th.

Here's the problem. You told the landlord you were moving out on 1/9. He may have not been able to get a tenant to move in on 1/10. Therefore he is entitled to rental until he replaces you or the end of January, whichever comes first.

If you find out someone moved in or that the landlord did not attempt to find a tenant to move in 1/10, you can then sue him for the pro-rated balance of the jan rent.

When I pay the rent for Dec I told I will be vacating by Jan 10th, because my closing date on the house is Jan 9th.
So basically as I know I can vacate I gave him extra 10 days notice than the normal 30 days , so he can arrange to rent it out.So now when I paid my rent in dec , I gave him full Jan rent also.If he intended not to give me at pro rated rate then he could told me to vacate by Dec 31.But he did not , then how he can take the full rent for Jan ?when I stayed there for just 10 days.

Thanks for all advices:)
Regards,
Vinodh

You are missing the point. The landlord is entitled to some continuity. By moving out when you did, you made it more difficult for him to find a tenant. Therefore he is entitled to rent until he can replace your tenancy, at least up to the end of January. That's why he requested that you pay the full amount for January to protect himself, if he couldn't find a replacement. But that means he has to make a good faith effort to find someone.

If you can prove he didn't, then you have grounds to sue him for the prorated balance of Jan. If you can't prove he didn't, then you will probably not wins such a suit.

Lanadlords have rights too. They still have to pay their mortgage for the month, they still have pay utilities and taxes etc. If they can't get rental income for the period, they have to cover their losses.

Hi Scott,
Your answer is more convincing to me .But still the point is that house is really a torn out one at the time I'm renting it, it will be difficult for anyone to live there.But I took the apartment basically I don't want to sign a lease and go month to month till I find a house.
Is it still valid for a owner to demand for entire month rent.Basic reason for renting that apartment in such condition is to come out of the apartment with out paying penalty.
Also in their advt they put 500 CAD and I paid 625 CAD per month.
So after all this also should I pay full month rent ? Then how that 30 days notice (I gave 40 days) applicable even.
Also I stayed just 50 days approx in that apartment.

Thanks,
Vinodh

It doesn't matter what the condition of the apartment was, you agreed to rent it. You should have also pointed out to him that he advertised it for less rather than bring up the point after paying the higher rate for 2 months.

Like Scott said, landlords have rights to. You need to prove what the landlord did or didn't do in regards to finding a new tenant, and that's going to be hard.

Well, if the apartment was so unliveable, how did you live there? That's the question a judge will ask if you make that argument.

You could counter with your explanation that you were just looking for a roof over your head until you found a house to buy. Frankly, I don't know if that will fly or not.

Bottomline is if the landlord refuses to pay the pro-rated balance, you will need to take him to court. Whether you will win or not is the question. In my opinion I doubt if you will. But there is a possibility, though fairly small that you might.

Hi Scott,
So if I need to take him to court is there a procedure.Also is there any other place where I can make a complaint against this issue ?
Thanks,
Vinodh

If you want to take him to court, check out the small claims court in your area.

As to making a complain, whjat are you making a complaint about. I don't see any unreasonable behavior on the part of the landlord to file a complaint about.

1.Though I have to give a 30 days notice I gave him extra 10 days .
2.when I move in he knows I'm going to be there for short time , he was doing some reconstruction work in that apartment.So I believe at least for last 1 or 2 years that place was not rented at all.
3.He demanded last month rent after I lived there for 15 days !When I move in he did not mentioned about it.
4.He did not mentioned to me that he won't give me the amount back if I vacated in middle of the month
5.As per agreement he says only about 30 days notice not about Full month rent.
6. He introduced to me as agent who is doing the work in the property , now I find out he is the owner(im not sure though).I paid the check in his name.
7.As a courtesy at least he should told me how he wants to handle the last month rent.
And I move in middle of the month and I move out during the same period for which he is OK as we follow the terms .

Thanks,
Vinodh

None of that changes anything. Maybe it is unfair of him to not return the pro-rated balance. But I do not believe he is breaking any law by not doing so. And, unless, you can find some law he has broken, I doubt if you will win in court.

So your only option is to consult a local real estate lawyer who knows the laws and courts in your area. Ask if he know any laws that the llandlord might have broken and see if you can sue under that.

I have to agree with Scott; I really don't think you have much of a case here.

1. You seem to think that you did him a favor telling him you were moving out on the 10th; you didn't. You made it harder to get a tenant in the middle of January because the place wasn't available on the 1st.
2. If the apartment was truly unliveable, then that should have been addressed prior to you moving in. And past rental history doesn't affect the fact that you agreed to rent it; it could have been empty for 10 years.
3. I'm not sure what you mean when you refer to "last month's rent." Are you saying that he made you pay an extra month in advance or that he made you pay for November in full?
4. If you vacate in the middle of the month, that usually forfeits any money you've paid. That's why a 30-day notice is required; however, you gave him a 40-day notice and think that entitles you to some type of refund.
5. I'm not sure what you mean by this. Are you saying that you feel he should refund your money even though you were in the apartment until 1/10?
6. That's irrelevant. As long as your rent was getting paid, it doesn't matter if he's the owner or the agent.
7. I'm assuming by this you think you should have only paid 2 months' rent, not 2 1/2 months... correct? The problem is that you paid a pro-rated amount for November. You paid in full for December and gave your required 30-day notice. You then occupied the apartment for an additional 10 days, which you are required to pay rent for. And as I pointed out before, your notice puts a very awkward rental date on the property.

So like Scott pointed out, unless you can find some law that this man broke, you're not going to gain a lot by suing him.