My lease is up for my apartment on August 12, but I have to pay a full months rent and I'm only going to be there for 12 days. And the landlord refuses to prorate the rent. But if I renew my lease then I can stay there without paying twice. But I plan to move out by the 12th, is it legal for the landlord to make me pay a full months rent and I'll only be there 12 days?

I don't believe there is any legal requirement for them to pro-rate your rent.

You would need to check the landlord tenant laws for your specific area.

The only thing is that they can't double-dip. So if the landlord is going to charge you for all of August, then technically your lease doesn't expire until the end of August either.

You say that your lease is up on the 12th? Was it monthly/yearly/weekly, and when was the rent due? Does it specifically say that the last day of the lease term is the 12th, or is that just the day you want to move out?

Most leases will note that payments are due for full months, I know as a landlord I would enver prorate rent. Rent was always payable on the first for the full month.

When did you give official notice that you were moving, since just because the lease is "up" notice has to be given to move. And in many cases the lease requires it to be a 30 or 60 day notice.

But as noted, the landlord can not rent it out during the period that you have paid for. So if you move out on 12, if they do rent it out before the end of the monty they will owe you money back.

While I agree that generally the landlord is entitled to the full rental period's rent, the one out I can see here is if the lease is actually written to expire on the 12th. If that's the case, then I would think that the landlord would have to prorate that month's rent to just the 12 days. After all, he was a party to the original agreement, and I find it hard to believe that a court would find it legal for him to charge rent for a time that the tenant doesn't have a lease.

This is assuming that the tenant gave proper notice.