I signed a lease agreement in July 2007 for an apt in Boone, NC with two others. Part of the rent is the Electricity, but if you go over on them you pay the difference. A couple months into the lease we got billed $23 overage for a month.. No big deal. Then we did not get an overage for Sept, Oct, Nov, and December. In January I got a lease extension letter saying that I could re-sign the lease for another year and save $25 a month. Being a poor college student and knowing I had one more year, I signed the 2nd lease. Two weeks after I signed the lease, I got an overage bill for December for $123 (X 3 of us). A week later I got ANOTHER overage for $390 (X 3) for Sept, Oct and Nov. They claimed an "administrative oversight" as to why we did not get the overages earlier. Had we gotten any of them in a timely manner, I never would have signed the 2nd lease. The leasing agent refuses to tear up the 2nd lease. Do I have any recourse?

I'm assuming the overage is from the landlord not the electric company. So I would request copies of their electric bills for the entire period.

I would be suspicious that they asked you to sign a new lease before the original expired. And then. Mysteriously found overages.

You can refuse to pay the overages and have them take you to court where you present the facts. A judge may smell the same rat I'm smelling and not allow the retroactive collection. But you could lose on which case you have to pay. So I would also setup an escrow account to pay into so you have the funds if the judge rules against you.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

I'm assuming the overage is from the landlord not the electric company. So I would request copies of their electric bills for the entire period.

I would be suspicious that they asked you to sign a new lease before the orginal expired. And then. mysteriously found overages.

You can refuse to pay the overages and have them take you to court where you present the facts. A judge may smell the same rat I'm smelling and not allow the retroactive collection. But you could lose on which case you have to pay. So I would also setup an escrow account to pay into so you have the funds if the judge rules against you.

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I am paying the overages. I just want to know how to get out of the new lease.

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Originally Posted by bobby0k

I am paying the overages. I just want to know how to get out of the new lease.

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I don't see any grounds for doing so. So you have three choices:

1. Find a replacement tenant (that the landlord agrees to)
2. Find a sublet (if allowed)
3. Negotiate a buyout