So, you find yourself having to break a lease with your landlord for whatever reason and you have moved someplace else, maybe it was due to your job or significant other or family.
Regardless, you are living somewhere else now with several months left on your previous lease. Can your landlord rent out your apartment to someone else and still charge you for the remaining months on your lease?
The answer is: No, landlords cannot charge double rent even if the previous tenant has left and is not coming back. When a landlord is able to rent out the unit again, he has a duty to do so and stop payment on the previous tenant for the remaining months on their lease.
This happens a lot with college students and people who move around due to their employer or work. With college kids, sometimes the relationship dynamic in the group just doesn’t work out, or maybe everyone just wants to leave the apartment in May when school is done, but the lease runs through September when they started.
Even if you and all your buddies are out by the end of May and working in some other state with an agreement to pay the landlord for the remainder of the lease, can they still rent out their unit to someone else?
We will go over these questions, and their answers, in the article below.
Can My Landlord Collect Rent From Me If They Have New Renters For My Old Apartment?
No, your landlord cannot charge double rent, collecting from both you and another party who is renting the apartment, even if you have moved out.
If you are in the situation where you have moved out early and still have several months left on your lease, more than likely you are going to be in the position of having to pay your previous landlord for the rest of the term of the lease.
I have gone over What Happens At The End Of Your Lease, which I recommend you check out to make sure you are doing all you need to ensure you get your security deposit returned to you.
But if that isn’t in the cards, you need to make sure that your landlord hasn’t rented out the apartment so someone else, even though you are not living there. That would be charging double rent and that is not allowed by any landlord in any state.
Your landlord has given you “Exclusive Access” to your apartment, to you and only you. Even if you aren’t living there currently.
Let’s say for instance that you rented an apartment for a year and never ever moved in. Just as a hypothetical example. The apartment is completely clean, nobody is living there, and you are just sending the landlord a check out of the goodness of your heart every month.
Can the landlord rent out that apartment even though they KNOW you are not going to be there?
Nope. Absolutely not.
In fact, many states have a statute that makes landlords “Mitigate” or reduce the damage that leaving a lease early would have on the tenant.
This “Mitigation” means that the landlord would actively seek out a new renter for your apartment. If they found a renter and moved them in, then you would be able to stop paying your regular payments through the end of your lease.
Basically, your landlord has an obligation to find another tenant to replace you, and when they do, you can stop paying.
Now, states are different in how they enforce this. Some states will require that the landlord “Mitigate” the apartment, and actively go out and seek someone else immediately. Other states don’t make this requirement on the landlord and only forbid the charging of double rent to you and another tenant. This is primarily due to what is called “Exclusive Access”.
What Is Exclusive Access?
Exclusive Access is the right the tenant receives in exchange for renting a property from the landlord. Exclusive Access gives the tenant and only the tenant on the lease, the right to freely and without hinderance, access that property.
Think about it like if you were leasing a car from a car dealership. Can the dealership lease out a car to you and Joe down the street at the same time?
I’m sure they WISH they could, but no, they can’t. Because you have exclusive access to the property they are leasing out to you.
The same principle works with your apartment.
YOU have the right to the peaceful enjoyment of your property, and only those people YOU allow in. Nobody else if you don’t want. That’s the rights you get as a tenant when you sign a lease agreement. This apartment is yours and only yours, you don’t have to split it with anyone else you don’t want to.
So, because of the principle of Exclusive Access, your landlord cannot rent out your apartment to both you AND someone else at the same time. The moment he rents it out to someone else, your lease agreement is no longer valid, and you are no longer under any obligation to pay your landlord for the rest of the time on your lease.
You would be free and clear at that point.
This is what the whole point of “Mitigation” some states require is about. The state wants the landlord to both not double charge on any apartment unit, but also do their part in actively getting the apartment rented out again so the person who left early doesn’t have to unduly pay for something they aren’t using.
What Can A Landlord Charge For When You Move Out?
Whether or not you are leaving your apartment at the end of your lease or not, you will STILL want to get your security deposit back. I have already written a great article on How To Get Your Security Deposit Back.
Go check it out to make sure that if you DO leave your apartment early because of some unforeseen thing that happened, that you are going to get as much money back from your landlord as possible.
This is also a GREAT reason to help your landlord find another renter for your apartment! You are doing yourself a double favor here.
First, you are helping your landlord fill the apartment you are in. This means that you will no longer have to pay for the rest of the term on your lease, because someone else is coming in either to assume the remainder of the lease or sign a new lease entirely.
Either way, you are going to be free of your responsibilities to pay off the remainder of the term.
The second reason this is a good thing to do is that many times, you can get your deposit back from your landlord because the new tenant is willing to move into your apartment “As Is”.
This means the landlord doesn’t have to do any cleaning or repairs to rent out the apartment again. The landlord can give you your security deposit back, which will complete your rent term, and get a new security deposit from the new renter moving in.
Finding a new renter if you HAVE to break your lease early is absolutely the thing to do!!
Once your landlord finds another tenant to rent your apartment, you are no longer required to pay the remainder of the term on your lease. Your landlord is not allowed, under any circumstances, to rent your apartment out to someone else and collect rent for it.
Your apartment gives you “Exclusive Access” during the time the lease agreement is in effect.
Once someone else has been brought in to rent your old apartment, you are now free of paying any more monthly payments to the landlord.
