They Dropped The Ball And Then Tried To Charge You To… Not Do That?!

I relocated to a new city. I signed a new one-year lease for a townhouse in the downtown core and really enjoyed where I lived. The townhouse was okay but not as nice as I anticipated during my showing. Caveat emptor, I suppose. The lease said the security deposit would be used for the last month’s rent and would not be held as a damage deposit.

The year passed with very few problems. The water heater went out in the dead of winter, but I stayed in a hotel for three nights and offset that cost against the rent after verbally agreeing with the landlord to do so. At the end of the year, the landlord asked if I wanted to renew. I said yes. I was presented with a one-year extension for the same rent, and I signed it and sent it back.

I waited about two weeks and hadn’t received the landlord-signed version back, so I inquired with the property management company.

Representative: “It appears that [Landlord] is upset because they don’t get rent on the first of the month most of the time.”

Me: “What are you talking about? I always pay on time or ahead of time.”

Representative: “While you paid [Company] on time as required by your lease, it didn’t make it into [Landlord]’s hands on time.”

I said that wasn’t my problem per the lease, but the management company requested $100 more per month on the extension to make up for the inconvenience. They said they would send me a new lease reflecting the $100 increase, which they did.

I immediately went out and found a condo in a similarly ideal location that was much nicer and cost $75 a month less than my existing rent. I went through the background check with them and they sent me a lease to sign.

Before signing the new lease, I sent a certified letter to [Landlord] and [Company] saying that my previous signature on the new lease, which had not yet been counter-signed, was revoked and ineffective because of their counteroffer and no longer able to be accepted. I then signed the new lease.

At that point, I had about ten days left on the existing lease. [Company] and [Landlord] both called me freaking out because they wouldn’t be able to find a new tenant in time and would lose revenue. I told them that was not my problem, hired a moving company, cleaned up the old place, and returned it to them in the same condition I received it in.