I can't seem to find where in the State Law that says a landlord cannot collect double rent.
Back story:
September 2009 - I signed 13 month lease and gave him money for Sept rent, a rent deposit and a security depoist
May 2010 - I gave my landlord 30 days notice that I need to break the lease 4 months early
I found someone to take over my lease and he declined and said he wanted someone to sign a 1 yr lease
I found someone to sign a 1 yr lease and he declined again and said he already promised the unit to someone else who will be moving in the next 1-3 months.
June 2010 - My former neighbor informed that someone has already moved into the unit
August 2010 - I knock on my unit to see if anyone was living there. The new tenant answered the door and I politely introduce myself and the situation. She told me that she had paid two months rent and starting renting the place in July 2010
Today, I got a notice from my landlord saying I owe him 2 months of rent (2 months were paid by my rent deposit and security deposit so there's 2 months left on the lease). How can he be suing me for August and September rent if he has a tenant in there already?!?!
I will be defending myself in court, but how do I prove that he has a tenant in there. I'm afraid he will lie in court (i don't trust him very much). So now I'm trying to find the state law that says he's not allowed to collect double rent. If anything he owes me money back for my security deposit. He never gave me a notice within 30 days of the lease indicating the bank and acct number the money was deposited in nor did he ever give me a notice of damages the security deposit was used for. I gave him a forwarding address and he has my phone number so I know he can get a hold of me.
Any pertinent advice would be greatly appreciated.
thank you!
Editor's Response
There is a body of case law (rather than any particular statute) that requires a landlord to make good faith efforts to locate a new tenant in the case of a breach of contract. Once the landlord has a new tenant and is collecting rent, he has no damages for those months and is certainly not entitled to collect damage (lost rent) from you.
It sounds like your landlord was also playing fast and loose with the rather prickly legal requirements surrounding the collection, maintenance, and return of security deposit. In my experience, Housing Court judges and District Court judges do not like to see this kind of behavior. In fact, if the landlord has mishandled your deposit, you may be entitled to triple damages. Read this article produced by MassLegalHelp for more information. After reading that article, and depending on when your court date is, you may want to consider talking to an attorney with landlord/tenant law experience. It is possible that you may also be entitled to collect your attorney's fees from the landlord.