Rent payment question

[Crystlhrt]

What is the name of your state?California (Los Angeles County)

I gave my lodgers 30-days notice - I had errantly put the lease dates as running from 17 July 2004 to 1 August 2004, instead of the intended 1 August 2005. I work with (non-real estate) attorneys and their "off record" advice/opinion was to have her reaffirm the end of the lease. Since things are not working out, give her the 30-day notice since we're now in month-to-month tenancy, citing 1 August 2004 as the end of the lease. If she fought the lease end date, I should agree to the original intention, the date would be affirmed and she would therefore be liable for the entire term of the lease. (I hope that makes sense!)

Anyway, the 30-day notice was given on Sept 3, and her right to occupy will end on October 3. one of the issues we were having was her sending the rent here there and everywhere rather than the agreed upon location. In theory, her first September rent money order was sent to an address in WA state - it still hasn't been received. She subsequently finally provided a "second" money order on Saturday.

Here's the question, when/if that first MO is actually received, can we withhold the 3 days October rent when we refund the balance?

I've tried researching on this, and haven't been able to find anything directly on point. We don't want to violate the law and retain money we shouldn't but I don't have any reason to believe she'll actually pay that pro-rated rent.

Also, information on pro-rating rent has been a bit sparse and or convoluted, so if any of you more experienced guru's could point me in the right direction with links or search terms, I'd be grateful!

Thanks!!
Still a Newbie
(but this issues sure give a person the incentive to learn fast!!)

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state?California (Los Angeles County)

I gave my lodgers 30-days notice - I had errantly put the lease dates as running from 17 July 2004 to 1 August 2004, instead of the intended 1 August 2005. I work with (non-real estate) attorneys and their "off record" advice/opinion was to have her reaffirm the end of the lease. Since things are not working out, give her the 30-day notice since we're now in month-to-month tenancy, citing 1 August 2004 as the end of the lease. If she fought the lease end date, I should agree to the original intention, the date would be affirmed and she would therefore be liable for the entire term of the lease. (I hope that makes sense!)

Anyway, the 30-day notice was given on Sept 3, and her right to occupy will end on October 3. one of the issues we were having was her sending the rent here there and everywhere rather than the agreed upon location. In theory, her first September rent money order was sent to an address in WA state - it still hasn't been received. She subsequently finally provided a "second" money order on Saturday.

Here's the question, when/if that first MO is actually received, can we withhold the 3 days October rent when we refund the balance?

**A: yes.
*****

I've tried researching on this, and haven't been able to find anything directly on point. We don't want to violate the law and retain money we shouldn't but I don't have any reason to believe she'll actually pay that pro-rated rent.

Also, information on pro-rating rent has been a bit sparse and or convoluted, so if any of you more experienced guru's could point me in the right direction with links or search terms, I'd be grateful!

Thanks!!
Still a Newbie
(but this issues sure give a person the incentive to learn fast!!)

**A: be aware that the tenant can sue you and win on the lease term issue.

 

[Crystlhrt]

**A: be aware that the tenant can sue you and win on the lease term issue.

Thanks for the reply.

It won't go that far, if I'm understanding you correctly. If she wants to affirm that the lease term ends on 8/1/05, we will rescind the 30 day notice.

If she then chooses to break the lease later, she won't be able to use the 8/1/04 date as reasonable cause. She'll be responsible for the ENTIRE terms of the lease.

In other words, she can't have it both ways. If she comes back in writing that I can't give her 30-days notice because of the error, she can't later claim she can leave on 30-days notice because of the incorrect date.

However, if that's sounding incorrect to those of you with more experience, please let me know.

Thanks again for the quick answer!