Landlord does not owe tenant prorated rent
Q:I am a landlord of a residential property. A former tenant is asking I prorate rent for February. The lease expired Feb. 15. In Paragraph 4 of the Residential Lease, parts A and B were both marked as one for the selection.
The following is the chronology of events:
Jan. 15: Date of tenant’s letter stating they might move out if the purchase of new home goes through. In it the tenant advised they may have to stay a few days past expiration date of Feb. 15. The postmarked date of this notice to vacate letter was Jan. 22.
Feb. 1: Tenant pays full month of rent for February.
Feb. 15: The resi- dential lease contract officially expired, and tenant is on month-tomonth lease.
Feb. 20: Tenant has vacated the leased home and returns the keys.
Tenant is asking if I, the landlord, am going to prorate the February rent in order to refund her the last eight days of February that she was not residing in the leased property. I have read paragraph 4 several times. Am I obligated to prorate and refund eight days worth of rent?
Based upon the information you sent, we believe the key day is the date the tenant’s letter to you was postmarked Jan. 22. The date on the tenant’s letter has no force or effect, it is the postmark that controls here (you did not mention an aural or verbal communication). Thus, long story short, based upon the terms of the lease, it is good until Feb. 28. In our opinion, you do not owe the former tenant any
A:prorated rent. Why does the Houston MLS have such a long time to require agents to enter listings or reply to inquiries about listings? I have submitted offers on three properties at different times and in each offer the listing agent responded (later) that it had been sold. Isn’t there some way consumers can get faster replies?
Essentially what you are asking is why are the listing agents not required by MLS rules to at least communicate with you by email, text or phone to let you know the property is already in contract, and the owner is not receiving any other offers at this time. If you are looking in www.HAR.com to find properties on your own, note that if you do not specify “Active” as the status in your search, your search results (displayed beneath the pictures) may include other statuses in addition to “Active” such
Q:A:as “Option Pending” and “Pending.” You may be making offers on properties that only incorrectly appear to be available. I sold my condo to my neighbor below its market value with the understanding that I would stay as a renter. It was a substantial amount, which was deducted from the sale of the condo. I was unemployed. Now I am working part-time, and I am afraid of losing my home. The homeowners association denied my request because of several violations of which I was unaware. I was not fined. My statements reflect a zero
Q:balance. They ordered my landlord to file an eviction. The landlord now says he is not asking me to move, it is the HOA. I had been living as a renter, but the HOA requested a lease to be approved as I was no longer an owner. If the violations are legitimate, are they the owner’s or renter’s? I asked for meeting to discuss the violations but never heard from them. If we understood your question correctly, you were an owner of the HOA but made a deal with a neighbor to purchase your condo significantly below the fair market value of it with the proviso that you would be allowed to rent it back from the new owner.
We’re going to assume you had nothing in writing, thus regardless of your alleged agreement, you just simply sold your condo. Your next statement says that “They ordered landlord to file an...” evic-
A:tion notice. Who “ordered” this? We also assume you did not have a residential lease agreement. The best advice we can offer you at this point is to hire an attorney who is familiar with Texas HOA rules.
If you cannot afford to hire an attorney, try accessing the “Legal Services and Other Resources for Low-Income Texans” at www.texasbar.com/Content/NavigationMenu/ LawyersGivingBack/LegalAccessDivision/ReferralDirectory.pdf. In the future, we recommend you hire a Realtor or an attorney to advise you before you take any unilateral actions.
To send us a question visit www.AskGeorge.net and select the “Ask A Question” button. Our answers to questions do not contain legal advice. If you wish to obtain legal advice, you should consult your own attorney. George Stephens is the broker of Stephens Properties. Charles J. Jacobus, J.D. is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Residential and Commercial Real Estate Law.