rental question

I rented a room from an individual homeowner. I signed no lease, paid $350 dep and 350 rent, was there for 3 wks and decided to leave for unsatisfactory conditions including a change in the contract that was made by the homeowner on the 7th of the month when I signed it on the 1st. There were no locks allowed on either my bedroom door, or the bathroom making me feel unsafe, and I was not allowed to have any visitors as well. I was not told of these things prior to signing, and as I said before the person added these restrictions on AFTER I had already signed the original contract. The contract is a month to month. On my original copy of the contract, it states that I must give 30 days notice if I choose to leave. I left 3 wks into the 1st month, and was told by this individual that I would have to pay for TWO more months rent because I did not give 30 days notice. I was also told to clean the carpets, when they had only been used for three weeks and were in no way dirty. My question is this: can I legally be taken to court to retrieve the two months extra rent when i only stayed 3 wks and already paid out $700 to this person? The contract did not say I had to pay 2 months ahead if I didnt give 30 days notice. I have the original contract and it simply states that i must give 30 days notice, but does not specify what would happen if i dont.

[sandyclaus]

Originally Posted by Unregistered I rented a room from an individual homeowner. I signed no lease, paid $350 dep and 350 rent, was there for 3 wks and decided to leave for unsatisfactory conditions including a change in the contract that was made by the homeowner on the 7th of the month when I signed it on the 1st. There were no locks allowed on either my bedroom door, or the bathroom making me feel unsafe, and I was not allowed to have any visitors as well. I was not told of these things prior to signing, and as I said before the person added these restrictions on AFTER I had already signed the original contract. The contract is a month to month. On my original copy of the contract, it states that I must give 30 days notice if I choose to leave. I left 3 wks into the 1st month, and was told by this individual that I would have to pay for TWO more months rent because I did not give 30 days notice. I was also told to clean the carpets, when they had only been used for three weeks and were in no way dirty. My question is this: can I legally be taken to court to retrieve the two months extra rent when i only stayed 3 wks and already paid out $700 to this person? The contract did not say I had to pay 2 months ahead if I didnt give 30 days notice. I have the original contract and it simply states that i must give 30 days notice, but does not specify what would happen if i dont.

The answer is in the written lease. Each of you must give the other 30 days notice if you choose to end the tenancy. The only exception is according to state requirements (what state are you in?) in which if can require as little as 1 week or as long as 90 days. This also depends on whether there is a lease for a specified term or not (if not, the law assumes a month-to-month tenancy).

Depending on the answers to the above, I can advise you further. I must say, I find it highly suspect that the LL is demanding 2 months additional plus is trying to charge you for dirty carpeting after only 3 weeks. And that LL refuses to allow you a lock on your door. Sounds a little sketchy to me (against the LL, not you).

The answer actually depends on your state law. Some states are term states and others are literal day states. I assume your state requires 30 days notice to vacate for a m2m agreement.

Terms states' laws say that notices must coincide with the rental period (month). That is, they must start at the beginning of your rental period (when your rent is due) and end with the end of your rent. A notice given at any other time doesn't take effect until the beginning of the next rent period. If in a term state, and you gave notice on the 7th, it wouldn't take effect until the next 1st of the month. You would have to pay for the next month unless the room was re-rented during that time.

If your state was a literal day state and 30 days was required as notice, you would count forwards from the 7th for those 30 days and only be responsible for the rent for the extra few days. Not for 2 months of rent.

The 2 months of rent demanded sounds like a termination fee, but that would only apply if there was a term lease, not to a month to month agreement. I wouldn't see why you would have to clean carpet that wasn't dirty. Did you have a pet? Was mud tracked in? If not, you shouldn't be responsible for it.