State - MA
My girlfriend has a current lease until the end of the summer (8/31). She told them earlier this year that she wouldn't be re-leasing, and since April realtors been showing her place. In June, she let them know in writing that she'd be willing to move out a month early (8/1) if they could release the property early - otherwise, she had no problem staying until the end of the term.
Indeed, the apartment has been rented, with a start date of 8/1. Everything was going fine, until she got a call today saying she owed a 1/2 month's realtor fee (as apparently specifed in her lease addendum) since they had to re-list it.
I know tenants rights vary state-to-state (this is MA) and that ultimately they'd probably have to sue her to recover these fees. However, as the landlord has incured no damages (they would have paid the realtor fees regardless and August is being paid by the new tenant) I don't believe they can actually recover anything, right?
She was at work when she told me this so she's going to go home and re-read her current lease - I wanted to verify that they weren't charging this realtor fee regardless (ie, if she was just normally vacating her property) but I can't imagine that would be legal, right?
I'm thinking it's in her best interest to write a letter to the landlord informing her that she won't pay the $500 (as no damages were incurred) and that otherwise, she'll stay in her current lease until the end of the term. I quickly researched MA tenant rights and since the landlord never communicated in writing that he had accepted the revised date, it sounds as though it's not official. Thoughts? I'm worried about the security deposit, but I'm also thinking this is just kind of a slimey tactic in a somewhat tough rental market.

Perhaps the letter was written in a manner that left no question in the landlord's mind of the intentioned move out date. A landlord does not have to communicate acceptance of a move out date, it is what it is.

If the landlord had agreed to release her from the lease early (without penalty) she should have gotten that in writing. Otherwise, what is contained in her lease and/or addendum rule.

If she does not stay until the expiration of the lease term, she is liable for ANY costs incurred by the landlord related to re renting the property.

Any damages incurred by the landlord can be deducted from the security deposit.

**A: whatever is in writing prevails.

Wow, thanks for the amazingly quick responses. I just checked to make sure my post had made it up and I've already got feedback!

Point well taken - clearly there's a stipulation in the addendum that calls for the rental fee to be paid. I guess my question is - is that clause legally enforceable in this situation since no party was harmed? If anything, the landlord was actually *helped* by this, as there's a much stronger market for 8/1 then 9/1 in this area. I've seen so many clauses in lease addendums that contradict state law and I know they're not enforceable.

Anyhow, I know you guys are offering advice from a legal perspective, and clearly my girlfriend dropped the ball. Is there a recommended way to *try* to refute this? Verbally? Written letter phrasing this as a good-faith agreement that we had? Some type of community housing resource?

Verbal does not work in this kind of situation. You never know with rentals if it will go or not, and someone has to pay the realtor the fee. If not your girlfriend, the landlord... and they will take it out of the deposit.

Yes, the clause is enforceable. The LL would not have had to hire a realtor to find a new tenant (for 8/1) if your girlfriend had intended to stay for the full term of her lease.

The LL would not have been able to pass this cost on had she stayed for the full term of her lease.

This cost can be taken out of the Security Deposit, as damages.
Sure, she can dispute the deduction from her security deposit
refund/itemization with the LL ... and the LL can stand firm in his position. Then she can file in small claims court.

So, which is it?
or
Stop kidding yourself, your girlfriend did not *help* the landlord by breaking her lease.

Thanks everyone - looks like she's out of luck!

I would take issue, however, with the very last post about me kidding myself about this actually "helping" the landlord. This is certainly the case. The entire rental market in Boston is student-based and predicated on a 9/1 start date. 7/1 and 8/1 start dates (with a correponding 14 or 13 motnh lease to go until the following 8/31) are supremely attractive candidates and individuals are constantly looking for them to avoid the craziness of moving in a city where 20,000 people will move in a single weekend. As such, the 8/1 offering was much more attractive to prospective candidates - indeed, while the apartment had been shown probably 75-80 times over the last 3 or 4 months, it was rented within the week once they could capitalize on the 8/1 date.

But anyhow, thanks for the advice! I understand she's contractually obligated to pay this fee. It's sometimes just hard to correlate the logic that the landlord did absolutely nothing different in how they were marketing the apartment and the corresponding fee that is being levied.

Thanks again!

Not to keep dragging this on, but it turns out she never even had to pay a security deposit for this rental. Therefore, if she weren't to pay this fee outright, they can't simply deduct it from what they owe her. How would the landlord then have to go about recovering this money? Would he have to bring her to court?

(At this point, this is more to encourage her to just pay it and be done with the whole thing!)

See above in bold... Thanks for having such a good attitude...

**A: L could go to court and win an judgement against her. Then file to garnish her wages. Not a pretty sight when she gets her paycheck.

Just wanted to update everyone on the final outcome...
My girlfriend called the landlord who insisted he had a right to be paid. She agreed, quickly walked through the merits of her leaving early, and offered $300 vs. the original $600. They settled on $350 and the check is in the mail...
In the end, the landlord came out ahead in this situation - and I'll definitely be reading all of my leases a bit closer in the future :-)

Thanks again!