Landlord made a mistake - do I still have to pay?

No, you are not responsible.

The owner send you a notice, and you acted based on the notice.

That supersedes any prior contract.

Besides that I've never heard of a lease for 13 months, and you don't have any obligation to read people's minds.

To quote malmo quoting Velvet Jones:

Kill my landlord, break his neck.

Got no reason, what the heck?

"C-I-L-L" my landlord!

thats on him. don't pay a cent.

na you shouldnt have to pay

may have to go to court over it if your landlords a dick though

I hope you kept a copy of the document you signed. If so, then you should be fine- it's on the landlord's dime.

I don't think this is quite as clear cut as the other respondents are indicating. But I'm only a law student, they might be lawyers. It can't hurt to go talk to an attorney and see what they say, they generally won't charge you if you only get a consultation. I'd talk to your landlord first and see if he is going to try and hold you to the 13 months.

Landlord tenant law varies a great deal from state to state. Do not rely on message boards for legal advise. Go see a lawyer.

You have identified what is probably the issue: whether the letter asking you whether you were going to move out effectively modified the terms of your lease. It is not possible to answer that without reading both the letter and the terms of the lease. Generally, agreements affecting an interest in real estate, including leases, must be in writing (statute of frauds). Contracts, including leases, can certainly be modified by a subsequent writing. However, your lease may have requirements for modifying the lease that go beyond the letter you responded to (like requiring a writing signed by both the landlord and the tenant). But again, your state's landlord tenant law may have rules about modifications and termination that may control over anything your landlord can put in the lease. Probably not, but I have seen some crazy stuff in different state's landlord tenant rules.

Take your lease and the letter and about $200 to a half decent attorney who does landlord/tenant. That should get you a half hour of face time and maybe a draft of a small claims court complaint. Ask the attorney whether you can move out and sue in small claims for a declaration that the lease has been terminated. In some jurisdictions, you can get attorney's fees if you win something like that. Or, you can just go to small claims court yourself and give it a shot.

Abbie Norml wrote:

To quote malmo quoting Velvet Jones:

Kill my landlord, break his neck.

Got no reason, what the heck?

"C-I-L-L" my landlord!

That wasn't Velvet Jones that was Tyrone Green.

I guess one of my tenants choked the memory out of me!! Sorry about the mis-speak.

The poem:

Dark and lonely on the summer night.

Kill my landlord, kill my landlord.

Watchdog barking - Do he bite?

Kill my landlord, kill my landlord.

Slip in his window,

Break his neck!

Then his house

I start to wreck!

Got no reason --

What the heck!

Kill my landlord, kill my landlord.

C-I-L-L ...

My land - lord ...

Thanks for the vid!

I prefer this snippet:

There's rats chewin' up the kitchen

Roaches up to my knees

Turn the oven on, it smells like Dachau, yeah

Til the rain pours thru the ceiling

But we can, you know we can

Let's lynch the landlord man

BTW, did it never occur to you there aren't 31 days in November?

Mrs. M wrote:

did it never occur to you there aren't 31 days in November?

It did never occur to me.

Precious Roy wrote:

Take your lease and the letter and about $200 to a half decent attorney who does landlord/tenant.

For God's sake, talk to your landlord first. It may turn out that he prefers you leave at the end of November. Then you will not have wasted $200.

You don't need to pay for a consultation. Look up the code in your state. There are websites that explain local landlord/tenant law in plain English. Do your homework, and small claims will be a piece of cake (I've sued and collected against 3 landlords in small claims). You don't need to tell the judge anything about the law. He'll know the rules inside out. Just be sure to tell him the facts that you know he needs to come to the right conclusions. Bring all of your documentation.

Of course, try to negotiate with the landlord first. Do your research first so you can negotiate from a position of strength. Don't be antagonistic. The key is to make it clear that you have a flawless case without offending his pride or humiliating him. If you're an ass about it, many people will fight you just because they don't want to give in, regardless of whether they ultimately lose.

Abbie Norml wrote:

Thanks for the vid!

Velvet Jones authored "I wanna be a ho" (widout leavin the comforts of yo own betroom)

Goin to da hottub ... will I gets wet?

November only has 30 days so any lease ending on November 31 is what we call a legal fiction and it cannot be completed, it never ends. this violates the law against perpetuities. so the lease is not valid. and you can live there for free indefinitely until the landlord realizes the mistake. then he will have to pay you 1 days rent for the Nov. 31 which does'nt exist but you paid 1/31 too much for it in your rfent. once he pays you that you guys ar even and you have to get out. it is good that ou posted here to get some advice instead of doing something stupid. good luck

gotta run and take care of a hostage situation, let me know how it turns out, whatever you do don't lose your cool though, it is not that important