What is the law regarding when a subtenant moves out?
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What is the law regarding when a subtenant moves out?
I was paying rent to someone who had signed a lease with a rental agency. I never saw the lease or signed a rental agreement, so I assumed it was month-to-month rent. It turns out that they signed a year long lease and expected me to pay throughout the whole year without being able to have a sub-leaser. I moved out at the beginning of last month and I wanted to opt out starting this month, however they are making me pay through next month and are threatening me with court orders. Can I just pay through last month?
since I never signed anything?
Asked on July 5, 2017 under Real Estate Law, Georgia
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
If you never signed a written lease for a definite term, then you are a month-to-month tenant on an oral (unwritten) lease; you can move out on a month's notice (or move out and pay a month's worth of rent). It doesn't matter that the person you sublet from signed a year-long lease--that is his obligation not yours, and is between him and his landlord. Your only obligation is the one *you* entered into, which since it is an oral lease, is a month-to-month obligation.
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