I currently bought a house and have left my lease 6 months early. I spoke to the landlord about the breaking of the lease and told her I would re-rent the townhouse for her. We are moving next Friday and the new tenants are moving in on Saturday. I spent over $150 on ads to re-rent the townhouse. I inquired about receiving my $700 deposit back and she stated that I lost the deposit when I broke the lease. however, there is no language in the lease that states if you break the lease you lose the deposit. The mere fact that she will not even lose 1 days rent leads me to think that I should get the deposit back. Any advice???

I currently bought a house and have left my lease 6 months early. I spoke to the landlord about the breaking of the lease and told her I would re-rent the townhouse for her. We are moving next Friday and the new tenants are moving in on Saturday. I spent over $150 on ads to re-rent the townhouse. I inquired about receiving my $700 deposit back and she stated that I lost the deposit when I broke the lease. however, there is no language in the lease that states if you break the lease you lose the deposit. The mere fact that she will not even lose 1 days rent leads me to think that I should get the deposit back. Any advice???


Refer to your lease in terms of the early termination clause. How many days advance notice are you required to provide in writing and did you do so? Unless you follow the guidelines, chances are your landlord will not return you deposit just to be nice. If you still have the opportunity, you may charge the owner a referral fee to find a new applicant only if they have not met yet. You could have you landlord sign an agreement that he/she would pay a certain referral fee for finding them a tenant they decided to accept. This may offset you costs.