I imagine that most people who break their lease are English teachers, the people that never get more than a 10-month contract. If you're on 900€ a month and then on 0€ for the summer, you're not going to fork out for your 12 months.

I understand that there are some bad eggs that do the dirty, but I think a lot of people's hands are tied. A few people doing the right thing when the EFL employment situation is as it is (and the landlords are as unscrupulous as we know they are) then I don't think there is anything we can do.

And I'm not surprised in the slightest that it was a Spaniard that gave Ryan the idea. Rules are made to be broken in Spain, remember? A landlord trusting a foreigner less than the Spanish is probably just a hunch (foreigners have families overseas, so they're going to want to go home) and probably not based on fact.

Hey,
I have gotten deposits back, at least twice. I remember, way back when, about 11 years ago when I first rented my own place and it was a two year lease, I expressed concern about making that kind of a long commitment and the lawyer handling it for the owner explained to me that this was for my own protection in a way because it meant that they could not raise the rent during that time and if I needed to leave I just needed to give them like a month's notice and that would be ok. I did just that, after living in that place a little over two years (and signing a second two year lease) I told them I was moving out and what we did was that the last month I lived there I didn't pay rent and the one month deposit was used for that. Pretty much same thing happened in another place, I had signed a one year lease but warning them that I would probably not stay that long and that I would let them know at least a month in advance. I only stayed about six months and although they weren't too happy I also did not pay for the last month I lived there, they admited that just because I had warned them that I would not be staying long when I signed they would give me my deposit back by way of one month's rent. Unfortunately things are not like that anymore, like Candy says the laws here protect the tenant more so the owners are finding ways to protect themselves against people who try to screw them, and unfortunately there's more of those every day so there's a nasty spiral going on. I think the Spaniards are a lot more likely to stop paying rent and stay "por la cara", but it's the foreigners that take off before they said they would, when they still owe money, leave unpaid utilities' bills, give no notice, and so on, so I guess that gives us a particular reputation that makes owners request other type of securities when they rent to us. Hopefully when one does the right thing that helps to break the cycle and restore some faith in humanity.
Lena

In the book, Spain you and the law, the author talks about the difficulties the goverment has had coming up with a law that addressed the needs of both tennats and landlords, it used to be strongly in the tennats favour to the point that you could never get a rent increase so people had dirt cheap rent, since then the law has been modified to allow more reasonable rent increases etc. From a landlords point of view having someone leave after a few months is an expensive hassle. You could rent a furnished apartment (short term let) but it is probalby out of reach of most teachers (1200 plus a month).

I'm a landlord (rented our place out in Germany and for a while our place in Canada) and I think giving your deposit in lue of rent is resonable as long as your above board, ie not trying to rip the owner off.

Incedently friends of ours told the landlord that if she decided to increase the rent they'd move to a different place and she decided a bird in the hand is worth two in the air.

It looks like the Spanish property boom is finally petterying out. News is that house prices are expected to rise much more slowly if at all. An admin assitant at my wife's job just bought a place 400.000 euros 2 bedroom apartment in Madrid. Thier mortgage payments will be 2000 a month for the next 40 years, that's crazyness to me!

hey Rob...

quote:

I think giving your deposit in lue of rent is resonable as long as your above board, ie not trying to rip the owner off.

ok, then how do you pay for any damages that the tennant may cause to the house? how can you tell if the renter is "above board"?

if you take their deposit as the last months rent and they have broken something that they are responsable for, how do you get that out of them if they refuse to pay.

that is the danger of taking the deposit as the rent for the last mohth.

saludos,
jer...

sorry what I meant was if you think the landlord isn't going to return your deposit my suggustion was that leaving the deposit inlue of the last months rent.

rob

I know a lot of people who have left their FIANZA as last month's rent. Hell, I did it, but I made sure that apartment was clean and I told him exactly how I left it, but you know that as soon as I said goodbye to the portero, Juan called and asked him to go upstairs and check it out. That was fine with me. the apartment was left in much better shape than when I moved in.

Saludos,

Shawn

I wanted to revive this not so old thread for one moment as I am starting to think about moving out of my rented apartment. I had a 6 months lease, all paid in advance, along with 2 months security deposit.
I want to give the owner a 2 months notice and tell her that I do not pay my last 2 months rent and that we identify any additional costs I incurr (utility bills etc) and pay those separately.
I don´t want to screw anyone and want to pay what I owe but I don´t want to be in a situation where the owner has all the cards and in the end stiffs me with the deposit.
What do you think?

Oops! forgot to add - I´ve lived in this place for a year and a half now, so I am not breaking the lease.

Ola,

Only you can make that call. Go with your gut feeling and just talk with the landlord. Ultimately, the landlord makes the decision. We can offer advice, but in the end, as you know, the landlord makes the final decision.

Suerte,

Shawn

Thanks Shawn.

The point is that in this situation *I* can be the one making the decision, no? I can just call and say: I will not be paying for the last 2 months, because I paid you already. The deposit is stated in the contract that she signed. What can she do? And I offer to pay up for any other bills _separately_ then I think I am not doing anything wrong. Why should I give her back all the cards and let her make the decision? Am I missing something?

As Redwood said, this is your call. Does your contract state that the deposit can be used to pay the final months rents? The contract I gave my renters stated specifically that this was not an option. But you did ask are you missing something? Perhaps, your landlady may not trust you to pay any utilities that are owing? You asked, why should the landlady hold all the cards? Well, perhaps because you signed a lease on that basis? Have you spoken to her about it at all?

Ola,
I think you and your landlady need to communicate and come to an agreement that you're both happy with and according to what the contract says. But you can certainly call and tell her you're not going to pay the last two months and the law is going to protect you more than her so in a way you hold more cards. The thing is that if you keep paying until the day you leave and she decides to be dishonest about it and doesn't want to give you your deposit back I think it is going to be very difficult for you to take legal steps to reclaim that money. That's why I feel it's better to come to an agreement previously that you both feel comfortable with and that no one feels like they're likely to get stiffed. A plausible option would be for you not to pay rent for only the last month, that way your landlady still feels that she has one month's worth of money for utilities and it's less money that she has to give back to you and that you can potentially loose if she doesn't. You do what you feel is correct and honest, but without letting her take advantage of you. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Lena

quote:

I want to give the owner a 2 months notice and tell her that I do not pay my last 2 months rent and that we identify any additional costs I incurr (utility bills etc) and pay those separately.

technically, unless otherwise stated in the contract, the security doposit can not be used as last months rent. the deposit is there to cover damages, last outstanding bills, etc...

that said, it is theory and as the rental laws here protect the renter more than the rentee, you can pretty much do what you want and use the deposit at the last 2 months rent.

your landlady will not likely make a fuss as she will be lucky not to have a deadbeat tennant.

saludos,
jer...

quote:

The point is that in this situation *I* can be the one making the decision, no? I can just call and say: I will not be paying for the last 2 months, because I paid you already. The deposit is stated in the contract that she signed. What can she do?

True, you are the one making the decision, but you have to remember that you are not the only one involved in this situation. I am neither for nor against you or the landlord, but your decision does affect another person. Are you comfortable with what you have decided? If so, then move on and let it go.

She can either say YES or NO. I simply stated that in the end, after you ask the question or tell her what you want to do, the end answer lies with her. What happens after that, I do not know. Once again, this is your decision to make. Do what you feel is best for you.

Suerte,

Shawn

Thank you all for very helpful advice.

I just reread my contract and DUH... I had given only 1 month deposit. So I thought about the situation and decided as follows:

I intend to stay in this apartment until mid-July so I will just tell (not ask) that I will not pay for half of July and that we will calculate any other payments.

I am not going to be concerned with the fact that the landlord might not trust me, because in this case it is me who does not trust my landlord. She has been completely MIA, impossible to get a hold of for the last year and a half, she hasn't done what she promised to the apartment, her mobile number doesn't work, in fact, I will have to call her rude mother to give the notice. So I will not give her an opportunity to "forget" to give me back my deposit. She lives somewhere in Almeria so I don't have ANY way to remind her once I'm out.
I keep the apartment in a very good shape, cleaner than it was before so I should be more than comfortable with my decision!

Once again, thanks guys for all your pointers.