What are a tenant’s rights to a refund if they leave a rental early and it is leased to someone else?
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What are a tenant’s rights to a refund if they leave a rental early and it is leased to someone else?
My mother-in-law has a trailer in a campground. She paid $3,000 for the season. She has sold the trailer and the new owner was charged the same amount for the season. The owner of the campground says she is not entitled to a refund since she has been for almost 1/3 of the season. They are also charging her a 15% fee on the sale of her trailer. I feel that she should be entitled to a 2/3 refund considering they are charging 2 people for the same site.
Asked on June 22, 2011 under Real Estate Law, New Jersey
Answers:
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
To answer your question, start first by looking at the rental agreement if their is a written agreement for the trailer lease in the campground. Assuming there is a written agreement, its terms may clarify the amount to be charged in the event a new person takes over the lease.
Assuming the written agreement says nothing on the subject or there is no written agreement for the trailer lease at the campground, most States have statutes or published cases holding that the amoun for the rent is what it is agreed to an if a the prior tenant pays the entire amount for the term of the lease and a new tenant takes over the lease/tenancy before its term ends and pays on the lease/tenancy, then the prior tenant is entitled to a refund in an amount for what was previously paid.
The rationale is that the landlord should not be entitled to receive more rental monies for the lease than what was originally agreed to. Hopefully this answers your question.
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