Q. I rent a duplex and recently got a dog. My landlord said that the rental agreement prohibits pets and showed me his copy. Unfortunately, he’s right, and he won’t let me keep my dog. He gave me a three-day notice to get rid of him or leave … and I chose to leave. But I had already paid rent for that month. Am I entitled to be reimbursed for the days left after I move out?
A. What a creative notion! Let’s play that one out a bit: Tenant has a month-to-month rental agreement, wants to leave and doesn’t want to give the legally required notice (typically 30 days) nor pay rent during those days. Solution: Get a dog (or break some other term of the rental agreement), triggering a three-day notice. Tenant moves and then gets the balance of his rent back for that month. Wow, so much for the landlord’s right to be given 30 days’ notice (and 30 days’ worth of rent) when tenants want to terminate monthly rental agreements.
So no, you aren’t entitled to be reimbursed for the balance of the month. You are the one who has broken the rental agreement by getting a dog. Allowing you to benefit from that breach by leaving with less than 30 days’ notice would just not go down well with most judges.
The answer isn’t different for tenants with leases; in fact, the consequences may be even harsher.
If you had a lease with six months left and moved out after being given a three-day notice to cure or quit (get rid of the dog or move out), not only would you not be entitled to reimbursement for any days left in that month, but you might be on the hook for the rent for the entire period left on the lease.
If your state requires landlords to mitigate damages (use reasonable efforts to re-rent when tenants break their leases and move out early), and your landlord is unsuccessful in re-renting your unit, you could conceivably be responsible for the entire rent left on the lease. That you moved out as a result of being handed a three-day notice, and not because you wanted to move, is immaterial.