Is paying another month's rent if you are leaving at short notice mandatory?
My brothers and sister have informed their landlady that they will be leaving on the 26th due to the fact that I have been laid off from the project but luckily landed another job. My new place of work is near my sister's work also and since they only transferred to their current accomm in order to be near my previous co. accomm, it is now useless since I have to move out of the co. accomm anyway. They just transferred to the current accomm last March 1. Uexpectedly I was served the walking papers from my project but luckily found a new job. We asked the current landlady if the other room which is vacant and bigger than the room that my siblings are occupying could be rented out instead. The soon to be tenants of that bigger room decided to keep it instead of trading with our room. Decision was made known to me last March 21. I was hoping that I could still stay at my present accomm so that they could still stay for another month in their present accomm. Unfortunately, on March 23 I was informed by my flatmate that she would leave our current co. accomm,too, making it impossible for me to stay for the remainder of my supossed stay. We informed the landlady that if we really coudln't get the bigger room, my siblings will be moving out. We are now required to pay another month's rent since there is no ONE MONTH DEPOSIT. We were only asked to make a ONE MONTH ADVANCE payment in the beginning. The landlady insisted that we were told that we have to give a month's notice before we leave. Hence we have to pay. She said that it will be returned if somebody else will be be occupying the new room within the month.
Initially, I somehow acquiesced because I was told that because of my insistence to get the room, they gave it to me. But then I remembered that they called me up to inform that the room will no longer be taken by those who were supposed to get it. I was informed about Feb. 24is I think. That's why we got the room. Recalling that is making me think twice.
Is paying another month's rent based on the above detailed description of the events lawful?
You know this kind of problem is very rampant here in Qatar and should not be tolerated,one month notice to the landlord is really a MUST, so the landlord can still get new people within that period. This is like respecting the owner's feeling,you know that just like u, probably your landlord is also an expatriate and has to work really hard just so he could pay his rent, so it is just the best thing to do, i think....its either u give one month notice or pay the rent, that's all....
generally, one is obligated to give one months notice, or the notice period recorded in the lease agreement.
However, one can enquire with the rental section of the municipality (baladiya), and explain the sudden lay off etc.... Nevertheless, I expect that you will be told to pay the notice period. The same will of course apply to the employer doing the lay off - salary wise.
I guess it's a room in a flat or house. It's illegal to rent or lease those, so the law is neither on your side, nor your "landlord's" side...
You could just ignore it, and the "landlord" can't do a thing...
Why not ?
I am also an expatriate like you, but dont mind paying one month extra, in case my leaving makes loss for the landlord.
why we insist that landlords should bear the loss ?
the best way to escape from this normally, we "arrange" another tenant in your place. this way , landlord will not have any loss, he will not insist for one month additonal rent
I didn't pay attention to all the details. However it is generally accepted that you must give 1 months notice before you move out of a leased place, and therefore pay the rent for that month. If your plans have changed and did not move out at the stated time, then yes I think you should be responsible to continue to pay rent for at least a few weeks or until the landlord has found a replacement tenant. You have to think of it from the landlords side too, and that a house with no tenants in it is losing money, and the fact that you changed your moving date would have made it difficult for your landlord to acquire a new tenant for a specific date.