contract-law real-estate residential-lease tenant new-jersey
Can a tenant be obligated to pay rent and be forced not to live in the unit?
<p>I’m on a month to month lease. I gave my landlord 41 days notice of intent to vacate, but they are saying they need 45 days as in the lease. The lease says I am responsible for the rent for the month following my move out move date (April 30, so I would be responsible for May’s rent).  However, they also posted a listing for the unit on a realtor website with a May 1 availability, and have been showing the unit while advertising a May 1 move-in.</p>

<p>Since I told the landlord I was moving out April 30, am I obligated to both vacate AND pay rent for May?  Or, can I decide to stay through May at any time before May 1?</p>

<p>This is in Hoboken, NJ, where the state law actually requires only 30 days notice to end a month to month: see “Ending a month-to-month lease” at <a href="http://www.lsnjlaw.org/Housing/Landlord-Tenant/Leases/Pages/Ending-Leases.aspx#.WtH9ARYpCEd" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.lsnjlaw.org/Housing/Landlord-Tenant/Leases/Pages/Ending-Leases.aspx#.WtH9ARYpCEd</a> 
<img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/VbF9v.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></p>

<p>If you want to know why the landlord is attempting to re-rent, see <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/new-jersey/supreme-court/1977/74-n-j-446-0.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Sommer v. Kridel</a>, a 1977 New Jersey Supreme Court case, which says in part:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A landlord has a duty to mitigate damages where he seeks to recover rents due from a defaulting tenant.</p>
<p>If the landlord has other vacant apartments besides the one which the tenant has abandoned, the landlord's duty to mitigate consists of making reasonable efforts to re-let the apartment. In such cases he must treat the apartment in question as if it was one of his vacant stock.</p>
<p>As part of his cause of action, the landlord shall be required to carry the burden of proving that he used reasonable diligence in attempting to re-let the premises.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, if I read this correctly, if the landlord successfully rents the property to a new tenant, you aren't on the hook for rent if the new tenant is paying it for that time period.  And if he doesn't even try to re-rent it, you also aren't on the hook, because the court will say that he should have tried.</p>

<p>If It’s a month to month; technically they don’t have to let you stay beyond the current month you’ve paid for; unless the contract stipulates something that would allow you to work around the month to month “standard” lease contract.</p>
