THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 14, 1995 TAG: 9501120288
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 26 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Landlords & Tenants
SOURCE: Albert Teich Jr.
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
I wrote to you last summer regarding the military clause in an apartment lease. With a copy of the Virginia Landlord-Tenant Act in hand, we informed our landlord that we owed him only a prorated rent.
We had resided at our apartment in Virginia Beach since March 1992 - over two years. However, prior to our departure, the apartment manager informed us that my husband signed an addendum that stated he would pay $200 for an early termination and that this addendum was still in effect.
Faced with leaving the area to move to Japan, we simply paid the apartment complex the penalty to end the matter.
A couple of weeks ago we received a copy of a vacate report without a cover letter claiming that we owed them the $200 penalty. We have a copy of our canceled check to prove they received that payment.
The comment about why this $200 was charged, though, indicated to me that this practice was illegal. It state that since it was a North Carolina lease, we must pay.
From the Virginia code and our answer last year from you, we understood that our landlord must follow the Virginia law. My husband and I have written to the landlord, but I doubt that our money will be refunded.
However, I would like to take action against the landlord' illegal renting practices. What can I do to warn other military renters? I do not want to let them get away with this discrimination against the military by their `` ignorance of the law.''
It makes no difference whether you signed a Virginia lease, a North Carolina lease or a South Dakota lease: the property was in Virginia and the rules of the Virginia Residential Landlord-Tenant Act apply as well as the Soldier's and Sailor's Civil Relief Act.
I have examined the vacate report you sent to me and I have never seen a landlord try to claim that since you signed a lease classified as a ``North Carolina lease,'' you would have to follow that lease and not the law of Virginia.
It is my firm belief that if you and/or your husband paid the $200 fee prior to vacating, you are entitled to recover that amount. The fact that you are in Japan and your landlord is in Virginia makes it very difficult for you to successfully prosecute a civil case against your landlord. I would suggest that if you return to this area before the statute of limitations expires, you also file suit against the landlord for the $200.
Additionally, I suggest that you write to the landlord and tell him that Virginia law applies and the rental is not covered by a North Carolina lease or law. The provision for the military termination provided by federal and state law is for the protection of military personnel.
You might want to contact any Navy housing office in this are tell them of your problem. You may name the landlord, who could be placed on a proscribed list.
The Navy Housing Welcome Center is at 250 Janaf Shopping Center, Norfolk. MEMO: Albert Teich Jr. is a real estate lawyer based in Norfolk. Send
comments and questions to him at Real Estate Weekly, 150 W. Brambleton
Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510. by CNB