Lease broken Aug 20

$1000 lease break fee--OK fair enough

$895 - rent for the month of Sept. If I am being charges for this, should I not still have access the the apartment until Sept 30?

$895 rent for the month of Dec 2007. – I signed the lease on Dec 7, 2007 and I was told by the landlord that I would be receiving that months rent free because their previous tenant had paid the rent for that month. Since it is clear that the rental company’s agreement is that if you break the lease, you are on the hook for the subsequent months until the apartment has a tenant. Would it be legal for them to collect this rent from me when they’ve clearly already collected it from the previous tenant? If it is legal, would I still be able to ask for a prorated amount since I was not living there the first week of the month?

$150 to repair a hole in the wall – I patched the hole myself and was told that the apartment would have to be painted anyways so I didn’t paint that wall.

$150 to change the locks – I had every intention of giving the keys back and was never called to attend a final inspection. I was also told by my landlord in July (when I thought that I lost my keys) that the charge for this is $94.00.

5.0 hrs X $30.00 / h cleanup charge= $150.00 – Again, I was never contacted to attend an inspection, therefore I never got a cleanup list. This was all his own doing, with no agreement from me. He also told me previously that the rental company charges $25.00/h for clean up.


Which of these points should I be arguing? Although I don’t have a real understanding of this whole process I feel like I’m being taken advantage of by shady business practices. Please, with your experience and knowledge help figure out which are valid charges and which aren’t.