Should I pay rent, post-lease period, when I didn't live there anymore?

Question

my friend and I moved out of our apartment a week before our lease was up, but we just simply didn't return the keys or let the apartment complex know, thinking they'd just charge us for it if needed. Now, we are being charged 250 dollars as a prorated amount for the days after the lease was up that we didn't let the management know that we had left.

The rent charge was the pro-rated rent for every day after 2/27 that the apartment remained in y’alls possession. Unless the keys are turned in or the resident confirms in writing that they have vacated the unit we cannot legally take possession of the apartment. For that reason you were being charged rent until I received the email confirmation from you that y’all have in fact vacated the unit.

Even though it is not a high amount, I am not fully willing to pay it because we weren't there.

I would appreciate any advice.

Answer 1

When you take possession of someone else's apartment and live there, that means you have an exclusive and protected right to be there and even exclude the owner from entering as he normally could in his own property. You prevent the owner from renting it to someone else. The rent that you pay under the rental contract is what it costs you to gain these privileges. If you leave early, your obligation to pay the amount of the lease still exists, even if you're not there.

If you had told the landlord that you were leaving, returned the key, and he had managed to re-rent the unit before the end of your lease by a couple of days, then he might have be obligated (depending on local law) to take those days into account.