The front page when I pull up my lease states that on my second year my rent will go from $1095 to $1045. Once my second year hit it states that rent due is $1145. So I call and the tell me that the front page has a typo and down on page 5 it states that the rent will be $1145 starting my second year. I told her that the typo is their fault so I’m prepared to pay the $1045. They are telling me that the front page is just a cover sheet not my actual lease agreement so the typo is basically void. What should I do?
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Lease law varies; what city - county - state are you in?– BlueDogRanchCommented Dec 1, 2020 at 17:23
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2What you should do is get proper legal advise instead of listening to anonymous strangers on the Internet. This is clearly a question asking for specific legal advise instead of an educational question about law.– PhilippCommented Dec 1, 2020 at 17:46
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2 Answers
This is how a court would resolve the ambiguity
You agreed that the rent would change at the end of the first year. One of the figures is clearly wrong. Is it the one that raises the rent or the one that lowers the rent. Which one makes more sense?
Well, 99.999% (approx) of leases have rents increasing over time so this is probably one of those. The rent is $1145.
It’ll take the judge about 30 seconds to reach that conclusion.
There is not enough information for a conclusive assessment.
Your description of the lease agreement is not sufficient for discerning whether references to the "second year" are meant (1) to discourage the tenant from moving out at the end of the first year, or (2) as a discount (only for the first year) to induce the tenant to enter a multi-year lease. The latter possibility is akin to sales where the first installment(s) is(are) smaller than the rest.
Although rents tend to increase over time (as pointed out in Dale's answer), it is also true that tenancy turnover triggers additional expenses on the landlord's end. This, the risk of having to evict a tenant, and market conditions make it hard to identify the intent of the lease: (1) or (2).
Whether the front page constitutes part of the lease is inconclusive. The contents of the front page might supersede the landlord's allegation of typo. If so, the doctrine of contra proferentem would favor your position unless other terms are indicative of the parties' intent.
