I moved into the complex in July 2011 & signed a year lease. One of the stips of the lease is that if you terminate prior to the expiration date, you must continue to pay the monthly rent until your lease is up or they are able to find another tenant, whichever comes first. They are not the only company that requires this, so it didn?t ring any warning bells. However, my job closed their Jax site in October 2011 & relocated me to SC in December 2011. I put in my 60-day notice as required by my lease & vacated the property on December 5th. On December 21st, I received a letter from Madison stating that I had a bill owed for ?outstanding charges? that totaled more than $4,600. I had no idea what it was for, so I called the office. The gal I spoke to told me that the charges were for unpaid rent ? they calculated my amount due up until my lease expiration, & had to notify me of the amount due according to Florida law. She told me that I could make payment arrangements with her, & as long as I followed through, the bill would not be sent to collections. So I made an agreement to pay the amount of my rent each month. She told me that once the apartment was filled, they would either send me a refund or an updated bill, depending on whether I overpaid or underpaid. The next morning she called me back & said that she gave me incorrect information because ?had only been there a couple of weeks?. I was told that I had to pay the balance in full by January, otherwise the bill would be sent to collections; Madison could not make payment arrangements with me. If I wanted a payment plan, I could let the bill go to collections & make the arrangements with the agency. At this point I was extremely angry & asked where in my lease it stated that they could charge me 8 months worth of rent upfront, then send the amount to collections within 2 weeks if I didn?t pay it, & ultimately screw up my credit. She pulled a copy of my lease & tried to say it was in a section that stated, ?If there are any outstanding unpaid charges, we may send the amount to collections?? I then told her that I understood that unpaid balances could be sent to collections, but that was not what I was asking. I wanted to know which section of my lease indicated that if I terminated my lease prior to its expiration, that I would be required to pay the remainder of the rent IN FULL. She couldn?t give me a straight answer, went round with me, & even threatened to hang up several times because I wouldn?t give up. I finally asked to speak to her manager [she was the assistant manager] & she flat out REFUSED to transfer me or take a message for her manager to call me back.
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