If you stay longer than August the landlord then has cause to sue or formally evict you and the last thing you want is to be evicted.
You gave a 30 day notice. It is unconditional, it isn't "unless I can't find a place". That is not a 30 day notice. The notice process is intended to give landlord time to find another tenant and have rental income. Landlord can't screen and show room to prospective tenants, take their deposit only to have you tell landlord, oops, I'm not moving, I can't find a place. What happens to the person who is expecting to move in and who gave the deposit and told his old landlord he is leaving? So you must commit to moving, all or nothing, not conditioned on "if I find a place". That is what your landlord is trying to tell you. If you want certainty then go find a place, then give this landlord 30 day's notice. If landlord can rent your room during the 30 day period he should prorate rent for you; he can't collect double rent. However you must be prepared to pay for the 30 days even if you don't reside in the room and he doesn't re-rent it.
Your landlord has generously offered a pro rated rebate on rent you otherwise owed for the entire month. Take it and run.
As for the LL statement "by the end of the month" probably meant end of July.
If you were there on Aug 12, you were a holdover tenant and continued to be liable for the entire rent. In theory, you don't have to leave until the sheriff physically removes you, with a court order, which will cost you plenty.
You gave notice and landlord accepted it. You pay rent in advance and he agrees to pro rata refund. Surely you didn't expect him not to charge you for the days you had use of the accommodation.
So I wanted to leave because I wasn't getting on with my roommate. And so I notified my previous landlord of my intention to leave. I also mentioned that I would need to stay if I didn't find anything. He just said "no, sorry."
He also told me he would give me the entire last month's rent. We exchanged these messages via email.
Here is what he is now trying to say:
ok, I will consider this to be your 30 day notice that you intend to vacate the room.
the 30 days ends on the 11th of august 2014. Take your $250 for last months rent and
divide it by 31 days in August 2014 and you get $8.10 per day. Your notice is in effect
till 11th day of august 2014 so that's 11 days multiplied by the $8.10 per day for a total of $89.
On your last day, not to exceed the 11th of August 2014, I will give to you $170 that's left of your
last months rent.
-Cal
per the signed Month to Month Rental Agreement, the 30 day notice was mandatory and I stand by my email dated July 12, 2014 above. I will have your $170 plus 1% interest for a total of $171.70 on the 11th of September 2014
BUT ON JULY 14, 2014, he stated this:
But yes, you get out by the end of the month and you can have your money.
