Apartment Promised To Prorate Rent, Did Not Say Amount, Current Problems

Location: North Carolina

My apartment promised to prorate my rent for the month of August due to a transfer to a unit with less rent in the middle of the month of July (old rent was double what my new rent was going to be). They never specified how much. They never posted my rent for the month of August, so I assumed it was for the month of August as a whole.

Then they didn’t post rent in September (September 1st). I called them to ask what was up with my rent last week. They found the problem, posted my rent. They said I owed for three months (July and August). I didn’t, I told them I paid July’s already and there was supposed to be a prorated amount (which I was not aware of the exact amount owed. It could have been none for all I knew). I was told they would call me when they rectified it, they never did call me.

I received an email on Monday giving me a three day notice for eviction. I called them, reminded them of the situation. They said they did call me (they did not) and when I reminded them of this, they backpedaled and verbally apologized. They had the leasing manager send me written confirmation of the correct amount. The written confirmation said there was ‘confusion’ and that it was ‘corrected’, not that the leasing office made a mistake. However, he said that the 3 day notice still stands.

Is this legal? If my rent was ambiguous and previously posted incorrectly, and I have written confirmation that this was the case and that there were workings to rectify it, would this not be a mitigating factor?

Edit: this is not a pressing issue. I will have the money by the specified date. I’m mainly looking for information in case this happens again because this isn’t the first time something like this has happened.