Liberty Military Housing (Formerly Lincoln): JBLM Move-Out Charges

If your lease says Lincoln Military Housing, your landlord is now Liberty Military Housing. Liberty’s employee-ownership page says Lincoln “transitioned to Liberty Military Housing in December 2020,” and the old lincolnmilitary.com address redirected to livelmh.com when checked October 10, 2026. Liberty’s home page counts more than 36,000 homes in over 200 communities, and its Washington resident guide lists Navy and Marine Corps installations from Annapolis to Yuma plus Joint Base Lewis-McChord. This page reads Liberty’s company FAQ and the JBLM guide, which prints a move-out price list.

Your federal rights on top of the lease, including formal disputes and BAH segregation, are on the tenant bill of rights page.

What Liberty commits to on money

The allotment line is worth a decision. Paying by allotment keeps a month’s rent in your pocket at move-in instead of in a deposit account. The “average electricity” wording also matters: Liberty’s FAQ promises predictable costs, so if a utility bill appears, ask in writing which program it comes from.

The JBLM move-out charge sheet

Liberty’s guide says each community’s charge sheet is printed inside that community’s guide. The one for the JBLM Main district (version 8, file dated July 2024, linked from Liberty’s site and read October 10, 2026) lists estimates:

The sheet’s fine print says charges apply “when there is damage to the property beyond normal wear and tear,” that residents are “only billed for the actual cost to complete the work,” and that Liberty labor runs $25 per employee per hour.

A worked move-out bill at JBLM

Take a family with a dog that leaves two carpet stains, loses one fob and one garage remote, forgets the satellite dish, and breaks three fence boards. At the printed prices: pet treatment $150, stains $50, fob $93, remote $80, dish $250, boards $75. Total: $698.

Now the same family takes down the dish and finds the fob and remote before the walk-through. The bill drops to $275: $150 for pet treatment, $50 for the stains, and $75 for the boards, possibly less, since the sheet calls every number an estimate. That is $423 saved for an afternoon of work. Liberty schedules a pre-inspection after you file your Notice to Vacate and gives you an estimate of resident-caused charges, so use that list as your to-do list.

Notice, orders, and the SCRA

The JBLM guide says to notify the district office “no less than 30 days” before you vacate, “unless otherwise specified in your lease.” On orders, the SCRA sets the floor: 50 U.S.C. § 3955 ends a residential lease on PCS orders or deployment orders of 90 days or more, and the landlord “may not impose an early termination charge.” The apartment lease explainer covers how the termination date falls, and the lease termination calculator computes it. Orders include a commander’s letter, and separation or retirement counts as a PCS. Personal property you leave behind is treated as abandoned and may bring disposal charges.

The 2016 Lincoln eviction settlement

On August 10, 2016 the Justice Department announced that Lincoln Military Housing agreed to pay $200,000 to resolve allegations that it evicted active-duty servicemembers in Southern California by obtaining default judgments without the affidavit of military service that 50 U.S.C. § 3931(b)(1) requires, and that it filed affidavits saying no defendant was in service. DOJ’s case page for United States v. San Diego Family Housing, LLC says the court entered the consent order on November 1, 2016: $35,000 for each of four servicemembers, motions to vacate the default judgments not already vacated, no pursuit of deficiency balances, requests to the three major credit bureaus to delete the related information, and a $60,000 civil penalty. The referral came from the legal services team at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

The lesson outlasts the name change: if you are ever sued while deployed, the landlord must tell the court your status first. The default judgment guide explains the protection, and the California affidavit page covers that state’s form.

Complaints, and the process Liberty adopted in 2021

Liberty’s FAQ sets three steps: your district office or Liberty At Your Service at 1-888-578-4141, then the General Management Office or Regional Property Manager, then the government family housing office. It says the DoD dispute resolution process was “implemented throughout Liberty on June 1, 2021,” and that a resident who asks for the formal process is connected “immediately” to the government housing office. From there a commander must rule within 30 days, 60 at most, and you can ask to have your BAH segregated during a maintenance dispute. One sign the FAQ needs a refresh: its utility-program answer, read in October 2026, still says reinstatement “will not be considered until 2023.” Ask your district office whether any utility billing applies to your home.

Move out of a Liberty home without a surprise bill

1. Submit the Notice to Vacate to your district office at least 30 days out, or with orders attached under 50 U.S.C. § 3955. The letter template has the wording.
2. Ask the district office for your community’s move-out charge sheet, since each guide prints its own.
3. Book the pre-inspection and treat Liberty’s estimate as a checklist: dish down, fobs and remotes found, stains and pet waste handled.
4. Photograph every room at the final inspection and get any charge itemized in writing.
5. If a charge looks like normal wear and tear, use Liberty’s three-step escalation, then the formal dispute process through the government housing office.
6. Bring a forwarding address; Liberty’s guide says unit addresses are accepted. PCS money moves covers the rest of the budget.

State law can add terms at JBLM; see the Washington page.

The law behind this: 50 U.S.C. § 3955

Termination of residential or motor vehicle leases: read the statute , or read § 3955 in plain English, with its enforcement record .