landlord trying to screw me over??

Maybe, maybe not. The first question is whether on June 30 or before, did you provide your landlord notice that you would be moving out on or before July 31. If not, you have not reached the last month which will be August and you owe for July (plus late fee now). If you did provide proper notice to the landlord that you were terminating your residency, then the answer becomes "it depends" based upon where you live (which state) - most states, however, consider the pre-payment of the last month's rent as sufficient to fulfill your contract (all else being equal). And yes, just because your lease is ending does not mean you can avoid proper notice - your lease will probably have a clause stating that after the lease expires, it becomes month-to-month with all conditions carrying over. So, if you did not provide proper notice, your last month would now be August, you would owe for July (plus late fees) and the last month's rent would apply to August (if you again provide proper notice).

You are right IF you put in writing in June that you'd be moving out at the end of July. If you didn't, then you pay for July, give notice now, and you use that last month for August and move out August 31st. Mind you, that if they landlord wants you gone by Aug 1, because he has a tenant, then you get them to sign something saying the break was mutual.

Not if you failed to give proper notice to vacate. Tenants are not automatically required to vacate when the lease expires. If you failed to give proper notice you are moving out then the landlord has no way of knowing and has every right to treat you the same as any other tenant that failed to pay rent for no reason.

If you are not planning on vacating then you are still wrong. Last month rent is for the last month you live there not the last month on the lease.

Did you provide a written notice of vacating *prior* to July 1st? If not, you owe July's AND August's rent (your "last month's rent" will be applied to August). If you did, the office should have advised you in regard to your prepaid "last month's rent" payment & how it would be applied to your account.

It is normal for the landlord to report your late rent to credit bureaus as a collection. Many associations make it easy for their members to report late payments to the credit bureaus.

If you do not pay July 's rent, he would be within his rights to report you to the credit reporting agencies. If your lease ends on August 1st, then you owe rent through July because you are living there in July. Pay your rent. He is not screwing you over. You are thinking about screwing him over. Get it straight. Screw him over and you will regret it.

This is a very common mistake. The last month rent you paid was for the last month of your tenancy, not the last month of your lease. If you expected to use that rent for July, you would have also submitted written notice to your landlord that you were vacating (as required by your lease) on or before July1. If you failed to do so you are on the hook for July's rent because even if you submitted this notice today, it wouldn't be applied until Aug 1 requiring rent to be paid for August (at which time you could use you pre-paid last months rent).

Did you give 30 days written notice (or whatever is required where you live) to your landlord that you were going to be moving?

If your lease indicates you did give him last month's rent, why dont you tell him?