How do you handle tenants asking for end lease early?

[Sigmund VanDamme]

I have a tenant who is about three months into a 12 month lease in his asked me what is options are if he were to be able to get out earlier.  Him and his partner are looking at buying a house.

How are you guys recommend handling this?  On a related note, he is renting a single-family home, and I live in upstate New York, where it is generally harder to rent during the school year (most people in this area rent in this area to go to the Schools and they are looking at places over the summer).

Here is the email he sent me:

I wanted to reach out to see if you would be open to discussing terms for an early termination of our lease. Basically, we are beginning the home-buying process, and we were hoping we could come to mutually-agreeable and mutually-beneficial terms for ending our lease early. For example, we’d be open to terms stating that:

• Three months notice is required to terminate, and
• We additionally would forfeit our security deposit (which is equivalent to 1.5 months rent)

These are just example terms: We are absolutely open to negotiating terms that we can all agree on as fair.

I’d like to emphasize that we do not yet have a house bought, and this entire discussion is hypothetical. We additionally don’t need an answer right away, if you would like to take a few days to think it over.

[Alecia Loveless]

@Sigmund VanDamme I recognize how hard it is to buy a home just like it’s hard for me to buy a great investment property. I like to celebrate that significant milestone in my tenants lives because it’s not many of them that actually achieve that. I generally let them out of their lease when they’re ready to go if they provide me with proof they bought a home. But I wouldn’t hesitate to keep the security deposit or a three month termination period if they offered.