Tenant wants to break lease. Making excuses and reporting to Village

[Atul Mohlajee]

Tenant moved in on July 3, 2023 with 1 year lease.  Keeps making excuses about maintenance issues.    I have worked on all her maintenance requests in a timely manner.  I told her it is expensive to prepare apartment between tenants, pay realtor to rent, and vacancy costs.  If she breaks lease on her excuses, I will take her to court for remaining amount on the lease. The Village Director called me that he got complaints but I have worked with him before and he seemed to agree that these were bogus complaints and the tenant wants to get something from me.   

[Julie Hartman]

@Atul Mohlajee What does the lease say about early termination? There should be something in it about a penalty or paying rent until you can locate a new tenant. It may be best to talk with her and work something out to allow her to vacate early but she needs to cooperate in allowing you to show the property to get it re-rented quickly. If you can get it re-rented while she is there, you may not have a vacancy or missed rent. You may also be able to get more rent for the next tenant. It's usually best to work with a tenant rather than try to fight it and end up with nothing.