Early Lease Termination

[Hunter Jordan]

My tenant wants to terminate their lease early. The lease ends 09/30/2024.  They gave me a notice 05/15/2024 & are wanting to move out 07/31/2024. This is more than a 60 day notice. The lease states "Tenant shall not have the right to terminate this lease early". My question is can I legally keep their security deposit? I planned to tell them that "I will waive the final 2 months of the lease but unfortunately I will have to keep your security deposit". Is this legal in the state of Georgia? We plan to move into this unit, so finding a new tenant is off the table.

[Kevin Sobilo]

@Hunter Jordan, if you have a well vetted lease written to conform to your state's laws then the answers are within.

If your lease doesn't have any early termination clause then technically there isn't any and assuming your state allows that the tenant would be responsible for rent up until the end.

To my mind, strictly enforcing lease terms is closer to a last resort than a first option. I always think communication and cooperation are MUCH MUCH better than going to court to try to enforce anything. So, I would discuss with the tenant and explain what they owe under the lease and what you would accept and why and see how they respond.

If this was a long term tenant of more than 2 years, I might not charge anything knowing this just gives me extra time to prep the place for my eventual move back in. If this was a tenant of less than 2 years, I might do as you are suggesting and want 1 months rent as a termination fee.

Keep in mind if you don't work cooperatively, you may not get that deposit either! The tenant may not pay their last months rent knowing its not worth your effort to evict with them already leaving. So, finding a middle ground everyone is satisfied enough with is always the first goal for me.