Tenant Can't Pay Early Termination Fee

[Joel Mora]

I have a house in Seagoville, and my tenant let me know on July 6 that they need to move out on July 20th. The reason she mentioned is that her grandmother in another state is sick with cancer, having a surgery, and she needs to take care of her. In her message, she said that she will return the house to me as it was when she received it and that I can keep the security deposit. 

However, I have an early termination clause in my lease that is 2x rent. She didn't know  and she said she would get back to me about getting the money. So far, it seems like she won't have the money for the termination fee and she is definitely leaving on the 20th.

Overall, she's been a good tenant with no issues, but it took me a long time to get this house rented and I'm not sure with such short notice how fast I can get it rented again. 

My question is what do i do about this fee? Do I contact a lawyer or collection agency if she doesn't pay it? That seems like it will cost me more money and time but I can really use all the money I can get with such a short turn around and the small margins the house makes already. I haven't mentioned collections or lawyers to her yet because I want to keep the communication open and amicable and make sure she continues to respect the house, but I don't know what to do. I also don't live in the state where the house is.

[Kevin Sobilo]

@Joel Mora, I personally do not show units until they are vacant and prepped again. You don't know the condition until they are moved out and it might take only days or it might take weeks to prep it for the next tenant. So, short notice isn't really an issue in my mind as that really costs me nothing.

What does cost me is a tenant who doesn't stay very long. If a tenant signs a year lease and only stays 4 months, I incur excess vacancy with the additional turnover. However if this is a tenant who stayed 4 years, they have exceeded my goal for an average tenant stay and I'm not disadvantaged by their early departure.

I only look to unconditionally enforce my early termination fee with an eviction otherwise I will negotiate with the tenant. For a long standing good tenant I may even waive it.

In your case, it sounds like they can come up with something. Assuming no damage, you already have half of your fee covered by the security deposit. So, anything more you can get from them is gravy especially if they have been with you over 1 or 2 years.