Breaking a lease

[Erica Nagle]

I have a tenant that has been trouble since the day she moved in. Her first rent check bounced. The second month she was days late with some cockamamie story about her phone falling in water on some retreat. The third month she was actually on time and the 4 month (this month) she didn't pay rent and informed me she is moving out and I can use her deposit as July's rent. To add to the fun she also never put the utilities in her name and since I had them on auto pay when I lived there I was still paying the electric bill. Yes my bad for not paying closer attention but when I told her I needed a refund she tried to say she did put them in her name. Right, that's why they are charging me then? She did eventually pay me for these charges. And last but not least she was wondering why the furnace fan was running so much. She was out of oil and when I asked her if she wanted it to be filled she said yes and then refused to pay the $550 bill. She said it was ridiculous and she should have been told about this upfront! I kindly sent her the paragraph from the lease she signed stating she was responsible for all utilities and heat did happen to be a utility. I also explained this was likely a one time cost because that oil would last her well into next year. My bad again...I should have just let her figure it all out and she could get her own oil account and not use the condo account. Lesson learned there but to date this woman owes me $3,550. I also have a property management company I'll be using going forward. So the dilemma is do I let her out of the lease and say good ridens or do I take her to court because she's breaking a 1 year lease. Even if it was a tenant at will lease she gave me less than 30 days notice. I don't think I'll have a problem renting the place again quickly but I don't want to let her get away with this crap she's pulling. My lawyer said these usually end in her having to pay 3-4 months rent which is worth it. But how much am I going to pay in lawyer fees to get that? And I may win and she has to pay me but what really forces her to pay? I'm guessing she's thinking that Massachusetts is a tenant state and she'll walk away clean but she doesn't have kids and hasn't fallen on hard times, she's just a crappy person. If she was a good tenant I'd let her out and wish her the best and proceed to finding a new tenant ASAP. However I just can't stomach letting her off the hook. What does everyone think? Am I letting emotion get in the way of making a good business decision? Should I cut my losses now and just let her go so I can find good tenants? Or am I not crazy and I should fight this? A year lease is a legally binding document and you can't just decide you don't want to honor it. Oh and you can't decide you won't pay for a utility because you don't want to and that a deposit can apparently be substituted for rent when it's convenient for the tenant.

[Rob Beland]

@Erica Nagledo you have a breakdown of the $3,550 that is owed. You should choose your battles sometimes but I disagree about forgetting about it. I, personally, would go after the tenant for everything but I've been doing this a long time and I understand landlord/tenant law in MA. You need to be sure you understand the laws and what your options are. 

You should start with a 14 day notice for non-payment of rent. You don't need an attorney for this. You can find the form online or even contact a constable in your area who may have copies available. Have the constable serve the notice. At this point separate the non-payment from breaking the lease. They haven't actually moved out yet so the lease hasn't been broken. 

See how they react to the 14 day notice. Their reaction will determine how you proceed. Ultimately you want a judgement against them for any money that they owe you. You may  never collect the money but it will go on their credit if you follow through with the process. Don't rush, yet, to hire an attorney. Use BP to ask questions get advice along the way. And don't let them use their security deposit for the last month's rent. Never do that. Also, did you properly collect the security deposit? Did you have a statement of conditions signed and give them the account number and bank name where the deposit is being held? If you have followed all of the requirements for collecting a security deposit then no worries but look into it. If you haven't, I would suggest refunding the security deposit before you go to court. They will use it against you and you could end up owing them money (three X the amount of the security deposit).

Do a search online at masscourts.org for the names of the tenants. You will have to navigate through to search housing court and you might have to check more than one area to see if they have been evicted before (unless you did this prior to them moving in). If they have been evicted in the past they may know the system and they are taking advantage of you (professional tenants). 

Do a search online about the eviction process in MA and learn everything you can about evictions and landlord/tenant law in Massachusetts. 

Good luck Erica. Keep us updated. Also, PM me if you have any questions or if I can help in any way. I used an attorney for my first eviction and have done them all myself since.