Tenant Breaking Lease - How would you proceed?

[Brandon C.]

I bought my first SFH back in the summer. I was able to get it rented fairly quickly (in a month) just advertising online. Screened several people and settled on a family moving to TN from FL. We did a 10 month lease going from 8/1 thru 6/30. Rent is 1200, and security deposit is 1200.

The renters have been great. I had to make a small repair to the stove about a month ago, which was the last time I spoke to them.

Yesterday I received a phone call from them. The tenant stated they wanted to break the lease because they had purchased a home. I asked him when they were closing and he said "We closed today." He went on to say, we didn't know we were closing up until a couple days ago. This has been an ongoing process for 6 weeks. It's a VA loan and there was a bunch of back and forth. I don't have a lot of cash and I wanted to be up front with you and not just leave in the middle of the night.

I don't buy the "we didn't know we were closing until 2 days ago"

My lease CLEARLY states (TN law states it as well) they are responsible for rent until the lease ends or I find new renters. In fact, I have a spot where they initialed by that section of the lease. 

My lease does NOT state that the security deposit is lost when one breaks a lease. Tenant is charged a $250 fee and SD is returned minus the fee and any damage. 

The tenant stated that he was willing to forfeit the deposit. I did not agree to anything yesterday when I spoke to him. I just said "you've blindsided me and I need to come up with a plan and I'll give you a call tomorrow. I'll go ahead and start advertising."

What would you guys/gals do in this case? 

Part of me thinks I should let him go, keep the SD (after speaking to an attorney) and get on with finding a new tenant. 

Other part of me is a little ticked that he hasn't said anything to me and wants to hold him to the lease. However, my concern is he may just leave, and then I'll have to go thru the eviction process because I don't know if he would pay January rent. 

I go back and forth. Currently, there are very few rental houses in my area available. However...it's 2 weeks before Christmas. Look forward to hearing your thoughts!