Written lease, verbal agreement, and Roaches

[Jacob Youtz]

I have a written lease with tenants renting one of my single family properties. The lease says if they don't give 30 days written notice before the end of the lease, it will renew for another term of 12 months.

About two weeks before the end of their lease they called me to the property and told me in person they wanted out of the lease, well past the 30 day deadline. Because they were otherwise good tenants, I told them they could leave the lease only if they leave the house in good, clean, ready to rent condition. They agreed to those terms.

The tenants moved out and I did an inspection of the house. Everything seemed to be in good condition and fairly clean. I notified them the house looked good and I'd refund their security deposit. I mailed the check and went forward with trying to rent the house.

The first appointment to show the property was a couple days later right after dark. When I opened the door roaches fell from the door jamb. As I went inside roaches were crawling across the floor, walls, counter tops, everywhere.

Since the previous tenants never mentioned roaches to me, I immediately called them and asked if they knew about the infestation. They said they knew about the infestation, but they set off bombs (ineffective against roaches) and thought they had taken care of the problem. I’ve rented the house for 5 years never had a roach problem, and the tenants admitted they didn’t notice roaches until recently.

They had not cashed the security deposit check yet so I put a stop payment on the check. I told the tenants I was keeping the security deposit to cover the cost of the roaches and for the next month's rent.

Because they left a roach infestation, I don't consider the house left in good, clean, rent-able condition. With the tenants breaking the verbal agreement, is the written agreement is still in effect? Because I told them the house was in good condition and I mailed the check, am I allowed to go back on that since I found an issue the tenants knew about that I didn't catch on the first walk through?