What to do when a tenant wants out in the first month?

[Kate Stoltzfus]

Our lease does not have a clause in it for when a tenant would want to break the lease early. I don't know how this slipped through the cracks. Has anyone been in this situation before? 

The background story. We rent a 3 bedroom 1.5 bath house that we originally lived in our early twenties. We moved out after purchasing our next property, and rented it out to our first tenant who lived there for 5 years and loved it. 

He moved out last month, and we re-rented it right aways with no gaps. In the 5 days we had between tenants, we repainted the whole thing, made a ton of fixes, cleaned, and presented it to them totally cleared out. They toured the place twice before moving in and appeared happy. They asked for an exterminator, for sink drain traps to be cleaned, and for all outdoor items to be power-washed. We did all of the above. 

It has been almost one month and they are not happy and say it is dirty and that they have to kill spiders. The bathrooms are original and do not have vents to the outdoors and this is extremely bothersome to them. They complain that it is warmer in the upstairs than it is downstairs. (It has central a/c.) They have also complained about their dogs paws getting muddy in the backyard. 

At this point, we feel they are expecting everything to feel brand new (their previous apartment was in a brand new complex) and it just won't feel that way in a house that was built in the 1960's. We feel it is a bad match and would rather them move out than for us to have a miserable year. 

Any insights are welcome. I know it is our fault for not having an early cancellation clause in the lease. It's also apparent we need to improve our tenant interview process. The tricky thing, these are people who were newish friends so that makes it complicated. We want to end things amicably and as easily as possible. 

We had a happy tenant for so long we assumed everyone would love this house. Lesson learned. 

[Thomas S.]

Tell them you will let them out of the lease as soon as you find a replacement tenant. If they want to leave sooner tell them they will be responsible for the rent until a replacement is found. They will also be responsible for any costs associated with replacing them. Advertising, credit checks, screening etc.

It's just business and once they are gone you can cross them off your friends list.