Break Lease Penalty and Pet Deposit

[Bing W.]

Hi,

I'm in Oregon. My tenants broke the lease agreement on Oct 31. I would receive one and a half month break lease penalty per Oregon law.  I'm in the process of signing a new lease with the new tenants on Nov 10, but at a lower rent than the broken lease.  Do I still get one and a half month penalty from the old tenants, or just those ten days which the house is not rented, or should be the loss due to the lower rent up to 1.5 month the old rent?  

Also another question, I had a pet deposit with my old tenants. I didn't charge them for the pet rent.  Is the pet deposit refundable or I can withhold the pet deposit?

Thank you so much!

[Michele Fischer]

You can withhold the pet deposit only if there is damage.

It is irrelevant that the new tenant will be paying a lower rent, you can't charge two different tenants for rent for the same time period.

I don't view the penalty as rent.  I'd subtract the penalty (if it was outlined in your lease, that is) and any damage from the deposit and move on.

Surprised you are getting lower rent, rents are skyrocketing in SW WA.