Tenant wishes to terminate lease.

[Phil B.]

I apologize if this question has been answered but I was unable to locate a response on point.

Issue:

Our tenant wishes to terminate our 12 month lease agreement at month five; although our lease clearly states that the tenant does not have the right to take such action.

Little more detail:

He wishes to give us 60 days notice (which would take his remaining lease requirement from 7 months to 5 months.)  He also states he will not be in the property for the remaining 60 days and that we are free to show the property to new prospective tenants at anytime.   As soon as we rent it, he will move out his belongings.

Can I / Do I somehow hold him to the remaining 5 months of the lease ($7,750) or do I just move on and find a new tenant?

I would like there to be some middle answer where he pays me for a portion of what he has remaining beyond his 60 day notice, say an additional two months and if I find a new tenant tomorrow he still owes me these funds to cover my costs to list the property and find a new tenant.

I would think there should be some penalty to breaking a lease.

Thanks.   Phil

[Shawn Q.]

Unless there's language in the lease, there's nothing that requires you to allow him out of it. Ultimately it would be his responsibility to pay the remainder of the lease. That being said, you can always negotiate. A few different options:

• Negotiate a flat fee for lease cancellation based on how long you think it will take you to re-rent the place given your current market conditions. 
• Tell him he needs to find a replacement tenant/subleasee for the remainder of the term. If he can leverage his friend group to your benefit, so much the better. 
• Go ahead and market the place, but get a written acknowledgement that he will be responsible for marketing (and holding) costs until the lease is fulfilled. If someone rents, great, but if you can't find an acceptable renter, you don't want to be out that cash. 

You can see where I'm going with this - try to put the onus for fulfilling the lease on him, as it's really his responsibility. The best option is likely to be some combination of the above. One additional thing I would recommend is to get in the unit frequently throughout the next 60 days. You want to make sure you're aware of any damage if the relationship gets contentious.