Tenants wanna move out before lease is up

[Hannah Woodward]

So I have tenants that are best friends. Over the weekend one tenant got into a car accident and said he wont have rent on the first due to the car payment issues. I said well, you are required to pay rent but Ill give you 7 days. He threw a fit and said he wants to move out. His bestfriend messaged me 3 hours later saying he has no money and cant pay rent on the first and wants to move out. I have 3 tenents in the house paying rent per room. Thats 2 tenants I am losing out of 3. Do I just let them move out? I cant literally make them stay. They both put down half rent as a security deposit and in the lease I said I will keep that if they move out before the lease is over....any suggestions???

[Andrew B.]

when tenants break a lease, in most jurisdictions, they can be held liable for up to the entire rental amount but you are required to mitigate your losses in most states. this means you cannot collect easy money until their lease is up, and must find new renters in the meantime. once you find new renters, then you can charge for any time that unit is vacant.  

my personal philosophy is to use a carrot approach, rather than just keep their deposit. tell them they can both be held liable for entire contract amount, but if they keep the place clean while you show to prospects and leave the place in good condition it will limit their exposure. of course they should be held liable for any time unit is vacant, but your main goal should be to put new tenants in asap.

of course you have the option of taking their deposits and cutting them loose. your approach will depend on state laws and how nice you wanna be.