Two Tenants: One Wants to Early Terminate

[Marcus Fisher]

Hello

Wanted to reach out to the forum to get advice on how to proceed.  I have tenants in a rental property I own in Pittsburgh, PA.  THey are married but getting a divorce.  One of the tenants has been living outside the home for almost 2 years, but was still paying a portion of the rent.  The wife (remaining tenant) is still in the home.  Her husband is looking to early terminate from the lease, as he is in the military and getting stationed on the other side of the US and doesn't want to continue to pay the rent.  The remaining tenant wants to stay in the place, but wants me to reduce her rent so she can pay and not have her husband on the lease anymore and is looking for me to penalize her husband for the early termination solely and draw up a new lease with a reduced rate.

My question is this:  Should I penalize the husband for the early termination solely (which amounts to 2 months of rent) and proceed with a month-to-month lease for the remaining tenant at the reduced rate?  Or should I only penalize him for half of the penalty?

Looking for advice.  My goal would be to get the other tenant out of the property by the summer, but given that she is not prepared to move, I was thinking drawing up a new lease with a reduced rate and month-to-month would give her time to find a new place by the summer and then vacate.

Any assistance on strategically removing tenants and clearing up this issue would be appreciated. 

[Mindy Jensen]

She wants you to reduce her rent? No. You could offer to let her out of the lease early. She sounds like a headache waiting to happen.