North Carolina Tenant Law

[Johnothan Edward Layne]

A tenant has given me an official notice after only having 20 days in the rental. She had never complained about anything about the house until the letter arrived at my doorstep. She agreed to leave the premises and did turn in the keys. Our agreement was that she continue to pay the rent until I found another tenant; however, she decided not to pay at all claiming I had an attitude issue. She signed a one year lease and turned off all utilities. Given that she didn't honor our agreement, is she liable for the entire annual contract amount, or only until I find another tenant.

[Stan Johnson]

@Johnothan Edward Layne I have 2 SFH's and have become well versed on the law. Read "The guide to landlording" (something to that nature) on BiggerPockets. This book goes into detail on how to evict, collect rent amongst other things. In my opinion, I would just eat the cost since you have not became familiar with everything that comes with managing your property. You will spend so much more if you try and fight. I would also dig through the apartment she left and find any and everything wrong with it (within reason) so I can keep as much deposit as possible. You have 30 days to refund the tenant back her deposit and if you took money out of it, you will need to have a list showing that with the deposit. If this does not happen, she can sue you for the rest of her deposit and you will probably lose if you did not have a tight defined lease and proper documentation. Again, I would suck up the loss, learn from this situation, rerent your property, and become well versed with the landlord tenant laws.