When Tenants Don't Talk to Each Other

[Sam Adams]

Hi - I'm new to the site and have a real problem. I have a 3BR rental that I have had 3 tenants in for the past year. They have taken great care of the place and paid their rent on time. About a month ago, I received a text from one of them asking if they could move out about a month and a half before their lease expires.

I generally like to help my tenants when they have been good to me, so I told her I would let them out of their lease as long as I had it rented out to other tenants. She said that would be great. I put the property on the market and showed it many times with the tenant who texted me in the property watching me do it.

After a lot of work, I rented it out to some new tenants and even got the move-in date to coincide with the move-out date that the tenant asked for. When I talked to the tenant who wanted to vacate, she said that date would be 'perfect'.

Then after I signed a lease with the new tenants, one of the original tenants emailed me and said that she doesn't know what her roommate is talking about and that she will be staying until the lease expires. I explained to her that there is one lease on the property and so one notice of intent to vacate is sufficient. If there had been three separate leases, there would be three notices, but there weren't. She told me she was not moving after I signed the lease with the new tenant.

I talked to my new tenants (who are somewhat freaked out now) and they can't move their move-in date back.

The tenant who wants to stay has stated they will take me to court over this. I called and texted the original tenant and she sent me an email stating it was her fault and a big misunderstanding. But the tenant who wants to stay says I should have asked each of them individually.

I want to do the right thing here, but can anyone give me some advice? I would really not want to incur all the court costs and resolve this in a manner that works for everyone, or as close as I can get.

From now on I will check with everyone involved and have a form that all tenants in the unit need to sign, but that won't help me now. Thanks for any help.