Tenant moves out on three day notice

[Di Ye]

I’m a first time landlord in California. My tenant was late on rent and I served her a three day pay of quit notice. She responded that she would move out in three days. This gives me little time to find my next tenant and is before our lease expires. Would it be reasonable, and does it break any protocol if I charged her some penalty to cover some of the loss of my house being vacant? If so, what is usually a fair amount? A week or two worth of rent etc?

Thank you!

[Mike Franco]

It's not only reasonable. It's legal, and expected.

she can't just quit without being responsible for damages. 

You charge her for every day your house is vacant, plus back rent. You have 21 days to hold onto her security deposit and deduct whatever is necessary. Make sure you give her some kind of security deposit itemization before the 21 day deadline, or else you may be on the hook for penalties for not following protocol. 

If you haven't found a replacement tenant, you can withhold the whole deposit, stated on the itemization as a good faith estimate of damages.

Hopefully you collected enough security.

You have a duty to diligently find a tenant (called mitigating damages), and she has a duty to pay rent until you find that replacement tenant. That means most of her security deposit will most likely be spent by the time you find your next tenant, and she won't be getting a security deposit refund. Hopefully she didn't damage the house too badly, otherwise you would go after her in small claims court. Hopefully she has assets you can lien. 

Ideally, you want to find someone who is ready to move in, who has already given their 30 day notice. If it takes longer than 30 days to fill the vacancy, you're probably not gonna be able to collect any extra money out of your tenant besides the whole security deposit.

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