Early lease termination

[Sarah Huynh]

I have a tenant who still have over a year left on their lease. They want to terminate their lease early. I would like your input from your experienced on how you dealt with the situation? Thank you

[Amanda Paugas]

Hi Sarah, I personally haven't had any issues with a tenant breaking the lease early. Either they're a poor tenant and you'd be happy to see them go (cut your losses and be thankful you didn't have to spend money on an eviction) or they've been a good tenant and you're doing something nice for them. I'm actually going through this now, with tenants that had 3 months left on their lease. They are a young couple who asked me first if I'd allow them to break the lease if they were able to find a house they could buy. They have 2 young kids and are renting a 2 bedroom condo from me. They have never been late on rent, haven't called me for any repairs in the last 2 years and they had given me more than 30 days notice. So I'm happily letting them out early with their full security deposit (unit only needed minor repairs) and a congratulatory gift card to Home Depot! With that being said however, you need to make sure that letting someone out early isn't going to put you in a financial bind.  People sign leases for a reason and they need to know what the consequences are if they decide to break it. If your relationship with the tenant isn't so good, I would consult your attorney about enforcing the lease. Some states have very strict laws when it comes to landlords keeping rent, security, etc after early lease termination and you don't want to find yourself in court. Then you'll be wishing you just let them out early, lol!