Lease Termination

[Sam Leon]

I am having a real hard time dealing with a tenant.

I hired a RE agent to rent out my SFH, paid one month rent to advertise and find the tenant. I didn't want to initially but negotiated the rent down from $1800 to $1700 a month after tenant agreed to shoulder the cost of irrigation of the lawn. Written into the lease is tenant will pay for sprinkler irrigation once a week.

Soon after the tenant complained that the water bill is too high. Due to my calculations he is paying an extra $60 a month for the irrigation the most, and being in South Florida there is hardly a need for watering in the summer. I set the sprinkler to water once a week, 4 zones, 15 minutes each. He complained it's more than he was willing to pay. I also pay $80 a month for lawn maintenance. I then found out when I went to pick up mail he had the sprinkler turned off now for over a month, grass is dry and made a cracking noise when I walked on them. Lawn is half brown. New plants I put in back in October all wilted due to lack of water. Broken window for over 2 months that he hasn't repaired. He broke it and I gave him the benefit of the doubt that he would fix it, he hasn't. Overall there isn't any courtesy or mutual respect I expect.

What is the ramifications if I suggest to just terminate the lease?

Assuming he agrees do we just mutually sign a termination agreement, and I deduct damages from his security deposits and that's it?

On the RE agent side, the agreement says if he renew a lease next year, I will owe again 1 month rent. What if the lease is terminated early? Do I get anything back, or will the agent find me another tenant?