Tenant wanting out of lease agreement early

[Ruben Hunter]

I’d like some advice in handling a situation for the first time. Here is the message one of my tenants just sent me

“Good Afternoon Ruben,

So it has become necessary that we move overseas by beginning of August and would like to end our lease. We will be out of the house and flying out of Tulsa on 7/31/2020. We will pay rent for the month of August and will not request a refund for the security deposit. Sorry for the inconvenience and short notice. Thanks”

There lease ends in January. I’m no push over and I know that this is obviously dumb. I’d like advice on how to handle this the right way and fair! Kinda excited actually as this seems like a great learning experience. The lease says the agreement can’t be broken. Thanks team for the help!

[David Hutson]

I would let them go and say to have a nice trip if they actually pay for August's rent.  If they actually go overseas trying to serve them to pay for the rest of the lease would be difficult.  If they have been good tenants and have a good payment history, it will suck to lose a good tenant, they will be gone anyway.

It is good that they are giving you notice and hopefully the home is in good shape.  It's still a good time of the year to rent.  Unless the house is in shambles you should be able to fix it up and get it rented in a short period of time, possibly before the end of August and you can get another tenant in without a loss of rent and use the deposit for any repairs.  Obviously it's not ideal.  I would be nice, let them go and start getting ready to list it again 1 August.