Tenants to vacate tomorrow, now need an extra day

[Kyle Keller]

The lease term for my tenants ends today and they just texted me (1030pm) that they need another day to clean the property. The relationship between us is not good, I thought my nightmare would be over tomorrow, but it seems it may continue.

What is my best course of action here? I still can't evict, I can start a process to claim the house back, but that will take a couple months anyway. Should I just allow them the extra day? Should I go over there and tell them to leave the premises and call the cops since they are trespassing?

[Nathan Gesner]

It won't do any good to confront them. Just ignore them and wait for the keys, even if it takes them three more days. Then charge them rent for the additional time.

My lease includes a "holdover" clause that includes a penalty for anyone holding a home longer than agreed to. My rate is 4x the normal rent, prorated for the number of days, including the day the keys are returned. If rent is $1,200 a month, a proration would be $40 a day. A holdover tenant would be charged $160 per day. This holdover fee helps defray costs if I have to accelerate turnover or it causes delays for the new renter and I want to compensate them for hotel or other expenses.