Tenant Breaking The Lease: Sublease vs. Find a new tenant

[Izzy Zeigler]

Hi all,

I have been an anonymous reader for quite some time, but this is my first ever post! I have learned a ton by all of your experiences and suggestions.

I own (and live in) a 3-flat in Chicago (north side - around Edgewater & Andersonville) with relatively long-term (3-4 years) tenants. One of my tenants candidly told me that they are buying a house and will need to move out at the end of September, though their lease ends at the end of April. I would like to be nice and fair to them without putting myself in a difficult position. Have any of you dealt with this before? I feel like I have 2 options:

1) Let them find a new tenant to sublease the unit (assuming the tenant goes through the same background checks).

2) Keep their security deposit (1month rent), and find a new tenant (assuming it may be challenging with an October start date in Chicago).

Is there also a 3rd option? Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!

Thank you!

Izzy

[Bryan Balducki]

@Izzy Zeigler the third option is to tell the tenant you will attempt to find a replacement, but if you cannot find one, then they are on the hook until a suitable tenant can be found. I would list the room right away so you can filter through the best candidates with ample time. I did this with a tenant and found a new one a couple weeks after he had moved out, so I still charged him for the days in between and he was more than okay with that.

Allowing the tenant to find a sublease can be tricky but could also work and make less work for you, though I’ve never gone that route. Hope this helps!