Early Termination Fee / Re Rent Levy

[Sarah Buchanan]

Two Questions for Oregon Property Owners / Landlords:

1 - Can you recommend a good attorney in Oregon with experience in Real Estate law?  I do try to keep abreast of the ever changing laws but I'm no lawyer!

2 - Can you share your experience with early termination of the lease (by tenant)?

My lease lists a $3600 "re rent levy" for tenants which terminate their contract early.  I'm wondering if I need to justify/provide proof of expenses to my tenant or not.  Their deposit was $2600 and I'm only planning on retaining their deposit, but not charging them the remaining $1000.

Full story: My tenants with a 2 year lease just moved out after 9 months.  They provided written 60 day notice so I did have time to re rent the house,  but the turnover was nonetheless a huge inconvenience and expense to me.  First, I manage the property myself so I spend several hours listing the property on various sites, taking calls, screening tenants, meeting with tenants, then vetting tenants.  (They gave notice to me while I was on vacation which resulted in me spending hours online posting and then on the phone answering calls while the family was site seeing).  Also, as I live out of state, I have to travel there to turn the house over (airfare, car rental, hotel).  I also had to take unpaid time off my day job to travel out there.  The turnover itself required some cleaning they missed (under appliances, mopping, windows, cleaning carpets, etc), carpet replacement (normal wear and tear) and painting which I know I can't charge for, but were an expense I had sooner than planned with their early termination.  Because I did a lot of the work myself, and am unsure whether I can include my own personal lost wages from work, I don't have receipts to justify the full $2600, but it seems fair to me since they broke their lease early.  

I'm looking for an attorney to discuss this with, but am curious if anyone's had experience with this situation personally, and what the outcome was?

Thanks in advance for your insights!