My Dating Tenants Broke Up

[Johnny Potts]

BP family and friends,

Long story short, I signed a 12 month lease with a dating couple who, after about two months got into a fight and eventually broke up. The male makes less than the female, and could not qualify to lease the place on his own.

Both parties came to me looking to simply “take their name off the lease” so that they could move out. I informed them that both parties would need to agree and one would have to agree to stay (the female), or they’d just have to break the lease and be responsible for the remaining 10 months. They decided to try to work on their relationship instead.

In the meantime, in fear of them abandoning my property and leaving it a mess on the way out, I drafted up an addendum to the lease as a compromise for all parties. They would need to give me a 30 day notice, then be responsible for two months of rent after that and I would agree to let them out of the lease.

When I posed the idea to them, they both seemed very excited, and the female let me know she’s eager to sign it because she’s already on her way to moving out. I finished up the contract and sent it out. The male signed the addendum that day but the female didn’t. A couple days go by and I text to check in, with no response. I’ve sent emails and have tried to reach her to no avail. She has been known to just change her number (so her ex couldn’t contact her) and has also given me multiple different email addresses.

Now the male has been in the house for going on the second month, paid on time, and presenting no issues. I’m only concerned because when she disappeared, he said he couldn’t afford the two month rent requirement to break the lease per the agreement. Beyond that, the rent in my area has increased pretty substantially, so it would be beneficial to have them off of this lease.

Any suggestions on how I should move forward?

Thank you!