Lease wording, from the previous Property Manager

[Amanda Thompson]

Hi! I have a tenant who let me know he plans to move out November 30th. He has a lease until Feb. 28, 2022. The lease is from our previous property manager, who was terrible so we fired him and I started my own property management company to oversee our personal properties.

So, this not being my company's lease, I looked it over. It does state the minimum term, and the tenant is responsible for all costs (rent, utilities, advertising, transportation costs to show the property) until either it is rented OR the lease is up.

It also states that there is a $500 "re-rent fee" charged to all tenants who have not completed their full term, or who do not give proper 30 days notice.

Do you read this to mean the tenant is responsible for all the costs AND is charged $500 for leaving early?

[Corby Goade]

Ahhhh, Idaho, the land of the unregulated property managers!

I don't exactly know what a "re-rent" fee is, but it is legal to charge a lease break penalty. I think you might have some trouble having utilities and transportation costs covered until you have the place re-rented if you had to explain that to a judge. I typically encourage people to charge the leasebreak fee that their lease allows, get the place rent ready and advertise it to get new tenants asap. The amount of money that you "lose" during that time is usually minimal and chasing after it isn't worth the stress that it causes.  

The good news is that vacancy in Boise is around 2.5%, so you should have a good tenant in there within a week or so, so this shouldn't cause ongoing stress. 

Best of luck!