First time landlord end of Lease issues, please help.

[Cinnamon Johnson]

Tenant wants to know how much her last month's rent is. I use Zillow and it's showing the full amount which is $1250. However. Tenant's lease was from 10/17/22-10/16/23. Should it be pro-rated or the full amount? She also wants to know when she should get the utilities shut off. I'm not really sure when or if it'll make a difference of when. Also, I live in Georgia and the property is in Michigan. How should I get the key from here? I have family there but I don't know if it's professional for her to drop it off to a family member.

[Johanna Kok]

 I never turn the utilities on until I have the key in hand from the tenant. I don't want to preemptively turn them on and they havent moved out- then you are paying utilities for her while she continues living there rent free. Make sure you take plenty of photos of every bit of damage if you decide to withhold anything from her security deposit aside from unpaid rent. Also, be sure to check the laws in the state to make sure you are sending the security deposit and/or disposition back within the required timeframe. I don't know the laws there, but in our state, if we fail to send a refund/disposition back to the tenant within 30 days of them moving out, they can sue us for up to three times the deposit amount.