All Forum Posts by: Julie Park

 I think he felt his efforts were not being appreciated.  You were thinking he broke his lease and was causing you lost money and time.  You were both possibly correct (see below).  Your hard stance resulted in resentment and now he is reacting (I can be a real jerk if I get ticked at someone).

Now to the money/time aspect, I suspect you will come out ahead as the new lease will extend beyond the current lease with only 2 days of downtime. Even in my very low vacancy market, that is far below my average turn time.  I typically spend more than 2 days refreshing a unit.  We have an open house that virtually always gets us a qualified tenant in less than 2 hours, but that tenant has to give the current LL notice.  They typically cannot move in for at least 2 weeks and sometimes as long as a month (we will not hold over one month so if they cannot move in by a month they either cannot qualify or they are paying rent prior to move in).  My point is 2 days is incredible as long as the tenant meets your criteria.

Even in my tenant friendly market, I could charge the tenant for the 2 days of lost rent and the refresh of the unit.  But the scenario the tenant created is better than I would have if the tenant had waited until the end of their lease before moving out.  They put forth the effort to get you a qualified tenant.  They did you a favor.

Try to repair the relationship.  Your tenant seems to have done more than expected.  if you offer the olive branch, it hopefully is received.

Good luck

 My view is legally you can charge the tenant, but if there were only 2 days of vacancy and the tenants found you the qualified replacement tenants, I would not charge them.  I would be grateful.  Just make sure you screen these new  tenants as you would any tenants.  If they found you poorly qualified tenants, that has zero value.

I have similar policy for length of stay related to not charging everything I could legally charge.  A tenant that has been in the unit a long time that has a small amount of tenant damaged items, we list the damage on the check out, but we list it as no charge.  However, a tenant that resides in the unit a shorter period of time would get charged for the damage that they did.

You have virtually no vacancy.  You have a qualified tenant found by your vacating tenant.  You likely have a new lease term that is beyond when the original lease would have expired.  You may have an increase rent amount.  sounds great.

Good luck

 My view is legally you can charge the tenant, but if there were only 2 days of vacancy and the tenants found you the qualified replacement tenants, I would not charge them.  I would be grateful.  Just make sure you screen these new  tenants as you would any tenants.  If they found you poorly qualified tenants, that has zero value.

I have similar policy for length of stay related to not charging everything I could legally charge.  A tenant that has been in the unit a long time that has a small amount of tenant damaged items, we list the damage on the check out, but we list it as no charge.  However, a tenant that resides in the unit a shorter period of time would get charged for the damage that they did.

You have virtually no vacancy.  You have a qualified tenant found by your vacating tenant.  You likely have a new lease term that is beyond when the original lease would have expired.  You may have an increase rent amount.  sounds great.

Good luck

The rules associated with tenant ending lease early varies by jurisdiction, but I know of no jurisdiction that does not allow you to charge for the reasonable time until new tenant is found. This includes the tenant turn over time as you would not need a tenant turn over or the associated expense if the tenant had not terminated the lease early. 

In my tenant friendly jurisdiction, a tenant that terminated lease early would be charged for the time the unit is not rented and the tenant turn over costs.  You would have neither of these expenses at this time if the tenant honored their lease so it is fair that the tenant pay these expenses.  

Good luck

No, if they break the lease early, they are responsible for rent until the new tenant moves in. Take the number of days that it was vacant and you were not paid rent for and deduct that from the deposit (along with any other damages) before you return the balance.

 The lease does specify that they are responsible for paying rent for the length of their lease.  So indirectly it does cover you.

@Julie Park If your tenant is just moving out before the lease is up, he still owes you rent for the remainder of the lease unless you both come to an agreement. Military duty CAN be a justified reason if he provides documentation from his command that he is PCS-ing or going on a deployment, but otherwise he can't get out of the lease. 

Does the state allow you to keep some of the security deposit for unpaid rent? Depending on how much money you'll be losing, I would consider hiring an attorney for this, but if you'll only be out a small amount of money, then consider just moving on, updating your lease terms accordingly to protect yourself from something like this in the future, and screen future tenants better to prevent this from happening again. 

Good luck and keep us updated!

Julie

If you do not have the previous move in condition report and they leave acceptable, move on and pay for the cleaning yourself. Don’t poke the bear with a cleaning bill unless it’s filthy dirty

The deposit is to be used for actual damages not a fund to use at your discretion to make the unit rental ready for the next tenant.  I’m not sure of your local laws but in ky we are required to have a move in checklist and without one we are not allowed to deduct for damages or condition since we have no proof of original condition and that it is worse.  No move out is going to be perfect and I pay a cleaner to come in between tenants to deep clean and it cost between 125-250.  It is just a cost of doing business.