All Forum Posts by: Sreeni Guntupalli

Thank you, @Kevin Stringari. They did indicate in their letter that the balance of the deposit is mine since I allowed them to terminate the lease. His words "balance which will remain yours since you were gracious enough to allow us to terminate the lease."; I also confirmed through texts that I am considering the "balance of the security deposit is applied toward lease breakage fee" (exact words!). Please share if this helps my case any. Thank you.

Thank you, @Krista Harvey for your prompt response and guidance. I was not aware of this law. Please note that the new tenant is paying lower rent ($45/month) now as I didn't want to keep the property vacant at this time. Also, I sold my new washer/dryer set at a loss of almost $600 as the lease was for three years (when he signed the lease in 04/2019) and he also promised to leave his set at the end of the lease as he wanted to keep his set for their time. Any of this make any difference under NC law? Thank you.

Hello All, 

Any guidance is appreciated on this below matter:

I had a tenant (in Charlotte, NC) who signed a three-year lease in 04/2019 and broke the lease earlier this month as they wanted to move to a different state due to health reasons. He orally told me that he had to move a month before, but only confirmed the date a week before the move out date as he was working with his new employer on the start date. He was a good tenant, took care of the home, and paid on time. So, I wanted to be as reasonable with them. My lease agreement says that he is on the hook for rent until I find another suitable tenant unless we agree on something else. As part of his letter to confirm the move out date, he specifically mentioned that he is waiving rights to part of the security deposit as they are breaking the lease.

My tenant also helped with showing the home to prospective tenants and finally, I approved one of them after the background check and all.

Now, he is coming back and saying that he spoke to a lawyer and I should return the security deposit as I rented the house to a new tenant right away. I did confirm to him after the move-out walk-through everything was good and I am accepting his proposal of using the security deposit as a lease breakage fee.

Please share if you have any suggestions on handling this. I do appreciate your thoughts to help this newbie!

Thank you.

Thank you all. An update- I did issue a pay or quit notice on Monday and the tenant paid the rent yesterday. 

He is still talking about the deposit. I may need to give same notices again for February and March rent payments. I hope not! Thank you all for your timely advice. Have a great day!

Thank you, @Shelleman Paulin. Thank you all for the great advice.

Thank you, Scott. These points are very helpful.

Thanks, Theresa. As there were some concerns based on the background check, I was hesitant to lease him the property. He offered to pay up 3 months' rent as a deposit. I did tell him that this can't be used towards rent and it will be returned after he vacates the property. As I have this deposit, I would have worked with him if he has any challenges with January rent, but he didn't indicate any until the check returned. Even after this, the tenant is defiant rather than trying to work things out.

Thank you, Kyle. I have similar thoughts but want to confirm with the experts here before proceeding.

Please share if there are any other thoughts. Also, do I need to hire an attorney or is this something I can handle on my own. Thank you.

Hello All,

I have a tenant who has been paying rent regularly until December (in Cumming, GA). But, the January rent got delayed and I was finally paid by check which got returned due to NSF. The current lease expires end of March and there was some initial interest on both of our parts to renew the lease. One point of note is that I did receive three months' rent as a security deposit as there were some concerns when I initially signed the lease in 04/2019. I did offer the tenant late last year that I am open to adjusting two months' portion of the deposit towards February and March rent payments if we renew the lease (as he was a good tenant at that time). 

The tenant now claims that he wants to use this deposit for rent payments for January - March. I don't think I want or need to allow that as I want to protect myself for any issues identified after they vacate the property. I did confirm to him that I will return the security deposit within 30 days after the property is vacated. He is threatening legal action. Please suggest any course of action to this novice investor! I did send him a formal email on the returned check. I am considering sending a formal notice to pay or quit. I really appreciate any guidance on this. Thank you.