All Forum Posts by: Tracy Sharpe

In Texas, concerning a single family house. What if a tenant paid a 1 year lease in full, up front but then broke the lease by moving out 6 months later without giving the landlord any notice. Is the tenant entitled to the balance of funds remaining minus the months it took to re-lease the property?

Thanks for your comment. I will still need to have the lawn maintained, at their expense of course.

No damages. We have a home owners association HOA in our area. We are required to keep up the lawns. It's all in the lease. You are right, if there were a citation it comes to me. That's one of the reasons why I have the right to do inspections. The house will not be torn down. It's in a coveted Single Family Housing development and school district.

Some neighbors lawns have not been cut due to heavy rain as well. It's not as bad as you might visualize. After all, I live right around the corner from my tenants. No devaluation in this market, we are in a sellers market regardless of how the lawn looks.  

I can rent the house in 7 days or less in the current market. The only hold up would be getting the cosmetics completed. Also, I can't say the house is actually abandoned at this point anyway until I make the proper notifications.

I will pay back what I owe the tenant, if I owe anything. It's no big deal. I didn't spend the money up there is a mortgage on the house.  

Additionally, I just saw the tenants 2 weeks ago. So it hasn't even been more than 2 weeks yet. Through a general Landlord check, I just know that the electricity is off and their personal property is no longer in the house.  

Thankfully, Texas is a Landlord friendly state.  All services are in the tenants name. Our lease is based on the laws of the state which allows us to enter the house without posting anything on the door.  If there is any damage, it will come out of the deposit. I have no problem giving back what doesn't belong to me, once my property is rented again. They are responsible to pay loss rents up to the date that the property is re-rented which is in our lease. We were more baffled by them not informing us that they were leaving than anything else. In any case, I am not worried. The house is in great condition. I will consulate an attorney but from the outside, just based on them not keeping up the lawn, they are in violation of their lease and I will take action for that first by mailing a certified letter. 

Not a stash house. In an A area residential. HOA, pools, coveted school district. Children are young. No drug issues in the neighborhood. Tenant just lost his job. Overall, they were good tenants. We were surprised by them leaving.

Greg, thanks for the sound information you provided. I greatly appreciate your advise.

Update regarding my tenants. One concern that prompted me to check to see what was going on at the house was that the lawn was unkempt and the gate was open. I knocked on the door then checked the electric meter to see if it was on. It was not on. I then went to the neighbor's house to inquire. The neighbor informed me that the tenants informed my neighbor that they were moving to another house in another city close by. I believe they probably moved to her parents house since neither of them are working but I am not for sure. 

In any case, after I was informed by the neighbor that my tenants moved, I knocked on the door again, then entered the house. There was absolutely NO furniture inside the house. The overall appearance inside the house was fine. Needs painting and new carpet but that was about it. I have 6 months of rent and their deposit. I am hoping that they will inform me pretty soon. In the mean time, I need to find out what I must legally do to resolve this situation. I plan on speaking with a real estate attorney to get consultation. Your comments are welcome. 

Thanks for your input. Concerning why the parent would pay the rent for the year. Well, the parents are somewhat elderly but inherited some money. I learned that when they first rented the property. The son-in-law was going to law school part-time and also working during the first lease. At the end of the lease, they were not going to renew because the husband lost his job; no money. We were about to post that the property was available but the next day, they said that her parents provided money to pay for the entire year. They paid us with a cashiers check to renew the lease. 

I've met their parents nothing unusual. It seems that her parents have been helping them for awhile. They were living in a trailer in the back of their house until they decided to rent our house. Her parents sold their house because they were tired of the upkeep. I believe that could have been where the year's rent came from other than her parents just having the cash. Furthermore, I believe that her parents helped them with the deposit on the initial lease too.

As far as abandonment, I know my lease addresses vacancy when the rent has not been paid and also in the event that a tenant does not occupy the house within 3 days after their initial deposit but I need to look closer to see what it says regarding if someone has paid the lease and leaves.

 At this point, I will check with the neighbors first to see if they noticed anything then I will make the proper notifications to enter the property.

Yes, it is a strange situation, I could be overreacting but I have a feeling that they moved out. I will have to wait until I get off work to check out the situation. I will post the outcome as a learning experience for everyone. 

I have a tenant who paid the entire year's rent. Yep, one year in full. It was one of the tenant's parents who actually paid the money and the tenant gave us a cashiers check. The tenants are in their late 30s.

In any case, we live nearby so we know that they were in the house for at least 6 months but at the end of the 6th month, we noticed that the yard wasn't being kept up. 

I called and text them about another matter, but I received a text stating that they were tending to a family illness.

After they told me about the family illness, I became suspicious. I went by the house to ring the doorbell but the doorbell did not ring. The lights were completely off throughout the house and the back gate was open. 

Although I am still investigating, I believe that they moved out a week or two earlier. I will check with the neighbors to see if they know anything. I haven't entered the house yet, but I will go back to the house this afternoon, knock first, then enter. 

My lease was mirrored after the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) lease form, so it is a detailed and thorough lease. 

I was just baffled thinking that is it possible that they actually left the house. They had nothing to lose personally because one of the parent's paid the year's rent. Nevertheless, why wouldn't the tell me that they were leaving? They had already been in the house for a year, so this was a renewal lease.

Has anyone ever had a situation where the rent was paid in full and the tenant left without notice? Again, I am still investigating the matter and will know something by the end of the day but it just reminds me of how important it is to cover all bases on your lease. You never know what people will do. Your comments are welcome.