You're not doing anything new or clever, you're just making my life more difficult because when one of my tenants has a landlord before me that deals with them in this manner, it's hard to build a good relationship with them.To reiterate my previous point, if you lose a hearing where you cannot justify having kept some of the tenant's deposit, there will be some record of that even if they do owe you money for utilities and are subsequently forced to repay you.

I did miss the reference to the "guest" in the subsequent post, and that does seem a little sketchy now that you point it out. 

If you ever run into a Fair Housing Tester who qualified per the rental criteria and lost out to a subsequent applicant you are going to have to explain that in a lot more detail  than I would ever want to.Most of us are not attorney's and would prefer not to pay for them.

The value of a (good) attorney in drafting partnership documents is preventing catastrophic problems down the road when things do not go as expected (hint: they rarely do) or when you and your partner stop seeing eye to eye (hint: happens as often as spousal conflicts and subsequent divorces, which is pretty often).In fact, partnerships are very much like marriages in every other respect, too.

There was a 21 year old SGT leading the brief and the subsequent movement. 

Upon re-rental, Tenant will be held secondarily liable for default(s) by subsequent Tenant(s) in the payment of rent during the balance of the initial Term of this Lease.

After that, you can collect the subsequent month's rent however your lease allows (personal check, electronic transfer, etc). 

If I am certain that it isn't my problem (ie collapsed drain line or corroded and scaled cast iron) then I pay for the first unclog on a drain and the tenant pays for subsequent unclogs of that same drain.

If the tenant has been a good client and you feel charitable (there is nothing wrong with a compassionate business as long as you are not being taken advantage of or starving yourself/family), then I'd arrange with the tenant to deliver the keys to you on XX date and you will either a) prorate their deposit back to them according to the days they had "key occupancy" assuming the condition of the residence meets your standards to release the security deposit, or b) charge them the amount of the anticipated date XX on the 1st of August and then return their security deposit upon their subsequent vacancy and cleaning subject to your inspection.Personally, I like the prorating of the security deposit better if you feel like the tenant is a good individual and will treat your property with integrity before they move, and it shows additional compassion by not tying up their money while they position themselves for a new location.In any case, do not put yourself in odds with the law, and do not perform any activity that would allow your tenant to come back against you. 

She subsequently signed a new lease elsewhere, and was extremely mad when the gentlemen backed out.