A relocation due to family emergencies will probably not fall in this category unfortunately.As far as your security deposit goes...technically it should be used for damages but if there are none upon move-out then yes they will likely use that to cover the early termination fee.

Did they suffer some damages?

So Landing pages.If you are a no body.. and all people see of you on the net is ONE landing page, you are doing damage to your credibility score.Now flip the coin around.

Have two properties I have been trying to chase down for awhile.One is a house that was badly damaged in a fire in 2015.

They mentioned the water main and meter has been damaged/cutoff.

Also, are you worried about damages from the cats?

The key element is going to be in the chain of title: you've got to see who's liening the property, and who this guy is trying to dodge.

I don't want to delay this closing as the roof is leaking and I don't want it to cause any more damage.  

I can't pin the issue on anything specific (some bad luck with storm/tree damage, high tenant turn costs again and again, 2 different property managers), but we decided enough was enough and sold it this year.

I have found that investment properties in the area are having bidding wars that ultimately raise the price past the value of the damaged properties.