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It is really a sin that some LL's are not nice people. Of course if you left in the middle of the night or skipped town, but when it is something like a job relocation which obviously you have no control over and having a job is kinda like the most important thing in life, you would think a logical person would give some le-way...... it just seems mean.
I truly think we did everything we could. We listed the house on craigslist for rent (with her consent), I even took over 50 pics of the house (with a professional camera) for her to list it sooner on the MLS (she was happy with that but still didn't list it). I also took over 300 pics of how I left the house AND I filmed. Oh and I have three witnesses who inspected the house before I left since she refused to do a walk through with me the day of my move out.
But anyhow, I do see everybody's point here about me breaking the lease. I did give her almost two months notice though, and I did pack everything up and leave the house ready for showing right away so we could help her find a new tenant. She just never showed any interest in getting a tenant asap. I knew it would cost her money, because it happened to me with my rental, when I couldn't find a tenant for a month and a half. It was very hard on my finances, which is exactly why I was desperate for her to list the house in the MLS as soon as I gave her notice. I am really good at showing properties and had the house immaculate. But she refused to list it.
I looked at the carpet cleaning receipt, and $80 is for DEODORANT. The house did not smell at all, my dogs had been long gone, and we didn't even have them that long. I would always ask anyone who came to my house if it smelled like dog and everyone always said no way (I'm talking about people who came to see the house who had no ties to me whatsoever). So I don't know. We're talking about 100 bucks here, but with me, principle and ethics are a big deal. Especially when she abused our deposit IMO. After rent was paid for, she still had $500 left over.
I know it's not her fault that we couldn't pay her the February rent on time, but she DID have the deposit in her posession the entire time. It's not like she had to wait for me to mail her the money. And honestly, 8 days of late rent did not harm her in any way. Most mortgage companies give you a grace period, so $85 of late fees for that is just ridiculous for her to charge me.
I'm a landlord in Virginia beach, Va and I have a young couple tenants who think they are smarter than me. First the upstairs bathroom overflowed and the ceiling down stairs caved in because of this. The tenants took it upon themselves to get it fixed without telling me until after the fact. They had a guy from a well known company fix it as a side job and he did not want to leave a receipt because it will have the company name on it and my ceiling is not under warranty because the company itself didn't do the job. So the tenant told me they paid $500 and they are taking it off their rent for the following month. Secondly, their lease it up May 31, 2010 and they told me they will be out by May 1st and they can not pay May's rent because they have to put a deposit down at their new place and for me to keep their security deposit as May's rent, Thirdly, my husband and my mother-in-law boyfriend went to our rental property two doors over and seen the tenant coming out the house with a big dog and before they moved in it was clearly stated on the lease that no pets are allowed on or inside the property. Before they moved in they agreed to have a family member keep their dog. Their security deposit is $1,000. Am I entitled to deduct from their deposit for any of their violations?
To the OP, I assume since you keep making reference to the MLS, that it is normal there to list rentals in the MLS. I only bring that up because it is not normal everywhere. In my MLS, there is a "rental" button, but I don't know anyone who uses it.
If there was a sign in the yard, and the house was on Craigslist regularly, and the price was where it should be, in my area, you'd be getting 10-15 calls a day, so we don't do anything besides those 2 things.
@island242
That is a complicated one due to the repairs that have no warranty and may or may not have been done correctly and may or may not have needed a permit.
Hopefully someone will come on who knows Virginia laws. Best I can say is it depends on your lease and your state law. Our lease would allow us to withhold unpaid rent and any damages, as well as go after the tenant for overage. For damage caused by tenant negligence (allowing the tub to overflow), the tenant can't withhold rent (Actually Idaho tenants can't withhold for much of anything)
You can withhold for damage or extra cleaning (possibly including flea treatment if necessary) caused by the pet being there, but not just because the pet was there. If they weren't moving, you could tell them they had to get rid of the dog.
So basically, you are going to be out: $500 April rent, May rent in full, and any damages, less the security deposit you are holding, plus you have a repair that may fail at some point, so you probably need to have that inspected, which may involve tearing out sheet rock to look inside the ceiling.
My guess is that the tenant is going to owe you considerably more then their security deposit. Whether or not it is worth it to go after them depends on whether they have steady jobs that you can garnish, and whether you are willing to spend the several hundred (up to $1000 in my experience) dollars it will cost to get a judgment and place a garnishment.
I would definitely suggest contacting a local rental attorney.
*Edit, forgot to say that if they move out May 1st, you probably have an obligation to rerent as quickly as reasonable. If you collect any rent for May from a new tenant, that must be deducted from what the prior tenant owes.
And you still have to send them an itemized list of what happened to their deposit within whatever time frame your state decrees.
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The LL was dragging her feet every step of the way.
