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You cannot charge for your time. However, you can charge for direct costs related to finding a new tenant - such as newspaper classified ads.
I'm not so sure that's legal either. Security deposit deductions are for damages and cleaning and, in some cases in some states, for rent deficits - but if there was to be any charge for finding a new tenant this should have been agreed upon when the early termination deal was being hashed out.
Here's my situation. I'm a landlord, my tenant signed a 1-year lease with me, now 10 months past and he bought a new house and is moving out, he begged us not to charge him the early termination fee (=1.5 month rent) because he has lived there for almost 11 months. We agreed as long as we can find a replacement right away we won't charge him for early termination. Luckily we found one who can immediately move in the next day after the first tenant leaves, so we signed a new lease with the second tenant. However, things get trickier because of the weather. The moving date was postponed by the mover company of the first tenant due to a storm, he can't move out on time, we ask him to switch to another mover because this company is the only one (We called ~10 companies) works in the appropriate time window, however the first tenant doesn't want to choose the second mover because it has a "B" rating in AngistList and it charges more than the first one ($19xx vs. $12xx), my husband is nice enough to even offer to cover half of the diff without touching the security deposit, but he's asking for $650 (1/3 of the monthly rent) and we had to agree with him otherwise he won't move on time. Now he can move out before the second tenant moves in. However, I don't think it is fair to us to pay him $650 for moving out. I want to use a portion of the security deposit to compensate our lost, and the cost based on the time we spent advertising the property to find new replacement. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
The tenant violated the first agreement by not moving out in time, I would notify him that the early termination fee is now restated. Assuming he asked for but you have not yet agreed to it, I absolutely would not pay him any additional amount for moving. but would go after him for any lost rent beyond the end of his lease and withhold all of the above costs from the deposit, then sue him for any additional amounts incurred.
Your lease should specify early termination fees. You indicated that it does. You should have stuck with that in the first place. You have verbally negotiated all of your power away. If you hadn't done that, you could have charged any amount up to that agreed to amount, and there would have been nothing the tenant could have done about it.
As it is now, you have agreed to cover half the difference in the moving charge (if I understood correctly). Don't know why you would agree to that, as the tenant at that point had failed to honor terms twice, once by moving early, then again by missing the moving date. Sure, they can't control the weather, but they can schedule things such that they don't put yourself in the position of moving at the 11th hour.
So in my opinion, you can charge for the days he is actually there, less the agreed to 1/2 the difference in moving costs. Only if you lose the new tenant can you charge more. You can't charge for your time to find the new tenant, that is part of doing business. If you hadn't agreed to waive the early termination charge, that would have covered your time, but you did.
So, my opinion, assuming the new tenant still moves in, you owe him: Security deposit + the agreed to amount for moving costs (whether that is 1/2 the difference or $650 depends on where you left the conversation) - damages - additional rent for any extra days he didn't pay for.
The tenant violated the first agreement by not moving out in time, I would notify him that the early termination fee is now restated. Assuming he asked for but you have not yet agreed to it, I absolutely would not pay him any additional amount for moving. but would go after him for any lost rent beyond the end of his lease and withhold all of the above costs from the deposit, then sue him for any additional amounts incurred.
That would have been the sensible thing to do. However, the OP says, "but he's asking for $650 (1/3 of the monthly rent) and we had to agree with him otherwise he won't move on time." The OP says the new tenant is moving in as planned so there will be no lost rent ... The OP is now backtracking trying to recoup moving expenses already agreed to and for expenses involved in finding a new tenant which were never agreed to.
That would have been the sensible thing to do. However, the OP says, "but he's asking for $650 (1/3 of the monthly rent) and we had to agree with him otherwise he won't move on time." The OP says the new tenant is moving in as planned so there will be no lost rent ... The OP is now backtracking trying to recoup moving expenses already agreed to and for expenses involved in finding a new tenant which were never agreed to.
Yes I read that, the first part of that underlined sentence is in present tense, the second part is past tense or bad grammer. Therefore it is unclear to me if they have or have not agreed to paying the $650.
That is why I wrote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by CptnRn The tenant violated the first agreement by not moving out in time, I would notify him that the early termination fee is now restated. Assuming he asked for but you have not yet agreed to it, I absolutely would not pay him any additional amount for moving. but would go after him for any lost rent beyond the end of his lease and withhold all of the above costs from the deposit, then sue him for any additional amounts incurred.
Thanks for all the valuable advice. Sorry for the confusion, the first tenant insisted on getting $650 from us and my husband agreed, the reason he's asking more than half of the extra cost is because he spent another $800+ hiring another U-Haul and two other people the past weekend to move half of his stuff out in order to make the move on the snow day easier, unfortunately the move got postpone because of the snow, and so he wanted us to cover the cost.
Thanks for all the valuable advice. Sorry for the confusion, the first tenant insisted on getting $650 from us and my husband agreed, the reason he's asking more than half of the extra cost is because he spent another $800+ hiring another U-Haul and two other people the past weekend to move half of his stuff out in order to make the move on the snow day easier, unfortunately the move got postpone because of the snow, and so he wanted us to cover the cost.
You paid him $650 AND he is still not moving out on time? Stop negotiating with him and just take the unpaid rent out of the security deposit. He will still owe for the rest of his lease, although don't expect to get any more money than what the security deposit was. Letting him out of his lease without penalty was conditional on finding a replacement tenant right away, which you won't be able to do now that he isn't moving out on time. And next time don't let tenants bully you into giving them money.
You paid him $650 AND he is still not moving out on time? Stop negotiating with him and just take the unpaid rent out of the security deposit. He will still owe for the rest of his lease, although don't expect to get any more money than what the security deposit was. Letting him out of his lease without penalty was conditional on finding a replacement tenant right away, which you won't be able to do now that he isn't moving out on time. And next time don't let tenants bully you into giving them money.
We haven't actually paid but have agreed to pay him, otherwise he wouldn't accept the alternative mover company because they overcharge him.
Thanks for all the valuable advice. Sorry for the confusion, the first tenant insisted on getting $650 from us and my husband agreed, the reason he's asking more than half of the extra cost is because he spent another $800+ hiring another U-Haul and two other people the past weekend to move half of his stuff out in order to make the move on the snow day easier, unfortunately the move got postpone because of the snow, and so he wanted us to cover the cost.
and this is your problem how?
Since when is it up to the landlord to help the tenant pay for moving expenses?
What is the amount of time that the first tenant would remain longer? A week? Another month? If the first tenant were to stay longer, did he plan on paying the rent for that time? Would the second mover be willing to wait that time to move in if it's only a week or so?
I would never pay $650, I would have just told the second tenant "the first tenant has pushed back their move in date, can you move in such and such date instead?" If they say no, I'd have refunded them all their money (if they paid deposit or application fees or any rent).
At this point, if your current tenant has already switched things up because of what your husband agreed to, you are basically SOL and have to do what you agreed to.
If they haven't switched, then tell him to just go with the original company and that you won't compensate them for the move but that they must pay rent up until the day they will be at your rental unit. And that it may include a penalty for lost rent until the unit is re-rented. You usually have 21 days to return any deposit, so if that deposit includes unpaid rent (as well as damages, how are you able to rent the place the next day- what about cleaning and checking for damage and doing repairs?) or lost rent due to it being empty you can itemize.
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