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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!
You can charge him for all the time that he is still there in the unit and you can charge him for any days left on the lease that he is not there but your new tenant can not move in.
If you lost the new tenant because the old one did not move out when he said he would then the old tenant can be charged for the rest of the lease.
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 has lived there for almost 11 months...
The MOST he'll owe you is what is due under the lease.
The time actually lived there and the balance through the end of the term.
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We agreed as long as we can find a replacement right away...
You'll need to find one of these no matter what else happens.
But don't rush the process or hope to not have an interval.
If anything you WANT and and should expect/budget to have an interval between tenants.
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I don't think it is fair to us to pay him $650 for moving out.
It isn't.
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I want to use a portion of the security deposit to compensate our loss...
Not unreasonable... but he has to be out before you can do those calculations.
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Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
Wintertime turnovers are never fun. Keep plugging away
I doubt that the security deposit covers something like allowing him a moving expense. You probably could justify keeping some as a penalty for leaving early but be careful what you charge him because in some States, if you falsely use the security deposit for the wrong reason the courts can award damages.
I don't believe that is an acceptable charge against the security deposit. It is a cost of being a landlord and you would have had to expend that if he had paid through the end of his lease.
Additionally, you have agreed to certain costs ion discussions with your tenant and, presumably, did not specify that you would be deducting those costs from the SD. To do so now is reneging on your agreement and, if not illegal, is definitely not ethical.
You are a landlord. There are costs involved in being a landlord. Accept that and move on.
I don't believe that is an acceptable charge against the security deposit. It is a cost of being a landlord and you would have had to expend that if he had paid through the end of his lease.
Additionally, you have agreed to certain costs ion discussions with your tenant and, presumably, did not specify that you would be deducting those costs from the SD. To do so now is reneging on your agreement and, if not illegal, is definitely not ethical.
You are a landlord. There are costs involved in being a landlord. Accept that and move on.
I think the cost is legally incurred by the early termination, isn't it?
If you didn't agree with paying $650 why did you? You want him out so the new tenant can move in on time but you CHOSE to agree to pay the current tenant $650. You can't turn around now and dock part of his security deposit to cover that cost.
I think the cost is legally incurred by the early termination, isn't it?
No. Not for moving costs that you agreed to pay.
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