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If all goes well we will be closing on a house next week. In doing so we will be moving out of our rental two months early. We would like to have the walk through next week and hand over the keys. We are fully prepared to pay the last two months rent. That said, any suggestions to 'cover' ourselves? The landlord has been difficult to deal with throughout this process I would like to make sure we dot our i's and cross our t's!
Do a per walk through and let him point out the stuff he sees that needs to be repaired (IF its damage not wear and tear)
Get pics of the place WITH the LL there so he knows you got pics of the condition you are returning the property to him.
Make sure you get a copy of the walk through papers from him before you leave.
Read your lease about early termination. You may have just the penalty of a one month rent or the LL may have to mitigate but your lease should have a early termination clause.
I would clean the place to make it as easy as possible to get him to rerent it ( but if he was difficult before he will probably be difficult anyway so its 50/50 he will be happy) Personally? Clean it anyway.
Make sure you get a Lease Release from the LL.
Give forwarding address. Your sec dep is not part of the monthly lease payment. Some LLs like to pad their pocket with the security deposit. Unfortunately mist tenants don't know better dint have the money to go to court and give up. So some LLs keep doing it. Some see normal wear and tear as damage and expect the tenant to pick up the bill.
I agree to clean top to bottom. If you can afford to hire a cleaner, this is your best bet, in case you go to court. Hard to argue with a cleaning bill that the place wasn't cleaned. Otherwise, take lots of pics. If you and your SO could take pics of each other with your rubber gloves on and a soapy sponge in hand, even better :-)
As far as paying 2 more months rent, it depends on where you live and your lease. But, mainly on your city/state laws.
In CA, you can break a lease early and the LL can only charge you rent until he gets a new tenant. And can only charge you damage beyond normal wear and tear, and can only charge you to get the place as clean as it was when you moved in. There is also pro-ration of the cost to replace things like carpets, etc. If the carpet wasn't new when you moved in and he can justify having to replace it, he still can only charge you the pro-rated amount for the life left in the carpet. For instance a carpet may have a "life" of 10 years, or 5 years, etc.
Your best bet, if you don't have time to read your laws, is to give notice as soon as you know when your move-out date will be, ask for an inspection for a list of things you need to do (in CA if the LL doesn't tell you about your rights or offer to do this before you move out, he loses his right to the deposit), have him put that list in writing, have the place cleaned, do what's on the list (if it's reasonable), take tons of photos, make sure you give your forwarding address.
Then, find out how long the LL has to send your deposit it you. If he misses this deadline, he usually has to give you all of your deposit back. Wait to see what he does with your deposit. If you don't like what he does, write a letter and demand your money back, or what you think is fair with a deadline. If he doesn't do this, take him to small claims court.
I believe the OP is in TX. OP, you'll find links to TX landlord tenant laws in the first "sticky" on this page. The majority of states adhere to pretty much the same basics (except for CA which has some very unique laws) but check the TX statutes on security deposits, cleaning, etc.
I would ask for a paper signed by landlord stating that on the day the keys are delivered to landlord for the landlord to acknowledge having received that money and for you to be released from all liability and to get your security deposit returned since everything is in similar condition as on move in day. If the landlord doesn't want to sign than keep the keys until you come to an agreement and tell him you are not leaving the place early since if you pay you have the right to access.
I would ask for a paper signed by landlord stating that on the day the keys are delivered to landlord for the landlord to acknowledge having received that money and for you to be released from all liability and to get your security deposit returned since everything is in similar condition as on move in day. If the landlord doesn't want to sign than keep the keys until you come to an agreement and tell him you are not leaving the place early since if you pay you have the right to access.
In reality that doesn't work nor does it fly legally, You can certainly ask for a walk-through and have the LL sign off that everything appears to be in good shape but that doesn't mean that you'll automatically get back your full security deposit. The reason for LLs being legally allowed the "grace period in which to return the security deposit is to give them an opportunity to check the vacated unit more thoroughly. Some damages simply aren't seen on a walk-through which is why the law provides for that contingency.
Thanks all, I am not expecting to 'break' the lease. If someone rents before the lease is up (highly unlikely) we wouldn't pay rent.
I really just want to move the end of this week and hand the keys over to the property manager after we walk through. The house will be cleaned etc. What I am hoping to do since the lease ends in July is use the security deposit for last months rent, and be done with the property!
You can always try to negotiate with the landlord...tell them you can pay 1 month of future rent (lump sum) at move out if the landlord will allow you out of the lease early. If they agree, make sure you get it in writing. But if they agree, even if they find a new renter in 1 week, you wouldn't get any refund because you had an 'early termination settlement', which is basically what the 1 month fee would be. Your landlord might like this option because it sure beats trying to chase you down for rent "if" you don't pay after you move out. It's the bird in the hand thing that your landlord might like. The other "win" for the landlord is that if he/she rerents right away, then they also get to keep your settlement money. Your win-win in this is that you only owe 1 extra month rent instead of 2.
The other option is to move out early and hand over the keys as planned when you move out keep paying rent on the due date each month for the remaining 2 months of the lease. In this case if the landlord rents before your lease expires, you don't owe rent from that day forward. This is the case in MOST states, so pls confirm that yours meets same criteria. The term is often called Mitigate Damages...it means landlord needs to find a new renter.
In some cases, a sneaky landlord might play dumb and not tell you they rerented and then double dip by taking your rent as well as new tenant's.
Either option, you are due your security deposit per normal security deposit rules, as long as you pay your rent on time. Some folks don't pay future rent when it's not rented, and then security deposit is used for that.
Thanks all, I am not expecting to 'break' the lease. If someone rents before the lease is up (highly unlikely) we wouldn't pay rent.
I really just want to move the end of this week and hand the keys over to the property manager after we walk through. The house will be cleaned etc. What I am hoping to do since the lease ends in July is use the security deposit for last months rent, and be done with the property!
If you will already be out of the rental, then there's no reason the LL can't use your security deposit for any rent owed, unless he says you damaged it to that extent, too.
So, just clean, take pics, turn over the keys and your forwarding address and hopefully, that will be the end of it. Congrats on your house!
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