Can Tenant Return after Moving Out?
I have a tenant that broke her lease and moved out without leaving a forwarding address. She had given me a security deposit before she moved in, but since she did not give me proper notice (and also broke her lease,) I ended up losing rent until I was able to find a new tenant….
I have a tenant that broke her lease and moved out without leaving a forwarding address. She had given me a security deposit before she moved in, but since she did not give me proper notice (and also broke her lease,) I ended up losing rent until I was able to find a new tenant. I was finally able to find a new tenant who has moved in. The old tenant is demanding her deposit back and threatening to move back into her old apt. if I don’t give it to her, claiming she still has a lease for the apt. The amount of rent I lost is more than the amount of the deposit. technically she is the one who owes me money but I don’t want to go through the headache of trying to sue her so I was just going to let it go. Does she have any right to move back into her old apt??
Thanks for all the comments everyone.
Re emails, no, it is not like sending a certified letter. But it is better than nothing.
I would print it out and bring a laptop to court to call up the emails live. Check with your attorney. You may have to subpoena the emails from your ISP — I can’t remember, it’s been a couple of years since I was in l-t court.
If you’re in contact with her, ask for her forwarding address.
Yes, in situations like these, lease surrender docs are a good idea, but I don’t think she’s going to get anywhere with this.
Not one dime! Nada! Zip!
Your ex-tenant can take you to small claims court; but then you can sue her as well. You probably should. Unless you sue she will continue to hold the threat that she will sue you over your head.
Look at the original application she filled out for your apartment. You may find valid contact information.
She doesn’t lack for nerve tho’. She threatens you. Then says she will trespass, will extort money from you, and she continues to generally harass you.
Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. I don’t understand why you are so worried;
hire a god attorney. You will
a. sleep better, and
b. have a shorter conversations w/her, and
c. not have a next time!
Is there any way she could go to Housing Court and claim I illegally evicted her, and if so, does that threat go away once her actual lease expires? Or can she still go there at any point in the future? Does the threat remain forever? I have never had this problem before. People usually move out when their lease ends, sometimes before or after if we agree to it but I have never had anyone sign a non-harrassment or surrender of lease or anything. What’s to keep anyone from popping up at some point in time and saying that 2 years ago you illegally evicted them even though they just moved out when their lease expired? As cautious, responsible landlords, should we make it standard practice to have each and every tenant sign a certificate of non-harrassment as well as some type of letter stating that they have moved out of the place of their own accord on such and such date and relinquish all claims to the place even though their lease ended that date? This woman yes indeed she is a nutcase and an unethical and dishonest one.
I do not have her forwarding address. I sent her a non renewal letter proof of mailing to her last known address which was in my building. anyone know if it’s ok to use the old address when you don’t have a forwarding?
This kind of things sounds just plain lousy. There are some very lousy people out there. What is she thinking? I’m very sorry you had to go through this. She sounds terribly audacious and a bit nutty. Maybe her new living situation didn’t work out and she’s in some sort of desperate financial hole, grasping at straws.
I’m glad to say we’ve never dealt with tenants. One of our options instead of selling and downsizing was to rent out the ground floor or an upstairs duplex but this would mean physically rearranging things and renovating and headaches.
Are emails considered as real documents like certified letters in court these days? If you print out emails, will the court take the dates on them at face value or do you have to somehow log into your email in the presence of both sides so they can document they are real?
One more thing to add … the date on which you changed the locks (and a receipt!) also belong in your records.
By the way, this fact sheet suggests that snowman2 is correct:
http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/faq/leases.html#options
A tenant is only accountable until they’ve been replaced.
This sounds stressful, but mopar is right, you’ll be fine.
Alleviate the stress by getting organized. Write up a timeline of the whole history for your own records and print out copies of each email and the lease. When did she pay the deposit? How much was it? When did she stop paying rent? When did she tell you she was going to leave? When did she leave?
Get that whole history written out for your own records and make a file with copies of any supporting documentation — print the emails, etc.
Send her the letter mopar described, itemizing what she owes you in back rent. (Though, I’m with snowman2, I’m not sure about the full lease.)
Then, stop communicating with her. Period. If she’s emailing you and calling you up don’t say more than “As this is a legal matter, please put your concerns in writing and email them to me.” Don’t engage with her.