Tenants moving out early
My tenants just informed me that they are moving 4 months shy of the end of their rental agreement. The reason for the move is a new job outside of NYC. They say that they are moving “sometime in March” so have not even given the required 30 days notice. They also say that they…
My tenants just informed me that they are moving 4 months shy of the end of their rental agreement. The reason for the move is a new job outside of NYC. They say that they are moving “sometime in March” so have not even given the required 30 days notice. They also say that they cannot pay March’s rent and told me to use their security deposit. This is not acceptable to us as the deposit is meant to cover any damage to the apt. and not rent. I find it infuriating that they think that they can set the terms on how we should deal with this, and strongly feel that they must be held accountable for their obligations. Frankly, they have been total jerks about this and other recent issues. We need advice on how best to proceed. What should we do if we cannot get new tenants before the end of the current rental agreement? We know that we can hold them legally liable for the rent that they owe, but don’t know how to initiate a claim. Thanks for any and all advice.
well it is not like you will loose any monthly rent here. And they will move out without fuss. So I would let it go.
Sounds like they paid rent and were normal people only their life changed and they have to move out. On the other side if you will stick them with legal action, they can act as a&*holes them self. For example they can lock apartment and move out. Legally you will need to go though the hoops to take possession of this apartment in the next four months. And/or they can leave hot water running, windows open, drop bag of cement into toilet or sue your ass for lead paint. So I would let it go… at least until they will move out.
Inform them they need to follow the letter of the legally binding lease, otherwise you’ll be forced to put a lien on the credit for the unpaid funds.
You could jack up their credit…
…Or be happy to get rid of them and chock it up to the cost of doing business and a small fee to get rid of crappy tenants.
Amazingly, I find myself in agreement with Hannible in this case.
This is ridiculous. Many of the suggestions here are going overboard. Do you want them to move out and find a replacement as quickly as possible so you don’t lose any rent, or do you want to try to enforce a contract and not see any money?
If you want to pursue the former, just talk to them like a normal person. Tell them you understand they need to move, it’s not a problem but they need to give you 30-day notice in writing, they need to pay the last month’s rent, and that you will return the security deposit in full with interest minus any ACTUAL charges for damages with receipts for the repairs, if there are any. (So the don’t think they’re going to have to pursue you.) Tell them you want to show the place while they’re still there.
If you live in a desirable area, you should have the place rented for a decent amount right away.
If they balk, tell them in a businesslike manner that you will sue them, ruin their credit, not give them a reference, etc. (Even if it’s not true.)
As for ruining their credit and everything outlined above, you are going to have to take them to landlord/tenant court and get a judgment filed against them before you can refer them to any collection agency. You’ll never see a penny. And if they are moving out of state, they really don’t care.
You’re being somewhat legalistic to think they owe you four months rent because the lease says so, even though they have to move.
You also don’t want to get into a situation where they have not given notice and haven’t moved and aren’t paying rent and you can’t show the plac and then you have to evict them and so on.
Alternatively, as mod squad suggests, you could have them sign a lease termination agreement instead of giving 30 days written notice. In practice, it’s more or less the same thing.
Attorney here. See jfss’s comment above at 10:11pm. He/She is correct. And what waste of money are you all talking about? Yes, you can get a lawyer to help you with this, but you don’t need one. You can do this yourself. All you need is, provided they are still there for any number of days in March, wait until the March rent isn’t paid on time, go and file a claim in small claims or L/T court, attaching a copy of the lease as proof of your agreement and state that they failed to pay March rent. It will then be incumbent on them to show that they did pay it (and since they are refusing to pay it and likely won’t, they lose and owe you the money.) I wouldn’t bother to chase the money owed on the rest of their lease (April-whenever the actual expiration of the lease is). It is always your duty to try and ameliorate your damages, which in this case means finding another tenant ASAP. If you can’t find another tenant, then, yes, they technically owe you for the remainder of the lease. When you go to the L/T courts, they often have attorneys there who volunteer to help you do the preliminary things for your case like answering basic questions about filing a complaint, etc.- however they will not provide you with exact legal advice specific to your needs. If you prefer the comfort of having hired an attorney, I can refer you to a good friend of mine who can help you.
How dare they rebell and try to build a life for themselves. Don’t those loser renters, who by the way are paying you till their last day. If they were free loaders they would have stopped 6 months ago. Take them to court. I don’t think homeowners have much sypaathy with judges now, Homeowners are getting bailouts and tenents are getting sh… I hope you find tenents like you really deserve.
I’m on the same page as Vinca however I would also include in the written notice that their failure to stick to the terms of the lease agreement will be reported to the Credit Bureaus.
I would also make sure to follow through and actually report it so that the next landlord is made aware. I’m sure if you’d have know that they’d done this in the past you either wouldn’t have rented to them or you’d have required first, last and security.
This is just more evidence of how poor a place tgis is for getting advice or info. Apologies to those who have posted sensible advice.
First, good tenants are hard to find but they can be found. Landlords must be modest with expectations and also understand that if units are renting for X dollars in an area, those X dollars might not be realistic long term. So as a landlord see whats really reasonable for your area.
First you need to know good lawyer. Before you rent or do any type of commerce. A good attorney will look after your interests and a good attorney will not charge you for decen adive.
They will charge you and should charge you for creating a lease agreemennt. If you downloaded these agreement from the web or purchased the 10 pack lease agreements at staples, then you need to let these tenants and anyone else who floows them go. You have to have a good lease agreement in the first place.
Second…..if you had a good lawyer that attorney will have already sent you tenants a notice putting them on alert that they are violating their agreement made in good fath and that the next letter the attorney sends to them will be a court appearance.
As for your deadbeat tenants…you should have their SS numbers and report this to a credit agenncy or at least tell them this. As well as explaining to them that any new landlord in any city will be contacting past referances and that any good a vigilant future landlord will see this as a big warning sign.
These are about the 2 best options. A menacing letter from your attorney and a letter from you stating that their lack of honoring their contract commitment will stay with them. You can even fuck with their heads a little and tell them you know of websites that keep track of deadbeats and their names may wind up there like bad ebay feedback.
FYI, my tenant tried to pull the “economy sucks can you lower my rent” scam.
I politely told her that the agreed to the rent and simply saying she cant afford it will not work. The other issue is her weekly freshdirect orders, amazon,com deliveries and all sorts of other things which look very much like things are fine in this persons budget but thinks they can use the current market as an excuse.
As for the other tenant in my building, she has been paying rent for 10 years with modest or no increases. She is rarely late with payment and understand that her unit can be rented to anyone for much more and understands there is economic value in having this situation work for both parties.
This is just more evidence of how poor a place tgis is for getting advice or info. First you need to know good lawyer. Before you rent or do any type of commerce. A good attorney will look after your interests and a good attorney will not charge you for decen adive.
They will charge you and should charge you for creating a lease agreemennt. If you downloaded these agreement from the web or purchased the 10 pack lease agreements at staples, then you need to let these tenants and anyone else who floows them go. You have to have a good lease agreement in the first place.
Second…..if you had a good lawyer that attorney will have already sent you tenants a notice putting them on alert that they are violating their agreement made in good fath and that the next letter the attorney sends to them will be a court appearance.
As for your deadbeat tenants…you should have their SS numbers and report this to a credit agenncy or at least tell them this. As well as explaining to them that any new landlord in any city will be contacting past referances and that any good a vigilant future landlord will see this as a big warning sign.
These are about the 2 best options. A menacing letter from your attorney and a letter from you stating that their lack of honoring their contract commitment will stay with them. You can even fuck with their heads a little and tell them you know of websites that keep track of deadbeats and their names may wind up there like bad ebay feedback.