deposit withholding for failure to give 30 days notice

A tenant moved out of an apartment giving only 15 days notice. He has written me demanding his entire deposit of 1.5 mos rent (even though he didn’t pay rent his last month).

I do not intend to refund the rent he didn’t pay, but my question is: Can I keep the half month’s rent for not giving proper notice? It was a week before Christmas. I feel if I had had some more time I could have come up with another tenant, since I have recently been able to find tenants word-of-mouth and have no occupancy gaps. 

Here are some more details:

– he was on a month to month lease after declining to sign for another year (under the same terms). When he declined it was discussed that either party would need 30 days notice to end the agreement

– he withheld his rent for December citing a pest problem he didn’t think I was dealing with properly. I was dealing with it and have the receipts to prove it.

greenwoodslope

in Landlord 13 years and 4 months ago

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abrahamlingkon | 13 years and 4 months ago

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I have experience apartment finding as i have got this site by browsing and think everybody should know that site link for finding apartment http://www.yourapartmentguy.com

snowman2 | 13 years and 4 months ago

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Not exactly.  In practice, the courts expect you to mitigate the loss to the tenant if you re-rent during their unexpired lease term.

callalily | 13 years and 4 months ago

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Shockingly, it’s perfectly kosher to collect double rent in NYC. Not that that has anything to do with this post.

Bklnite | 13 years and 4 months ago

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One thing that’s a bit confusing in your post “…since I have recently been able to find tenants word-of-mouth and have no occupancy gaps”. I think it’s pretty clear you can apply the security deposit to rent owed. Probably not kosher to collect rent both from the tenant that left without giving sufficient notice and the new tenants if the dates are overlapping.

greenwoodslope | 13 years and 4 months ago

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Thanks a lot for your input. I use the standard 186 lease which states under Security (4) “… Landlord may use Security to pay amounts owed by Tenant, including damages.”

callalily | 13 years and 4 months ago

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The courts do not care if the deposit was earmarked as rent or security, even if the lease says security can’t be used as rent. Legally, what you need is proof he owed you rent — so you need the lease and his notice. If he were to claim he did pay rent, he would need copies of his cashed checks. Etc.

Putnamdenizen | 13 years and 4 months ago

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I think it may depend on whether the deposit was “last month’s rent” or a security deposit against damage.

snowman2 | 13 years and 4 months ago

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But if he sues you for the deposit, definiately countersue for the full rent he owes.

callalily | 13 years and 4 months ago

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Yes, bkinite is correct. The tenant owes you two months rent. The easiest and most reasonable route would be to just keep the deposit, and send a letter stating why, rather than sue him for the full amount.

Bklnite | 13 years and 4 months ago

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http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/attygenguide.html#3

From the nyc rgb website the way I read it is either party must give 30 days notice to terminate a month-to-month tenancy. Assuming the rent is due on the 1st of the month, the tenant would be required to give notice by December 1st to terminate the tenancy on December 31st. If the tenant didn’t give notice until the week before xmas, he’d be responsible for January rent.