I'm in the exact situation...a couple in my most expensive and hardest-to-rent unit wants to break their lease which ends Sept. I have a specific clause in my lease for when tenants want to break the lease. They pay a re-rent fee of 15%, plus the amount of time left vacant. I had this happen once before, and I charged a month's rent before they left. It was rented before that month was up, so I ended up returning some of the rent back, in addition to the security deposit. The current tenants of mine have been the ideal tenants and very responsible, and I know their place is always spotless, so I asked them to take care of the showings and I would waive the 15% fee. It cuts my cost as I'm out of state, and they were happy to because they have incentive to not pay more than they have to. I advertised on craigslist and rentals.com, screened potential tenants, then gave the current tenants the phone numbers to set up the showings. They had an open house once or twice a week; They copied ID's before allowing people to enter and they pointed out the video surveillance and close proximity of police. They also notified the neighborhood crime watch captain, so someone can be on watch when they are showing the place. (it's a close neighborhood) Now I have someone lined up for the week after these tenants moved out, so this process worked very well for me. I know that lots of landlords would warn against this, and I also caution that this was an exception...the tenants earned this right. I would say it's usually easier to show the place empty. In this case, I think it was so clean that it looked like home to the applicants. Well, I hope my experience may help you.
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