tenant wants to break lease before moving in

tenant wants to break lease before moving in by frustrated (Florida) on May 31, 2012 @11:06

I need advice badly. I have a villa for rent in a senior community in a fairly rural area. I have current tenants who let me know in March that they would be buying a home and leaving as soon as the lease ends at end of June. So I got on it right away to find the new tenant. I put a listing on Craigslist and Ebay and also have a rental agent to help with locating a tenant for a finders fee. (I know already this is not what most of you would do, but in this area, I have found trying to do it myself alone has been very difficult in the past and at one point my rental sat empty for a year.)

Anyhow, I did find a tenant from my listing on Craigslist who I put together with my agent (as I was required to do) and the lease was signed and SD was put up at the end of March for a lease beginning on July 1. The agent did all the background and acceptance of $$, docs, and info. I got copies of the signed lease and tenant's Driver's License.

Now- one month before the move-in, this new tenant wants out of the lease (no good reason) and wants to offer that I can keep the SD if I let her out. Don't I get that anyhow? My thinking is this person is on the hook until I can find a replacement tenant. Am I correct?

This brings up a number of other questions:

*Am I able to file in court on someone who doesn't live here (2000 miles away)? I want to put a black mark on her credit at the very least if I have to suffer an empty unit for more than a month.

*How do I collect from someone so far away?

*My agent collects a fee for the placement of a tenant- the tenant didn't even move in so will she be able keep the SD?

* Is agent obligated to turn over personal info on the tenant to me for collection and court?

I had turned away other people after the lease was signed and have held this place for 2 months now w/o advertising, etc. Wasted time! Please help and Thank you for your time.

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Re: tenant wants to break lease before moving in by OK-LL on May 31, 2012 @11:32	[ Reply ]

The effective date of your lease is going to be essential here. Is it effective when signed or does it state it is effective on the move-in date or another date certain? If you have a signed and effective lease, the tenant is responsible for the rent and all other costs of re-leasing, including realtor fees, utilities, etc., until you can find a replacement lessee. You would start by warning the tenant that this is the case. If that is ignored, the next step is to send the tenant an SDSS showing that the SD was retained for lost rents through the date of the SDSS and make a notation on the SDSS that another invoice will follow with the full lost rent charges once a new tenant has been signed. Sign a new tenant and send the old tenant an invoice for the lost rent (you can even send an invoice monthly if you want to, just to keep ex-tenant up to date). If that is ignored, take the tenant to court for breach of contract and get a judgment for money damages. 1. You must file in the court local to where the property is located. 2. You will follow standard collection procedures, once you have a money judgment you will file for garnishment of wages & bank accounts for starters -- you will need a local rep to appear in court, either an attorney or a POA. 3. The fee is recoverable from the breaching tenant. Get copies of all the qualifying data and if the agent did not misrepresent the tenant, the agent is entitled to the fee and you must recover it from the breaching tenant as an expense you pay to obtain the next tenant (assuming you use the agent again). 4. Yes!

Re: tenant wants to break lease before moving in by Micah on May 31, 2012 @11:38	[ Reply ]

I'd just keep the SD, let them out, and find a new tenant asap. Just because you can doesn't always mean that you should. A judge might and probably will side with the prospective tenant since they have not taken possession.

Re: tenant wants to break lease before moving in by NY-LL on May 31, 2012 @13:00	[ Reply ]

The first obligation of the landlord is to mitigate the damages of lost rent. Review the list of previously interested tenants to confirm if any of the former interested prospects still have interest in the property. Re-list the property for rental once again and, in the future, always keep the property advertised until move-in or lease signing. And, of course, the tenant is obligated for the lease agreement until a new qualified tenant can be found to replace the obligated tenant. However, most courts will only require the non-possession tenant to be liable for two month’s rent maximum.

Re: tenant wants to break lease before moving in by Eloise on May 31, 2012 @13:27	[ Reply ]

Question, do you have a contract with the agent? What does it say about his or her fees? What does it say regarding a similar scenario? The first thing I'd say is to check what your rights are regarding the moneys already at hand, then my next step would depend on that. Contact your agent and see what they say.... I live n a similar area of what you are describing, I understand what you mean about needing an agent, especially since a lot of the renters are from outer state, you have the summer renters and the snow birds here a lot. Let us know what the agent said!

Re: tenant wants to break lease before moving in

Re: tenant wants to break lease before moving in by Anonymous on May 31, 2012 @15:09	[ Reply ]

You have created an unecessarily complicated situation for yourself. 1. It is a bad idea to hold a rental for three or four months for a tenant. Anything can happen and it did in your case. 2. Dump the rental agent. It is better to have no tenant at all than a bad tenant, which you have now. 3. You have lost control of the whole rental process by involving an agent, and you don't even know the contract terms you agreed to. You are asking us for what you agreed to? 4. In the future don't hold a unit off the market for any tenant for more than a few weeks, and get a NON-REFUNDABLE HOLDING FEE, to hold the place for the three weeks.

Re: tenant wants to break lease before moving in

Re: to all who answered by frustrated (FL) on May 31, 2012 @15:11	[ Reply ]

Thank you all for your input. To OK-LL: The lease agreement says "made this day of April 16, 2012" and dated and signed by both of us as of April 16, 2012, so that should be the effective date. It states in the lease the the term of the lease is from July 1 2012, to June 30 2013. Thank you very much for the list of things to take care of- I appreciate it and will keep on it! to NY-LL: I have already put it back on the listings and will do all I can to get the next tenant. How do you keep someone else in limbo when you have signed lease? What do you say to not be misrepresenting yourself? Wouldn't most people say thanks and go on to continue to look elsewhere? I think it may be easier to call people back if I wasn't dealing with a 2 month timespan. I will definitely do it differently next time but not sure of what is crossing the line legally. Your answer about what the tenant is obligated to pay is different than OK-LL's. My question is- If someone signs a contract, how are they not obligated to fulfill it? I of course am going to try to re-rent. I have listed everything already and have printed out copies of all of it to prove my activity in case I need to. I am a fish out of water as far as the court part of this and hope to heck I don't have to go there! Thanks for your answer- I appreciate it! To Eloise- I do have a contract with the agent but she told me this morning I will keep the SD, so let's see if that plays out!! I don't always believe people!! Hope to talk to you on email.

Re: to all who answered

thx!!

Re: tenant wants to break lease before moving in by Wilton O (IL) on June 1, 2012 @21:18	[ Reply ]

Isn't it funny that the postings that are signed "anonymous" somehow come off the most offensive or have the least restraint in rudeness?

I agree!