Tenants broken lease rent owed. - Landlord Forum thread 321593

Tenants broken lease rent owed. by David on July 21, 2014 @18:39

I have a question regarding my recent tenant. They had a contract from Dec 2013 to Dec 2014. Every month that she has lived in the apartment her rent has been on the tenth, which I understand is okay in the state on CT. In June they asked if they could move out in the middle of July. We agreed that she could move out however we had to do somethings in the apartment and would not be able to rent it till middle of August. So it was agreed that we would keep the security deposit. On July 10th I still did not have the 450, half a month of rent so we added the 50 late few. It is now July 21 and I still do not have it and I told her I need it by August first or I would have to take her to small claims because I need to pay my bills as well. Can we now take her to small claims for the full amount she would owe us to Dec.?

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Re: Tenants broken lease rent owed. by Anonymous on July 21, 2014 @19:35	[ Reply ]

This person has broken the lease by leaving 6 months early. Normal standard practice is to charge two months rent for breaking a lease. However, you made two mistakes about accepting the SD. First of all, the SD is not to be used for a penalty; it is to be used for cleaning and damages. Now you have no leverage since she did not pay you the half months rent. No, you can't take her to court for the next six months rent since you agreed to keep her SD instead. Bad move. You could have at least recovered two months rent, not six.

Re: Tenants broken lease rent owed.

Re: Tenants broken lease rent owed. by Bill on July 21, 2014 @22:35	[ Reply ]

Now that the tenant is getting free rent there is no telling how long they will stay. They will leave the place a mess for you to clean up too.

Re: Tenants broken lease rent owed. by Anonymous on July 22, 2014 @16:13	[ Reply ]

Does CT require you to make a good faith effort to mitigate your damages (re-rent the property) or can you just sit back and collect from the tenant? Since we're past the middle of July now, I assume the tenant has moved out? If so, you can sue for everything the law allows. If not, you can sue for the unpaid July rent.