Tenant Breaks Lease - No prior Notice - Landlord Forum thread 321637

Tenant Breaks Lease - No prior Notice by Ron (Ohio) on July 22, 2014 @12:21

My tenants moved out and just left a note with some excuses why they moved out (nothing that makes the house uninhabitable) and left their forwarding address to send their deposit. They left 3 months before lease end and left alot of garbage in the garage. When I send their deposit statement (showing the lost rent/damages, etc.) do I need to add any explanation to refute their letter (which they did not sign or write their names on), and their reasons for moving out? Or just send the itemized statement and ignore their comments?

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Re: Tenant Breaks Lease - No prior Notice by Garry (Iowa) on July 22, 2014 @13:17	[ Reply ]

No, do not explain or refute anything about their letter. Just go in, take pics, change locks, and start repairing damages and cleaning, and get it ready to rerent again. In the SD letter, only put in the facts. The SD amount, less all damages, cleaning, unpaid rent, etc. equals XXXX what they owe you. Send it out in the next 3 weeks, and send it both reg. and cert mail to BOTH the new address they gave you, and your home where they just moved from. I say BOTH because they did not sign the note to you,so right now, you cannot prove or disprove WHO wrote the note. And since they will owe you money, you don't need to worry about a check going out to a wrong party, and then they claim they never got it.

Re: Tenant Breaks Lease - No prior Notice by Bill on July 22, 2014 @21:38	[ Reply ]

Not all states allow you to deduct unpaid rent from the deposit. So, check that out. Did you get paid for July? If so, and the rent is deductible you should withhold for August. Beyond that you will need to determine if it is worth your trouble and expense to collect for the cleaning and the like in court. If the tenants did not pay for July you should take them to court for July, August and September. You have the address to send the court notices. At this point, stop communicating with your tenants. If they call, you should explain that you can not talk now.