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One tenant leaving, one staying - Landlord Forum thread 142246

One tenant leaving, one staying by G8R (Florida) on July 10, 2007 @10:47

                              
I have one tenant that is leaving and one that is staying. Each has footed up half of the deposit. There is no lease, only a renter's agreement in both names. The party that is staying is out of town and will not return until after the one is leaving has left. There is some minor damage that needs to be addressed. How do I go about addressing the issue of returning a deposit when there is damage that needs to be fixed, but one of the people are staying? Thanks
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Re: One tenant leaving, one staying by Anonymous on July 10, 2007 @11:20 [ Reply ]
Do they have separate lease agreements are were they on the same lease.

If separate, repair the damages, subtract it from security, then give half back.

If the same lease, the other person should give that person their half, that way the remaining tenant has sole ownership/responsibility of the security you are holding. Inform them about the damage so the remaining tenant doesn't get stuck with the entire repair bill.

If they are on the same lease, why should you give 1/2 security back? That means when the other moves out, you'll only have 1/2 as much security if they mess the place up.

Re: One tenant leaving, one staying by Anonymous on July 10, 2007 @11:22 [ Reply ]
Guess I didn't read close enough about not having a lease at all. Thats a mistake.

I guess you'll have to treat this as 2 separate tenant, and use option 1.

Re: One tenant leaving, one staying by ME HERE (CONFUSION) on July 10, 2007 @22:41 [ Reply ]
I'M GOING THROUGH THE SAME THING. BASICALLY FROM WHAT I'M TOLD IS THAT I GET TO KEEP THE SECURITY DEPOSIT UNTIL THE APARTMENT IS VACANT. THE PERSON NEEDS TO LEAVE ME THEIR FORWARDING ADDRESS SO THAT WHEN THE APARTMENT IS VACANT I CAN SEND THEIR SHARE OF THE DEPOSIT. STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO MYSELF. :)
Re: One tenant leaving, one staying by G8R (Florida) on July 11, 2007 @12:44 [ Reply ]
Well, this is what I'm going to do....since both tenants are on the same rental agreement, that rental agreement will be voided. The balance of the deposit (minus repairs) will be divided between them (at least on paper). The tenant that is leaving will get her balance once everything has been properly addressed. The tenant that is staying (which I am told is looking at getting a new roommate to help with expenses) will be required to come up with the difference in the rest of her deposit (what remains of her half will stay escrowed and she will be required to come up with the balance for half the damages to stay at the residence...thus putting her half of the deposit escrow back at the original dollar amount). A new rental agreement will be drawn up with the staying tenant and whatever new tenant gets approved. The new tenant will be required to come up with their half of the deposit. This might leave me with a lull in having only half a deposit until a new roommate signs on. The current tenants are overall good tenants (the damages are fairly minor), so I'm not expecting a problem if this is a short lull. I will also make it known to the remaining tenant that she will be responsible for coming up with the remaining half of the full deposit in a set period of time if she does not come up with a roommate. If this happens and the remaining tenant has to put up the entire deposit, then if she ever does come up with a new roommate, a new rental agreement can be drawn up and I can refund half of the deposit back to her once I receive the deposit from the new roommate. To me this seems like the best solution. I do not want to penalize the leaving tenant by withholding their deposit until the other tenant leaves (which is illegal I'm told and if their is a new roommate that comes along then this approach REALLY gets complicated).

OK...hopefully to simplify (numbers are just random for demo)....

Tenant A is leaving
Tenant B is staying
Tenant A has $500 in deposit
Tenant B has $500 in deposit
There is $200 in damages
The original rental agreement is voided
Tenant A now has $400 in deposit
Tenant B now has $400 in deposit
Tenant A is refunded $400
Tenant B is required to come up with $100 to get their deposit back to $500

SCENARIO 1:
Tenant C moves in
Tenant C puts up $500 in deposit
Tenant B and Tenant C both have $500 in deposit each

SCENARIO 2:
If Tenant C does NOT move in, Tenant B will be still required to come up with the $100 for her half of the deposit for damages and an additional $500 for the rest of the full deposit
Tenant B now has $1000 in deposit
Now Tenant D moves in and pays half of the deposit
Tenant B still has $1000 in deposit
Tenant D has $500 in deposit
Tenant B is immediately refunded $500
Tenant B and Tenant D now both have $500 in deposit each

My question to you is 1) does this sound like a good idea and 2) is this legal and 3) what time table should I put in place to get the remaining deposit if a new roommate is not found and 4) how do I handle the situation if a new roommate is not found and the current tenant is unable to cough up a larger deposit.

Thank you all for your help.

Re: One tenant leaving, one staying by G8R (Florida) on July 11, 2007 @12:52 [ Reply ]
Oh...and last point...could I legally withhold Tenant A's half of the deposit until a new roommate is found or Tenant B pays for her half? Thanks again.
Re: One tenant leaving, one staying by hmmmm (FL) on July 11, 2007 @22:31 [ Reply ]
Actually.......well, there is no lease, but the agreement is in both names. With a lease if a person leaves, they forfeit their deposit. I do not know the time period. One way is to keep the entire deposit on hand, and when the new tenant pays their deposit, return the other to the one leaving. The best way is to hang on to the deposit you have, let the remaining tenant pay their half to the one leaving. It should not be your problem. Make it their problem, they are the ones making the problem. Also, address the repair and the tenant leaving and the tenant staying should pay for the repair, before any deposit moves around. this is why I do not enjoy being a Landlord. They complicate our lives. It is supposed to be: We provide a nice place for someone to live, they pay rent and take care of it, to a degree. We must maintain, but should not have to take care of negligent errors on the part of the tenant. What has happened? I don't know if that helps but you have the deposit, do not let any of it go until you have a full deposit. I shared a rental once and when the other person moved. I paid the other person their half. Didn't blink an eye that it was the Landlords responsibilty or problem.

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