Re: breaking lease. - Landlord Forum thread 342758

Re: breaking lease. by MrDan (Georgia) on February 4, 2016 @10:39

A landlords first response should be to read and reread their lease.

Right now there is no breach in terms of the lease. Rent is paid in full for February. A breach would not occur until rent is past due in March.

NRS 118.175 Liability of tenant. If a tenant of real property abandons the property, the landlord shall make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental. If the landlord rents the property for a term beginning before the expiration of the rental agreement pursuant to its terms or if, despite the landlord's reasonable efforts, the landlord is unable to rent the property before the rental agreement is otherwise terminated, the former tenant is liable for any actual damages of the landlord which may result from the abandonment. If the landlord fails to make reasonable efforts to rent the property at a fair rental, the former tenant is liable for any actual damages of the landlord occurring before the landlord had reason to believe that the property was abandoned. If the tenancy is from month to month or week to week, the term of the rental agreement for this purpose is deemed to be a month or a week, as the case may be.

Abandonment does not apply, as rent is paid for February in full. You cannot post a Five day notice to 'Pay or Quit' nor notice to inspect for abandonment, as that would be improper. It might also convey that the landlord approves of the tenant moving out early.

Landlord Solutions;

Wait until March rent goes unpaid and file for eviction. This would entitled the landlord to ask for damages for the tenant breaking the lease. But depending on the terms in the lease, this would mean the landlord might not be able to determine the amount of damages till the rental property is once again leased. The landlord would incur court cost and attorney fees in getting a judgement against the past tenant. Then there is the cost of trying to collect.

Reply to both tenants that the notice is not accepted and the landlord will hold the tenant for the terms of the lease and will make reasonable effort to rent the property. Until then, the tenants are responsible for any rent that comes due.

Now if the lease contains an early termination fee, then the landlord would ask for payment of that fee, and upon receive of the fee, would re-take possession of the rental property. Any future obligations by the tenant would end.

Your best bet would be to have the vacating tenants(both) sign a 'CONFIRMATION OF VACATING PREMISES' letter (just google for examples)
Take possession and get the property rented by first of March. This way, you take possession back earlier, avoid court cost for eviction. You would not have any lost rent if rented by the first of March. Any property damages by the tenant, the security deposit should cover.
Since a Nevada landlord is required to mitigate damages, this would be the least expensive and time consuming route to follow.

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Re: breaking lease. by Edward (NV) on February 4, 2016 @16:29	[ Reply ]

Thank you so much for all your explanation. 1)The lease does not have a privation for early termination. 2) I think the option about waiting march for eviction I will not do it.(will cost too much money) 3)he did not give me a notice he just sent a text and he tells me to rent it from march but he does not mention in the text that I can show the house, I can not rent the house by march if I am not able to show. 4) if I send a confirmation of vacant premises will overwrite :"Reply to both tenants that the notice is not accepted and the landlord will hold the tenant for the terms of the lease and will make reasonable effort to rent the property. Until then, the tenants are responsible for any rent that comes due."????? and even If I send him the form does not mean that he will send it to me back. I send him before the one from this website and asked him several times and he didn't send it back, nor answer any email, nor texts. Here a few people mention to pick up the phone and talk direct but I do not like that because some times tenants are more clever or fast than me to control the situation and I do not like that I prefer to be in the driver sit after all is my house I think emails and letters it is more professional and more formal.

Re: breaking lease. by Nicole (PA) on February 4, 2016 @16:38	[ Reply ]

...pick up the phone and talk direct but I do not like that because some times tenants are more clever or fast than me to control the situation and I do not like that I prefer to be in the driver sit after all is my house I think emails and letters it is more professional and more formal. ... and that is how a simple situation that should be able to be worked out amicably between two adults becomes adversarial for no reason.

Re: breaking lease. by MrDan (Georgia) on February 5, 2016 @09:16	[ Reply ]

As Nicole stated, do not make a simple issue into a conflict. You want to take possession of the rental property back as soon as possible. If you send a ' CONFIRMATION OF VACATING PREMISES ' letter for both ex-tenants to sign and return, you can legally take possession back weeks before March 1st and start showing the rental property. You will be ahead in rent for at least two weeks. If rented by March 1st, you have no lost of rent. Insisting on a 30 day notice means a delay in you getting possession back quickly. So forget about the 30 day notice part. You are not going to get any more money out of the ex-tenants except for the security deposit you hold. Because the ex-tenants are in California, you would have to hire someone to serve legal papers on the ex-tenants in California, get a judgement and then try to collect. Send the ' CONFIRMATION OF VACATING PREMISES ' letter with no mention of the ex-tenants still owe money until re-rented. You can always file suit latter for additional rent if you cannot re-rent by March 1st. But that means money spent to serve the ex-tenants in California, court filing cost, any legal fees. Still, you would have to collect what is owed you, yourself. All you want is to take legal possession back asap and re-rent the property. As Nicole stated, call them up and tell them you have sent the ' CONFIRMATION OF VACATING PREMISES ' letter for them to sign and return within 5 days. That promptly signing and returning the letter would allow you to market and re-rent the property and would avoid any additional expenses for their breaking the lease. If you cannot do the phone thing, have someone do it for you. It's just a few quick sentences to say.

Re: breaking lease. by Edward (NV) on February 5, 2016 @16:50	[ Reply ]

Thank you so much for your answer! I will do that, but I sent that letter almost a month ago when he said he was going to leave and didn't send it back. I will try again but is any way I can enforce they sign it and send it back?

Re: breaking lease. by Edward (NV) on February 5, 2016 @16:57	[ Reply ]

I just read the link you send me with the CONFIRMATION OF VACATING PREMISES, but I know he said as he did pay February he still having personal property there, so I am not sure this is the right form to send to him, what about this one: ----- Please take notice of our intention to vacate our residence located at ------------ on or before _________________________________________________________________________. The reason we are moving is : __________________________________________________________________________________ .We understand that our Lease/Rental Agreement states that we have agreed to a 30 day written notice to vacate. We understand that we are responsible for paying rent through the end of the term agreed to in the Lease/Rental Agreement or until another tenant is approved by the management and has taken occupancy, whichever happens first. As we have agreed in our Lease/Rental Agreement, we will make the premises accessible to show to prospective tenants or purchasers at any and all reasonable times, whether we are present or not. Tenant: ___________________________

Re: breaking lease.