Rent collected by two separate leases - Landlord Forum thread 360935

Rent collected by two separate leases by Jennifer on November 11, 2020 @22:22

I have a tenant terminated their lease 9 months early but paid rent in full for November. Vacated on November 6. I have someone wanting to move in November 16. Does the landlord have to prorate the previous tenants rent? If yes where does it say this as the landlord refuses to give anything back to the tenants as they terminated early.

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Re: Rent collected by two separate leases by Garry on November 12, 2020 @10:08	[ Reply ]

Simply put, a landlord cannot collect rent from 2 different parties, for the same space and time. That would be FRAUD. I'm guessing that's the case all over the country. Where to find the laws that cover that situation-------they may not be in your state's LL/T laws, but it is probably covered in their "fraud" laws, in a completely different section of your state laws. In your case, if you collect any rent from the new tenant from the Nov 16 date, forward, you would need to refund back to the former T, that prorated portion of the Nov. rent, which looks to be about 2 weeks worth of rent. Regardless of what your lease says, state laws override any private LL/T leases. If your former T ever finds out you collected rents from the new T, while not returning their 2 weeks prorated rent, they could sue you, and win BIGTIME. Don't chance it. A week after the new T moves in, return the 2 weeks of rent you owe the T, along with their security deposit (less any damage costs they may owe you).