Terminating a Lease Early
The holiday’s have kept me away from posting much. John Gall shot over this question the other day and I want to respond with an answer:
I have technically three tenants in a SFH [single family house]. Two singles and one married couple. The lease goes until 5/31 and the tenants can’t stand to live together anymore. The two singles want to move out 4/1 and I’m guessing the married couple will also if given the chance. The set of tenants are mixed. Good on taking care of the property but mixed on rent collection paying late most months but always up to date by months end. I’d actually like to get rid of them and get a new tenant in place.
My strategy is to have them sign an early least termination agreement contingent upon my obtaining a new tenant for 4/1 with a signed lease. If I cannot secure a new tenant for a 4/1 move in and their stuff is not out then the original 5/31 lease date stands. My hope is to 1: get rid of the deadbeats and make them happy. 2: They now have an incentive to make things show worthy and make the property available to prospective tenants.
John, I think you are headed down the right path. I am have zero patience or time for playing mother to bad tenants. I would prefer to just let them go and find someone else.
The positive is that they gave you plenty of notice to figure out a solution and re-rent the property. I would remind them to keep the place clean and picked up as to help you rent it out by 4/1 (which also is to their benefit to get out early). Most tenants will be fine with this. If the property needs any upgrades, you may want to tackle these now (again using your leverage to get them out early to do it).
Unfortunately, I think you are going to have to pick a move out date now. I would be concerned that if you found a tenant on 3/15, would the existing tenants then have enough time to find something and move out by 4/1? If one or more of them couldn’t find a place to live, it could get dicey as the new tenant needs to move in and the remaining one(s) now need to be evicted as a hold-over tenant. This could lead to some sleepless nights and could take 1-2 weeks to resolve.
My other option would be to talk to the married couple seperately (I assume they like living together!). See if they want to stay and would start a new lease. I assume since the had roommates, they can’t afford the extra rent, but it is worth a try. Also, if you have any other vacant units, move one or more tenants over to that one.
I suspect that if you start advertising your rental now, especially in Craig’s list, you will have no trouble getting it filled by 4/1. Good luck!
No comments yet.