"Rent Responsible" and Landlord Obligations
Hello,
If a tenant breaks their lease and chooses to go rent responsible in order to not pay the lease break fee, what are the landlord's obligations in this case? Couldn't they just not list the apartment until the existing lease is up?
A landlord is typically obligated to make reasonable efforts to re-rent as soon as possible. I say typically because I am not familiar with San Diego or CA laws that much but doubt CA is that relaxed or friendly towards landlords. If you don’t the tenant may have a counter claim against you.
Quote from @Michael Johnson:
Hello,
If a tenant breaks their lease and chooses to go rent responsible in order to not pay the lease break fee, what are the landlord's obligations in this case? Couldn't they just not list the apartment until the existing lease is up?
Most state laws require the landlord to make a "good faith effort" to find a replacement tenant. You can only hold the departing tenant liable until the new tenant takes over.
#3 Managing Your Property Contributor
I'd talk to the tenant and tell them you will try to get it rented as soon as you can and then they are only responsible for the rent up until the new person moves in. For the landlord to deliberately not look for a new tenant is wrong.
I just had a tenant move out this month here in San Diego, 5 months before the end of their lease due to personal circumstances. They allowed me to show the property for a couple of days to find a new tenant...new tenant moved in the day after previous tenant moved out and I returned their entire deposit. No vacancy loss, just the little extra work of couple of days of showing and writing up a new lease. Regardless of laws and what the leases might say, I think it is important that we make a reasonable effort to accommodate and not penalize.
Thanks all. In this case, my girlfriend is the tenant so we were seeing if the apartment manager was holding up their end.