Ask penalty due to the early termination by the tenant

[Emma Zhang]

The lease is for 3yrs, still 2.5 yrs left. Because the couple living there is getting divorced, they want to move out and terminate the lease by the end of Fed. I used a simple template of the lease agreement without any clause regarding the early termination and its penalty. I got the official notice today from them, can I ask one month rent or two as penalty of the early termination? And I don’t need them to find new tenants for me. Or can I require them to find new tenants for me and I will ask them keep paying rents till the new tenants take over the lease? 

[Bjorn Ahlblad]

@Emma Zhang welcome to BP! My longest lease is 12 months- no way I would do anything longer. If there is an early termination I work to get a new tenant as part of my regular process. 

No way I want my tenant to find a new one. In my experience it never takes very long to find a new tenant. So when they say they will leave the sooner they are gone the better. No big deal. All the best!