Is there anything wrong with letting a tenant vacate and return keys 2 weeks early (last month rent has been paid)?

Question

Tenant with good history wants to vacate a SFH rental 2 weeks early.  He has paid the last month rent and is currently not asking for any money back (initially he did but I said no).  As I understand it, he simply wants to do the check out inspection and return keys due to job/family logistics issues.  I have told him that we can do an initial inspection now but I will have to do another, final one on the last day of the lease.  I will insist on utilities being kept in his account until the end of the lease term.

Is there anything wrong or cautionary about doing an early check out inspection and accepting keys 2 weeks early from a paid-up tenant who wants to vacate? For example, by accepting his keys & doing the inspection early, am I somehow constructively permitting him to leave before his lease expires, i.e. agreeing to change in lease term or letting him stop utilities?

Thanks in advance for any pearls of hard-earned wisdom.

Curtis Bidwell · Answer

If he's paid for the month you can do the walk thru whenever he's ready to leave.  I often take over utilities once they move out, but I love having the extra time to prep for a new resident or show it without an occupant.

Kenneth LaVoie · Answer

Side note: I tell people if they leave earlier (like your example) and I manage to rent the unit earlier than the last day they've paid for, I'll pro rate them some rent. Like if they've given notice for June 30th, they move out the 5th, I rent the unit on the 15th, I'd send them 2 weeks rent along with whatever security deposit they get back.

David Hutson · Answer

I'm not aware of any law but when I have tenants move out early they know their lease would go for two more weeks, moreso following the 30 day notice they provide me.  If the tenant wants to conduct the walkthrough early I'm all for it.  I do the walkthrough with them, take the keys and immediately change the locks.  I do put the utilities into my name immediately as they are no longer tenants.

The good part is I have two weeks to market the property and get a good tenant in.  Usually a good tenant can't move in any sooner.  If I get someone who moves in right away or after two weeks I may be lucky enough to not have any vacancy.  If the tenant moves in early then I refund the previous tenant any monies owed at the daily rate.

I would always prefer to refund the previous tenant a few days rent and get another tenant with at least a one year lease.

Jesse T. · Answer

If you can cancel one mowing, it seems it would make sense to do so.  I would pay for the mowing right before the new tenant takes over, and figure that is a cost of presenting a nice yard to a new tenant.

in terms of utilities, how does it break down in terms of transfer fees and actual usage for the 2 weeks?  If you are looking at more than $100 in transfer fees, maybe the new tenant would be willing to start the utilities early in exchange for reimbursement of the usage, before their lease starts.

Letting the new tenant move in early would be an option, but then any rent for that would be owed to the previous tenant since they are still under lease(even if not in possession) at that point.

Randy E. · Answer

I would not force the tenant to leave the utilities on in his name.  I believe the "set up fees" you're referring to are deposits to the utility companies.  If so, once you rent the house and the new tenant puts the utilities in his/her name, your deposits will be refunded.  The only actual cost you have associated with utilities will  be very minimal power usage.  In other words, not enough to consider.  There is no reason to run the AC if no one is living in the house.

I would not charge the tenant for mowing the lawn after they moved out.  I would accept the keys, thank him for being such a great tenant, tell him I wished all my tenants were like him, and wish him nothing but the best in his future.

Then, I would thank my lucky stars that the tenant moved out early so that I have time to show the unit to applicants and get it rented as soon as possible.  No way would I try to figure out ways to connive more money from him.

Account Closed · Answer

There is a law regarding taking possession.  I can't think of the specifics, but I do know someone who was able to get out of paying what was left on a lease because the landlord took possession.

So, perhaps you could draft some type of document that says that even though you are accepting the keys, you are not taking possession officially.

Also, most states require a landlord to mitigate damages, which means you will attempt to re-rent the unit asap.  2 weeks should not be an issue, as most courts will give you around 30 days to find a tenant and get rent rolling in again, if a tenant breaches their lease.

So, I don't think mitigating your damages would be an issue, but taking possession could be.

I think what I'd do in your shoes, is tell the tenant that if they sign a document that says that you will make every effort to re-rent asap, and in order to do that you need access to the unit, but that the tenant agrees that this does not constitute taking possession as far as alleviating them of their duty to pay rent, then you'll get started immediately trying to find a new tenant.

And make it clear that if they don't sign it, that they will absolutely get none of their rent back, as you will otherwise not take possession, unless they agree.

Depending on your state laws this could be a little iffy, but you could try it.

Account Closed · Answer

A tenant can leave any time they wish if they have given you proper notice.  However, they are still responsible for the rental unit until the lease expires.  If it is winter time and you don't have an automatic turn on of utilities in your name when a tenant moves out, you will indeed want to have the tenant keep the utilities in their name until their lease expires.  You will have to keep an eye on that.

Once the tenant turns over the keys, they have left the premises.  They are saying they no longer occupy the building. (I would check the utility companies to see if they transferred the utilities over to you or had them turned off)

However, it doesn't mean that this is the date their lease terminated.  The written contract is the legal date.  However, as was mentioned before, if there were a lot of time involved when the tenant left the premises, giving keys or not, but has vacated the building, you do have the obligation to rent out the unit.  (Check your state laws, they may different in your state)

I have had many tenants leave earlier in the month after they gave notice, and they knew they were responsible for the rest of the lease.  No problem.  Keys were given, and they were happy and so were we.  (We were able to get it up and ready sooner, and rented quicker.  Yippi.  I like those type of tenants!

Good tenants!  Rent to them again if they should ever need a place in your area.

Nancy Neville

Bob H. · Answer

You should look into the utilities some more. If you get a landlord account, you should not have to pay setup fees repeatedly. In my area the electric utility imposes exorbitant charges for a new account, but I have to pay only for usage for a few days between tenants. The gas company charges $19 when services changes from the old tenant to my landlord account and then another $19 when service goes to the new tenant. The municipal water utility requires a $100 deposit on the landlord account but also charges only for usage during the time between tenants.

Be sure the air-conditioning is off when no one is living there, and turn down or turn off the water heater if the vacancy is more than a few days.

John Pak · Answer

I get the vibe from the community to let this pass and let the good tenant go and let him cancel utilities as soon as I can pick it up.  I have heard you loud and clear.

Just to clarify about utilities as some of you have questioned what the issue is -- in my area, they charge a lot (not refundable) to set up the utilities account.  I think the last time I had utilities in my name for about 7 days in the spring and it cost me >$250.  Also, the place is already rented to a new tenant starting the 1st of the month, and the new tenant has already submitted utilities changeover request for the 1st of the month.  If I were to submit a newer utilities request to cover 15th to 30th, I am afraid the consecutive changeover within a span of 15 days will get messed up.  The new tenant is out of the country so I don't want to bother him about this.

Bottom line though, I have heard from the community to let this one go and I believe it is good advice.  Thank you!

James DeRoest · Answer

I'm not following this, the lease ends at the end of the month, and he's paid till the end of the month, and he wants to leave early?

That's fine, do your check out inspection the moment he's ready and get the property turned and advertised. With any luck it'll re rent for the 1st and you have zero downtime for the property.

What's the issue?

Is there anything wrong with letting a tenant vacate and return keys 2 weeks early (last month rent has been paid)?

Most Popular Reply