Updated over 14 years ago on . Most recent reply
New Lease, No Tenant
Hopefully a few of you can shed some light on this situation for me. I've had a property vacant for 1 month and just signed a new lease with what seemed like a good tenant (and he still might be...I did all the proper checks and phone calls) I agreed to give him a 1-2 weeks to get everything in order since his family was still in Michigan and he was working here in Ohio as he just got transferred. He's supposed to be moving in on May 15th but I haven't received his deposit or first payment. I also am not giving him the keys until those payments are made.
Now, I have another family from Michigan trying to get their son a place for school and have called me 5 times in the past 9 days about it. They are extremely interested and they know and understand the situation with the currently signed lease and just want to know if they need to continue looking.
My question is what obligation do I have if no security deposit has been made, no rent has been paid, no contact has been made, no keys picked up, etc. Is there a time frame where I can say, "time's up...moving on...no money exchanged...etc?" How long do I legally have to wait before this type of "eviction" takes place?
Most Popular Reply
Yes, once they show up and move in it becomes the security deposit for the lease term. In my lease I just write that in under a Misc section for additional terms. In OH I don't know the legalities of doing a non-refundable deposit if they don't show. If a real estate attorney does not like that verbiage perhaps you can call it a "hold fee" and if the tenant does comply with the lease terms the "hold fee is converted to the security deposit." One way or another I won't take my property off the market and risk losing other tenants (like your student tenant) if the tenant doesn't have something significant at risk.
On a similar vein, if a tenant has to cancel a lease early they lose their deposit but are only able to exit the lease once I receive and bank clear a new deposit to ensure the property is left in the same condition as when they received it.