How Do You Handle Early Lease Termination

Question

-Tenant moved-in on March 2019 and signed a 1 year lease

-Tenant just received a promotion which requires him to relocate

-Tenant wants to terminate the lease early

How have you handled this situation?

Michael Ablan · Answer

@Michael Craig -  Just let him go.  You're not going to stop him, and going through the court process sucks.  Work out an early termination fee and make sure he has the apartment professionally cleaned.  Then congratulate him, wish him luck and find a new tenant.

Andrea Townsley · Answer

@Michael Ablan I 100% agree with you.

We have been in this situation and our landlord refused to let us out. I offered to help advertise it (this was in a different state, pre-RE license), do showings, and get a new tenant in place so they wouldn’t lose any/minimal income. He told me he was going to let his lawyer handle it. It ended up being his loss because he refused to mitigate the damages. But in Georgia, a landlord isn’t required to do that. So I guess first I would say to check your state’s laws to see what your duty is in regard to mitigating losses. But personally, I would charge a month’s rent as a fee to get out of it and possibly keep the deposit. No sense in trying to take him to court (since you’d have to garnish his wages to force payment of any judgment) and wasting time trying to make him stay and pay. Once a tenant wants out, they’re done, let them go but try to reduce your losses as described.