New landlord, tenant wants to break lease, need advice!
TLDR; I live in colorado. Tenant signed a year lease with me. She voiced she was unhappy with the living situation. I offered to help her find a replacement (sent her pictures of the property, got her set up on different platforms to find someone to take over her lease etc.). It's now the dead of winter and close to the holidays. Making it difficult to find a replacement. She's since insulted me daily, generally caused problems in the house, and has told me that she's not obligated to find a replacement tenant. She informed me yesterday that she will be moving out 1/1/2020 regardless of whether a replacement has been found or not.
What do i do here? Can i take her to court for the rest of the rent? I have her saying that she will be moving out on 1/1/2020 and I will document when she actually hires movers and moves out of the property. I will be seeking legal advice tomorrow, but looking for any good suggestions here! Any help is much appreciated.
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Full backstory - I purchased my first deal as a house hack this past September (it's been a few years in the making, hurray! :))
I found renters for my house on a room by room basis, I did due diligence on renters: background checks, credit checks, personality checks, was picky with who i chose to live with.
I successfully got tenants for each of the rooms! All is well!
However last month, the person renting the largest room in my property had some issues.
She started to complain to me about things that didn't make sense. She accused two other tenants constantly of making messes they didn't make (i would have to check with other people to see who made small messes, ie leaving bits of granola on a counter, or not putting away of the broom properly). I took care of her complaints at first but they began to progress to an almost daily event.
She accused them of making fun of her via text and when i read the texts saw nothing that could even be misconstrued as such.
She made up situations that didn't happen.
The two other tenants resolved to sit down with her in a meeting to try to solve any issues. They asked that I mediate the situation which i did.
In the meeting she voiced that she was being picked on because of her race and gender (african american female), DESPITE the other two tenants also being african american females. She accused them of not cleaning up, making the messes they didn't make, things that i've verified to be incorrect by asking other tenants and from what i've seen.
Since then she redirected her animosity directly at me. I'm not sure why, and from that point I have only written correspondence with her. After that meeting she voiced wanting to move out and break the lease. I agreed as long as she could find a suitable person to take over her lease. I set her up with the platforms she would need to use, but told her that the onus was on her to find a suitable person to rent the space. Meaning specifically she'd have to show the house and her room. And when she found that person to come to me so i could give them the background check, and credit check and to meet them.
For about a month after telling her what to do she hasn't found anyone yet. Which is unsurprising as we've had a lot of snow in colorado now, and it's so close to the holidays.
During this time she's asked that i lower the rent that she pays so she can find someone easier. I said now. She called me racist, an ******* a and abusive in response to this. Worth noting 4/5 of my tenants are african american and we frequently do things together. It's completely unfounded. She's also sworn at me via text, names, etc. etc.
Yesterday she informed me that she will be moving out of her room 1/1/2020.
What do i do here? Can i take her to court for the rest of the rent? I have her saying that she will be moving out on 1/1/2020 and I will document when she actually hires movers and moves out of the property. I will be seeking legal advice tomorrow, but looking for any good suggestions here! Any help is much appreciated.