Real Estate Investor · chicago, IL · Member since 2012 · 1k+ posts · 231 votes
month-to-month that expired on june 30th. they left on june 23rd & said would still need to clean & were paid up until the 30th. I went in and made it rent ready (put in a lot of hours). walk thru on the 30th and they said, "you did a lot of work in here. you need to pay for the 5 days."
they did clean the place before leaving and were great tenants so I agreed but what would you do in this situation? I got the new tenants in on the 29th so had only 5 days vacancy.
Rental Property Investor · Northern, CA · Member since 2012 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
13y
First, what does the lease say about vacating the premises? Mine requires that they: give the landlord all copies of keys and opening devices (i.e. garage door remotes); completely vacate the premises and surrender property to landlord; clean and deliver premises to landlord; remove all debris; give written notice to landlord of tenant's forwarding address; etc. Unless ALL of these things are done, they haven't properly vacated the premises. So check your lease to see what yours requires and whether or not they complied.
Second, do you (your lease) require they give you 30 days notice (or some other number of days)? If so, when did they give it? If they gave it on June 1st, they're responsible for rent for 30 days from then (assuming you require a 30 day notice). It wouldn't matter if they left on the 23rd or even one day after giving the notice. They're still responsible for rent up until the end of the 30 days (again, assuming you have a similar policy).
Bottom line...check your lease and see what it says. It should address this issue.
Civil Engineer · Orange County, CA · Member since 2012 · 189 posts · 45 votes
13y
My view is that they are liable for what is written on the lease. If they decide to move out earlier than that is their decision but the contract has an end date, the end of every month or what you agreed upon.
That said how much time and effort is it going to take just to get 5 days worth of rent? Is it worth it? Probably not.
Rental Property Investor · Northern, CA · Member since 2012 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
13y
First, what does the lease say about vacating the premises? Mine requires that they: give the landlord all copies of keys and opening devices (i.e. garage door remotes); completely vacate the premises and surrender property to landlord; clean and deliver premises to landlord; remove all debris; give written notice to landlord of tenant's forwarding address; etc. Unless ALL of these things are done, they haven't properly vacated the premises. So check your lease to see what yours requires and whether or not they complied.
Second, do you (your lease) require they give you 30 days notice (or some other number of days)? If so, when did they give it? If they gave it on June 1st, they're responsible for rent for 30 days from then (assuming you require a 30 day notice). It wouldn't matter if they left on the 23rd or even one day after giving the notice. They're still responsible for rent up until the end of the 30 days (again, assuming you have a similar policy).
Bottom line...check your lease and see what it says. It should address this issue.
Real Estate Agent · Virginia Beach, VA · Member since 2012 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
13y
How did you have a walk-thru on the 30th if the new tenants moved in on the 29th? For good tenants who were leaving a few days early, I'd work with them, do the walk-thru on the day they left, leave a sign in the yard saying available on the 1st, and add any rent credit in with the return of their deposit. Not a lawyer, but I would assume there could be legal issues if I went in there working, turning it over while they still had rights to be there, especially if they were paying utilities through the 30th. However, if they didn't ask if they could leave early, I'd assume it was theirs until the 30th, and even if it looked like they were out, I wouldn't start work without completing their walk-thru first.
Real Estate Investor · chicago, IL · Member since 2012 · 1k+ posts · 231 votes
13y
sorry, i wasn't clear enough. new tenants moved in on june 29th at 9am. old tenants walk thru was at 8am on the 29th. i credited old tenants 2 days (june 29th & 30th).
the old tenants told me on the 23rd that they were turning the utilities off on the 24th. they came in mid-week to clean and mow the backyard.
to be fair, i got a lot of work done myself during those days they were gone and saved on the labor (though you could argue the opportunity cost wasn't the case) & allowed me to meet the new tenants move in date. the old tenants gave me about 60 days notice.
I will have to check my old lease to see what it said and what my new lease says (for the future so i don't get caught off guard again).
Guess I choose to pick my battles. I also now receive $65/month more in rent. :)
Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 13k+ votes
13y
It sounds to me like paying them for the 5 days is perfectly reasonable. Why did you rent before their paid up lease had expired? Why did you go in a do anything to the property before their paid up lease had expired?
I am going to play the devils advocate here It seems by making the property available for rent during the time they were under a paid up lease is a violation of their rights.
To pay them for such a fast turnover to happen is a reasonable cost of business. If I could pay someone back 5 days rent to get a turnover that fast I would do it every time. - Ned
Real Estate Investor · chicago, IL · Member since 2012 · 1k+ posts · 231 votes
13y
Ned Carey I didn't rent before their lease expired. I had credited them a day in early june & explained I planned on renting it out on june 30th but then figured since they'd be probably leaving in the morning on the 29th, i'd rent it on the 29th and credit them another day. so they got 7 days credited & were tickled pink.
I got a signed addendum by the tenant stating it allows me to do any contracting back in May & I also told the existing tenant I'd be in the house to do work the week of the 24th. They said that was fine.
Rental Property Investor · Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2013 · 6k+ posts · 4k+ votes
13y
Scott W. if you're happy with the extra rent and the old tenants are happy about getting 2 extra days credited and the new tenants are happy with getting the rental, then there's nothing to really complain about.
Real Estate Broker · Orange, CT · Member since 2013 · 951 posts · 218 votes
13y
I think the point of not-refunding when they leave early is that you have no down time. Since you were not able to get a tenant from 24-28th, then I don't see why you would credit them for those days.