Tenants Only Stay 6 Months Of a 1 Year Lease
Question
Tenants notified me on the 19th of month that they would vacate the premises by 1st of month, only 6 months into a 1-year lease. It actually required until the 4th of the month before they had removed all their belongings and turned over their keys. Can I keep all their deposit since the lease was not completed?
Answer
You do not mention the state in which your rental property is located nor do you provide other details that might apply to your specific situation, so I can only answer in generalities.
What you can do may be dependent on a number of factors related to landlord-tenant laws of your state, clauses in your lease agreement, and tenant and/or landlord actions.
I will assume that there were no issues that would have allowed the tenant to legally break the lease – e.g., your failure to correct any defects related to habitability about which the tenant had complained – or issues that might serve as a possible defense in court against your claim of the tenant being in default of the lease – e.g., violation of his right to privacy.
Whether you can “keep the entire deposit” may depend on the details of the matter. In general, in most circumstances the landlord can keep amounts from the security deposit to cover unpaid rents, damages to the property, and additional expenses incurred from the tenant breaking the lease agreement. Examples of the last item are a leasing commission paid to a real broker for finding a replacement tenant and/or additional advertising now required.
Accordingly, if the tenant was otherwise current with payment of rent, the maximum lost rent would be for the 4 additional days he remained in possession of the unit into the new month. If you had a deposit that was within the maximum allowed by state law you could apply any remainder to physical damages and to any costs related to the lease being broken by the tenant, including advertising for filling the vacancy and/or any leasing commissions you pay obtaining a new tenant.
You indicate that that they removed all personal property and didn’t leave any behind, so I won’t discuss abandoned property laws, which vary significantly among states.
Amounts owed the landlord for unpaid rent, the costs of cleaning, repairing physical damages (not including normal wear & tear), and other items that exceed the amount of security deposit are theoretically recoverable through a lawsuit if you can find where the tenants are currently located so that they can be served with a complaint and you can obtain a judgment in the court of jurisdiction. One can sue a person and then collect a judgment even if the person moved to another state, although it is not usually worth the expense of doing so for a few hundred dollars.
You must also be certain that you provide the tenant with a detailed accounting for any deductions from his deposit and if financial losses are greater than the deposit, a demand for payment of the balance, the demand potentially necessary in order to file a lawsuit. The accounting and any refund due the tenant must be provided within the period required by law in your state. Failure to meet the requirements can result in significant financial penalties against the landlord if the tenant pursues the issue in court and wins – e.g., double or treble damages in some states.