Can my tenant break her lease?

[lacey123]

Hi, I am a new landlord living in Ohio. I am not familiar with all the laws. I have a tenant who has signed a one year lease. She sent me a letter yesterday saying she is leaving to live with her mother because she lost her job and can't pay the rent (she is married and her husband works also) Well, I found out that she is not moving to live with her mother, but she is going to rent a new apartment elsewhere. Legally can she just leave when she has 6 months remaining on her lease? She is planning on moving this weekend so any quick responses would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[jlw1000]

She can not just leave. Did you give her permission to break her lease? If not you can hold her liable for the rent until you can re-rent the place. You would have to take her to court for all damages & try to collect via wage attachment etc.

In the meantime I would work quickly to try to re-rent the place. Just because you would win a judgement does not guarantee you would ever receive a dime.

At this point I would put communications with her in writing. Since she has shown she can not be trusted.

 

[lacey123]

Hi.....no,we did not give her permission to break her lease. she just sent us a letter saying she was leaving and wants us to get the keys on sunday. her rent is due on tuesday. if we took her to court i'm afraid we wouldn't get anything out of her. we aren't obligated to give her the deposit back are we??

 

[jlw1000]

Make sure you get the keys from the tenant. Since she is moving out regardless of what you state, it would be best to do a move out report with her present. You can notate any repair issues that are beyond normal wear and tear. Tell her you need her new address so you can contact her in regarding the dispostion of her deposit. Once all repairs are completed, deduct this from the deposit. You can keep the remainder of her deposit to offset the rent she owes.

Make sure you get a letter out to her certified return receipt detailing why she is not getting her deposit back. If you find you are still out money, you can sue if you wish.