Edmonton Tenant is breaking the 1-year lease and request move-out inspection

[elainel]

Hi,



I own a condo in downtown Edmonton. The tenant said she needs to break the 1-year fixed term lease (after living there for 5 months) due to health reasons.

She left the condo and moved out all the belongings yesterday and request for a move-out inspection next week.



As a landlord in Alberta, am I obligated to do the move-out inspection if the tenant who breaks the lease left the premise? Any legal consequences if doing or not doing move-out inspection in this case?



And once the move-out inspection is done and keys are returned to landlord, as far as I understand, the tenant is still on the hook for the rent until the landlord finds a new tenant to replace her or until the end of the lease. But if she doesn't give me a forwarding address, it will be pretty hard to get her pay the rent owing unless the landlord claims the lost through small claim courts or RTDRS.



Elaine.

 

[bizaro86]

I would do the inspection, get the keys back, and work hard at finding someone new to live there. I wouldn't give the security deposit back until I had a new tenant, which is something you should be able to accomplish in a 1 month time frame in the Edmonton market. If you took a 1 month security deposit and there's no damage, you're not out any money.



At least that's what I did when something similar happened to me last year. It took me ~21 days from move out to move in, and so I returned remainder of the deposit that was left after charging rent for the first 20 days of the month against the deposit.



Regards,



Michael

 

[Sherilynn]

You must do the move-out inspection now because the tenant has given up possession. Be sure to follow all of the rules (since this could possibly go to the RTDRS later), so give two options of a date and time for inspection and if she doesn't show up at the first one, make sure you also attend the second one. If you do not do the inspection right away, then you have no right to collect on any property damages.



Also, within 10 days of her giving up possession, you must either return the deposit or a statement of security deposit. So within 10 days you should send her a statement saying that her deposit is being held for potential lost revenue until you can find a replacement tenant and any excess will be refunded once a suitable tenant has been found. (Don't tell her any of this before she gives you her address.)



Yes, she is legally on the hook for rent until the end of the lease or until you re-rent it. And yes, this is of no use if you can't find her.



So tell her at the inspection that you will need her forwarding address in order to mail the cheque for her deposit. If she says that she will come and pick it up, tell her that mailing the cheque is company policy (or something to that effect) or that you will be unavailable for her to pick up the cheque or whatever it takes to get her address. Without her forwarding address ou have no hope of serving court documents to collect.



You are obligated to make every reasonable effort to re-rent the suite as soon as possible in order to mitigate your losses, so be sure to advertise on at least two internet sites and post a yard sign.



If the place is in good shape you should have no trouble re-renting, and you may be able to get more money since rents have already started rising.



So this could be a good thing.



Sherilynn

 

[elainel]

Thanks Micahel for your advice!

 

[elainel]

Thanks Sherilynn! The tenant was willing to show up for the move-out inspection this Thursday and I am about to put out ads for renting out this place. Hope I can find a good tenant this month!



Elaine.