When a tenant breaks their lease (Alberta)

[bizaro86]

Hello,

I have a tenant who called me today, wanting to give 30 days notice that she`d be leaving her condo. She signed a lease which doesn`t expire until the end of February, and provided 12 post dated cheques at that time, as well as a 1 month security deposit.

I told her I would advertise it for rent ASAP, and that it would be very helpful if she could keep it clean and available for showings. I also told her that she was responsible until either the end of her lease or I found someone new.

Anyone have any thoughts on my rights/responsibilities/practical actions to take in this situation? I don`t have a problem re-renting to someone new, but am wondering whether I can withhold a reasonable amount of advertising costs from her security deposit. (I`m thinking probably a $25 rentfaster ad, its not like I`m going to shoot a TV commercial) Any thoughts on whether it`s wise to keep someone who doesn`t want to stay in the unit? I renovated it before she moved in, and would hate to see it get trashed, although she doesn`t seem like the type who`d do that, and I vetted her pretty thoroughly.

Thanks for any suggestions,

Michael

 

[Sherilynn]

Your obligation is to make every reasonable effort to mitigate your losses (ie. advertise the suite immediately and try your best to find a suitable replacement tenant).

Her obligation is to pay you rent until you find a suitable replacement tenant. Be sure that she understands this.

If you have a decent suite at a decent price, it shouldn`t be a problem to rent. And I personally wouldn`t charge the $40-60 it will cost you to advertise the suite. If you have set yourself up properly, then you should have made a lot more than that off of this tenant during her occupancy. (You could try to charge it, but it wouldn`t fly at the RTDRS.) BTW, don`t use only Rentfaster. Also put it on Rentboard (charge by the day) and kijiji (only charge for bump-up`s, etc.) and craigslist (no charge) and perhaps another Calgary-based site. Check out Chris Davies` list for suggestions. If you only advertise on one site that wouldn`t seem like "every reasonable effort."

Your best bet is to arrange with the tenant for you to call and give notice of showings and for her to allow showings at short notice. You will be able to rent the suite a lot faster that way rather than having to give 24-hours` written notice. And it will save you (or your property manager) a lot of time. That`s a win-win.

Regards,
Sherilynn

 

[neill]

QUOTE (Sherilynn @ Sep 1 2010, 09:27 PM) BTW, don`t use only Rentfaster. Also put it on Rentboard (charge by the day) and kijiji (only charge for bump-up`s, etc.) and craigslist (no charge) and perhaps another Calgary-based site. Check out Chris Davies` list for suggestions. If you only advertise on one site that wouldn`t seem like "every reasonable effort."

We have had good success with homerent.ca as well

Best of luck!

 

[stepchuk]

Alot will depend on what your lease agreement stipulates as well. We generally include a lease break penalty of one month`s rent in all of our tenancy agreements. If we can re-rent it sooner, we will often not charge the full month`s rent, but this protects us and is a great deterrent for tenant`s to break their contracts.

 

[RebeccaBryan]

QUOTE (Sherilynn @ Sep 1 2010, 09:27 PM) Your obligation is to make every reasonable effort to mitigate your losses (ie. advertise the suite immediately and try your best to find a suitable replacement tenant).

Her obligation is to pay you rent until you find a suitable replacement tenant. Be sure that she understands this.

If you have a decent suite at a decent price, it shouldn`t be a problem to rent. And I personally wouldn`t charge the $40-60 it will cost you to advertise the suite. If you have set yourself up properly, then you should have made a lot more than that off of this tenant during her occupancy. (You could try to charge it, but it wouldn`t fly at the RTDRS.) BTW, don`t use only Rentfaster. Also put it on Rentboard (charge by the day) and kijiji (only charge for bump-up`s, etc.) and craigslist (no charge) and perhaps another Calgary-based site. Check out Chris Davies` list for suggestions. If you only advertise on one site that wouldn`t seem like "every reasonable effort."

Your best bet is to arrange with the tenant for you to call and give notice of showings and for her to allow showings at short notice. You will be able to rent the suite a lot faster that way rather than having to give 24-hours` written notice. And it will save you (or your property manager) a lot of time. That`s a win-win.

Regards,
Sherilynn

Adding to this post, make sure the tenant knows that it is more likely to rent if he/she has it clean for showings and that it is left imaculate for the next tenant to move in. Make it clear to them that she will get her security deposit back if she leaves it clean and it rents. That`s motivation for the tenant not to lose money, and it is your obligation to give the security deposit back if the above happens.

When this situation has happened to me in the past, and the tenant has left it clean, I have returned all money back. If they don`t, I find every reason to charge for everything I can possibly think of.

 

[Sherilynn]

QUOTE (RebeccaBryan @ Sep 11 2010, 11:50 AM) If they don`t, I find every reason to charge for everything I can possibly think of.

I completely agree with this!

Regards,
Sherilynn

 

[bizaro86]

Hello,

I wanted to thank everyone for the advice, and provide an update. The tenant moved out on Sept 30th, before I had been able to find someone else to take over the condo. Subsequently, new tenants moved in a few weeks later, and I returned her security deposit with a deduction for the unpaid rent for that time. I received a voice mail yesterday evening demanding the rest of it back, along with a threat of legal action.

I did take the advice regarding numerous ads, and showed it anytime someone asked, but its a basement unit, and is by far my hardest suite to rent, so it did take a bit longer than I was hoping.

I`d appreciate any advice. Would you just ignore it, try to explain, or what? I`m disinclined to refund the money, because the place was leased to her, and re-renting it early was a lot of extra work.

Michael

 

[invst4profit]

Send her a copy of the language in your Provincial Residential Tenancy Act pointing out a tenants responsibilities re giving notice etc and suggest (assuming the language supports it) that she could have been on the hook for far more than what you deducted.
Then ignore her threats until you get a notice, which will likely not happen as you did nothing wrong.

In Ontario it is 60 days notice and tenants pay all LL costs, advertising, credit checks etc.