Landlord Question and Answer Forum

TENANT ENDED LEASE 5 MONTHS EARLY,DID NO PAY RENT, HOME ABANDONED

Hi, My question to you is, We had tenant who signed a lease agreement for a term of one year, which ends on August 31, 2009. Our tenants tried to find us new tenants to re-rent the home, however, we there was never a signed written contract between us and the new "potential" tenants who backed out, in which we informed our current tenants at the very start of this month that they were still liable for the fullfillment of the lease. There were nothing in writing from them indicating their wanting to end the lease, and now have not paid us the currents month rent, we serve them with a 3 -day notice to pay rent or quit, and did not answer to the notice as of the deadline date. Our next step was to serve an eviction notice with the court, however, we have found out that the home has been abandoned and complety empty, and would like to know what step needs to be taken now so that we may re-enter and tried to re-rent the home? Thanks in advance for your help.

If the tenant has abandoned the property, then you may start the process of findng another tenant. You may take your past tenant to court for any unpaid months. IF, however, you get another tenant, you cannot charge your prior tenant for the months your rental was occupied. If you live in a rent controlled locale, the rules are different.

Posted by Donna , NC on Monday, March 30, 2009

There's still five more months left to the lease that was broken, because we plan to move back to our rental home Sept 1, 09, because we also had a lease of our own that ends August 15th. Therefore to Mitigate damages I need to have the house for rent for the next 5 month right?...so I have to wait until the last month to take our tenants to court or can I start filing papers now?

Posted by Evangelina R, CA on Monday, March 30, 2009

You can post a Notice of Abandonment on each door to the house, send a copy of the Notice to the tenants' last known address (which is your property), and fill out a Proof of Service. After the 18 days, if you have received no word from your tenants, then you can enter your property. At that time photograph the inside and outside of the unit, noting anything the tenant left behind. If it is worth $300 or less, you can toss it away. If it is worth more, you will have to follow the instructions for the rest of the Abandonment process. Check online or at your local library for the procedures or ask your attorney if you do not want to do it yourself.

Posted by KJ B, CA on Wednesday, June 17, 2009