Landlord Question and Answer Forum

My two year tenant has been great and she signed a new lease with an increase in rent starting June 1, 2015. She has been financially approved to buy a house and has expressed an interest to make an offer to purchase. This is predicated upon us agreeing to terminate the new lease agreement. We have a good relationship and I don;t mind terminating the lease on good terms (as long as I can have it rented with a new tenant and it doesn't hurt my financials). What are some common proposals I can make that would be fair to both of us that allow her to vacate without me taking a financial risk? How can I attach financial responsibility to her for the risk but also be reasonable?

If you are on good terms I agree with keeping them that way. Often tenant can help you find new tenants. If she does that offer her some discount or early move out price for the month or just draw up a mutual termination contract so that there is a definitive end date and you will have 30 days to find a new tenant. This is also good because you can help her by having a clause that if her purchase falls through she could pick up the lease on a month to month status.

Posted by Patty H, on Monday, May 11, 2015

The lease with my tenant specifies a 60 written notice to terminate before the end of the "term." This seems excessive and I am willing to lower the termination notice to 30 days. However, what if the tenant wants to terminate the lease before the end of the 1 year term, say 6 months into the lease? I could still live with a 30-day notice. Is that wise? How would that be written into the lease? I am willing to be flexible, say a few days into the termination month. But what about month to month? I would certainly want to be more strict on that basis. For example, if the tenant really needed to get out of a month to month lease with less than 30 days notice, I would want to prorate additional rent per diem. Is that a good idea?

Posted by Henry L, MD on Tuesday, December 6, 2016