Landlord Question and Answer Forum

Have a tenant that was to buy the house after 1 year, however was still trying to get finanaced at the end of his 12 month lease. I gave him a six month lease in order to give him monre time to try. He found that he would not be able to get financed and in February came and told us he would be breaking the lease because he couldn't afford it anymore. I discounted his rent $200.00 so he would stay till end of his lease and would put the house on the market to sell and try to work with him so that he could get out of the lease. THe house is on the market and we have tried to show it, but they always have some some excuse, one of them is sick or etc. I would like to just offer him a one time payment to me of $2500 and offer to release him from the remaning months of the lease. this would make the sale of the easier without having a tenant in the home. Can I do this? or is it a good idea?

You can make any offer you want, but that doesn't mean he'll take it, or that you have much leverage to force him to do much. If he stopped paying today, it would probably be several months at least before an eviction date happened. It is MUCH easier to sell a home retail when there's no one living there, so if you're desperate to sell, I would make him a lower offer, like a fee of one month's rent and the agreement being conditional on him leaving the house in pristine condition.

Posted by Ralph F, CA on Tuesday, February 22, 2011