Landlord Question and Answer Forum

my tenant has a year to year lease, it doesnt expire until october of this year. he just got fired from his job. if he gives me 30 days notice what are his rights and what are mine. do i have to give the last months rent and security deposit back, when he started he gave me first last and a one month security deposit. what do i have to give back to him. how does this work. what are the laws.thanks, i am very new to this. Merv

First, be sure to look up all the landlord-tenant statues in your area. This will be very important reading for you. Second, security deposits are used for damages to the units. Third, you cannot collect double rents so if someone gives notice, you have to try to rent out the place and can only collect damages for charges incurred due to the lease being broken (re-advertising, etc.) But you CANNOT charge for rent until October and charge someone else rent until October too.

Posted by Dawn A, WI on Thursday, January 9, 2014

I completely agree with Dawn. And my suggestion would be to hire a property manager to rent your house next time. So that you could get assistance on all such matters. My property manager at Lone Star Realty always assists me in such matters.

Posted by Adam C, TX on Thursday, January 16, 2014