Landlord Question and Answer Forum

My current tenant gave 30 day notice and then requested that I use the Security Deposit to pay for their last month rent. I told them this was not how it worked and per contract that Security Deposit needed to be held for damages and would be returned upon them vacating. They refused to pay and did move out early. its the 15th of the month, mostly they are gone but have a mess in the yard and some personal belonging (not many) still in the house. I have new tenants that want to move in asap, can I remove their stuff and get the new tenants in there before the first. I figure they did not really pay last months rents, but don't know my rights about this. I would need to clean the yard and would charge them for that but then would credit them the days rents that new tenants moved in. Thanks.

Your tenant could have given you notice any time during the rental period as long as it was same amount of notice as there are days between rent payments. Although, your tenant must pay full rent during the period covered by the notice. For example, say your tenant has a month-to-month rental agreement, and pay rent on the first day of each month. They could give notice any time during the month (for example, on the tenth). Then, they could leave 30 days later (on the tenth of the following month, or earlier if they chose to). But the tenant would have to pay rent for the first 10 days of the next month whether they stay for those 10 days or move earlier. (Exception: The tenant would not have to pay rent for the entire 10 days if you left earlier, and the landlord rented the unit to another tenant during the 10 days, and the new tenant paid rent for all or part of the 10 days.)

Posted by Molly H, on Wednesday, January 18, 2012

What do I need to do to report tenants to credit bureau. What process do I need to follow?

Posted by William J, GA on Wednesday, May 6, 2015