Landlord Question and Answer Forum

My lovely tenant had failed to pay rent for two weeks (we had split up the payments to twice a month and he had not paid rent for the last two weeks of March) and then notified me two days before the end of the month that he was planning on vacating the property. This put me in a real bind especially as I live in California and the property is in Hawaii. I had to buy a ticket that was three times the regular price (because it was such late notice) and spend $ that is equal to one months rent that I was receiving to settle the situation. It was extremely stressful as you can imagine. Luckily I easily found new tenants but am now dealing with what to do about returning part of his deposit. I am taking the rent not paid plus the late fee out of the deposit, plus my expenses for cleaning the house. My question is: can I take more money out of the deposit as he only gave me TWO days notice (when the lease states he needs to give me 28 days notice) when vacating? Thank you so much...

I would think that you can take a full months rent as that would be what technically would be due if the full thirty days notice were given. Have you considered hiring a property manager/agent?

Posted by Donna , NC on Monday, April 12, 2010