Landlord Question and Answer Forum

I have a unique situation. Old tenant had a lease through Aug. 31st. They decided on their own to move out early. They agreed to honor the lease and paid through August. They moved out and left their keys with a friend to give to us since they were moving out of State. Got the keys back, did some maintenance on the home, got new renters who signed a lease starting Sept. 1st. Since the house was vacant, new renters asked if they could start moving their things in on the 28th of the month. We said no problem, the place is empty. Now old renters are wanting compensation for those 4 days of August that new people are in there. Do they have a case? We didn't 'double dip" because we didn't collect rent for those couple of days from the new renters.

I would pro-rate those four days and give them the money. Some people are more trouble than it's worth.

Posted by Monika A, IA on Sunday, September 5, 2010

Thanks, I appreciate your input. It's quite a bit of money. Might be worth the fight to us.

Posted by Nora J, CA on Sunday, September 5, 2010

Most state's have laws that you must refund under those examples. This site gave me a state specific handbook for the state I manage in. Look under forms towards the bottom and print it out, I will bet there is a rule in the book that tells you what you must do.

Posted by Doug F, MT on Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Thanks Doug! If you're talking about the Consumer Affairs Landlord/Tenant Book, I could find nothing in there to cover our situation. I can find things about charging two renters for the same timeframe (which we did not do) but nothing to help me understand if the old renters have a small claim or not. Our attorney finally got back to us and said they don't have a case at all, however I would still like to see if anyone else out there has had this happen which is why I posed the question. Thanks for your help.

Posted by Nora J, CA on Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Well good luck Nora. I don't know what book comes up for CA.

Posted by Doug F, MT on Wednesday, September 8, 2010