Legal Q&A: Can tenants change the locks?

Legal Q&A: Tenant signs 1-year lease, wants to leave after 4 months

May 31, 2016

Question: If a tenant does not give a 30-day notice of intent to vacate, can the full security deposit be kept by the landlord?

Ted Kimball
Kimball, Tirey & St. John LLP

Answer: You can only deduct for any unpaid rent up to 30 days from the date the tenant vacated if the tenancy is month-to-month or until the premises are relet, whichever occurs first.

Question: I have signed a lease for one year with a tenant, and now he wants to leave after four months. What is my recourse?

Answer: The tenant is responsible for the rent up to the date the lease expires or the date that you re-lease the property, whichever occurs first. You must use due diligence in trying to re-lease the premises.

Question: We served a 60-day notice of termination of tenancy on a renter. We have not received a rent payment yet, so we served her a three-day notice to pay rent or quit. Do you recommend that we start eviction proceedings now or do we wait until the notice expires?

Answer: You should proceed immediately with the eviction; if they do not have enough money to pay you, they may not have enough to move out.

Kimball, Tirey & St. John LLP is a full service real estate law firm representing residential and commercial property owners and managers. This article is for general information purposes only. Laws may have changed since this article was published. Before acting, be sure to receive legal advice from our office. If you have questions, please contact your local KTS office. For contact information, please visit our website: www.kts-law.com. For past Legal Alerts, Questions & Answers, and Legal Articles, please consult the resource library section of our website.

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