Do we give the deposit back? The person renting our house is moving out early, and has 4 mo. left on contract?
In the state of TN I cannot find and information on what we should do if the person brakes rental contract? Also, in contract it was to be rented to a NON_smoker, yet the woman smoked inside our house. Is that grounds for loss of deposit? Basically she was signed to rent our other house until Sept. 2007. It is only May. Should she get her deposit back?
Additional Details
5 minutes ago
We own the house out right, and had to move because of our careers, that is the only reason we CHOSE to rent it out otherwise. We now own our second home, the other is just now a rental house.
Answers:
Usually the contract would state the conditions under which a deposit could be returned. If yours doesn't I suggest you revise your contract and slant the language to your benefit in the future.
As for now, if you have it rented or can easily do so between now and September, I might consider refunding her the deposit. In that case, arguably, that would be the right thing to do.
To me, the bigger issue is the smoking. If you explicitly said "don't smoke" and she did, it is reasonable that you will have to have some additional cleaning done to the house before you can rent it again. In other words, her deposit can pay for this.
I think you have one, if not two justifiable reasons to keep the deposit. However, what is "right" isn't always what is legal. See if you can find an attorney friend that might give you free advice on this one, but generally, what the contract says rules.
dont know about the rules and regs where you are but here it would constitute a breach of contract on her part through no fault of yours so no i would say do not give the deposit back
I would hold her deposit just because of the smoking issue. She signed a contract, right? She still owes you the 4 months rent regardless of whether she lives there or not.
No. Keep the deposit. If you want more information about this I own a number of properties that are rented out (8 years and running) and can provide you with legal information although I am not an attorney.
I wrote into my rental leases that if the renter leaves before 6 months that they forfeit their deposit. Perhaps you need to do something similar.
Did she ask for it back? If not, end of story.
If she does, just tell her the lease says "non smoking" but since she smoked, you have to have the carpets cleaned, etc etc., she violated the terms of the lease.
Check out these sites:
www.hud.gov/local/tn/renting/t...
or
www.uslandlord.com
good luck....but i think you can withhold it if they break the contract.
She legally owes you rent until the end of the contract period. If you mutually choose to terminate her rental contract, then she is free to leave whenever. If she walks out without your consent to terminate, she is in breach of contract and you can sue her for the money, as well as reporting her to the credit authorities.
As for the deposit, you can only hold it to use in the repair of the home. If you hold it, you must itemize what it is used for:
$150 for shampooing the carpets
$ 80 for dry cleaning the drapes
and anything else you have to do to get rid of the smoke smell
You cannot withhold her deposit on principle, only for specific charges. You can however hold the deposit as part of the rent she owes you until September.
Unfortunately, you are not likely to get any money in a lawsuit, so it may be best to deal with her... you pocket her deposit and she pays for the cleaning of the house in exchange for your letting her out of the contract, or something like that.
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