Q: Tenant decided to leave 3 wks after signing a 3-mo lease. Told me I can keep the deposit. What are my rights?
Tenant wants to join her friend who just moved to the opposite side of town. One week VERBAL notice was given despite my asking for it in writing. I am spending several hours per day trying to rent the space (which is an "in law" within my home) for the remainder of tenants lease, but so far only have found someone for 2 of the 12 weeks remaining on the lease. What are my rights? I'm happy to include the unreturned deposit (equal to 2 weeks rent) plus the 2 weeks I found a renter and deduct that from the total, but under OR law, aren't I entitled to receive pay for the remaining 8 weeks if I cannot find a tenant despite my best efforts? How would I go about informing the tenant of this? How would I collect it?
A: It will depend upon the exact wording of your lease but yes, if everything was done properly, you are likely to be entitled to keep charging tenant for rent until the earlier of your re-renting it or the expiration of the lease, plus miscellaneous expenses incurred in re-renting it. You are, however, still required to provide the tenant with a written accounting for keeping the security deposit within 31 days of her moving out. You can include a bill for the additional charges. If it is not paid, however, you can either turn it over to a collection agency or simply sue the tenant for the amounts owed. You can sue in either small claims court as long it is under $10,000 or in regular court including for your attorneys fees. Either way, you may want to review everything with a landlord-tenant attorney to be sure you have everything lined up and that your lease does indeed entitle you to charge the tenant. In the future you may wish to require a larger security deposit - a month's rent is common though you can legally charge as much or as little as you wish. Good luck.
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