Q: My tenant just gave me a 30 Day notice, breaking their term lease. Do I charge them full rent the last month or prorate?
My tenants lease doesn't end until July 31, 2019. They gave me a 30 day notice starting today, does this mean I prorate their rent in December?
A: No, likely not. Much depends upon what the lease says about early termination. Generally there are 2 options - they keep paying rent and associated costs to re-let until a new tenant replaces them and starts paying the rent or their lease term ends (apparently July 31, 2019), whichever comes first as long as the landlord uses reasonable efforts to re-rent the dwelling; or, if your written rental agreement provides for it, they pay rent for every day they are in possession plus an early termination fee of no more than 1 1/2 months rent. If they pay the flat fee, then it does not matter when the landlord is able to re-rent the dwelling - could be the next day; could be 10 months - that risk (or reward) is on the landlord when he selects what lease terms to use. IF the written rental agreement does not specifically provide for it, then there is no option for a flat fee and the tenant is on the hook for rent until either there is a new rent paying tenant or the lease term ends. IF they are on the hook until a new tenant moves in, AND that somehow happens before the end of December, then you would owe them a pro-rated refund for those days in December when you collected rent from a new tenant but otherwise no, they do not get a proration in their monthly rent.
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