Tenant broke lease and doesn't want to pay

[jschroeder]

My tenant broke his lease early. He has moved out of the house and I found another tenant. By NJ law, he was suppose to continue to pay rent and the fees to rerent the house. I live in FL and had to hire a real estate agent to rerent the house-no choice to rent it myself since I live so far away. She managed to find another tenant in about a month. Now, he doesn't want to pay the fee to rerent the house and is claiming that he is going to sue me if I don't compromise with him (he wants to split the $1500 fee). I have a lawyer who hasn't been much help but has charged me $400 for a couple of phone calls, two emails and two short letters. He suggested that I shouldn't charge him the full amount since he said the tenant could sue me for unreasonable fees and get 2-3 times the money back in damages. I am self-employed and have spent numerous hours not working to address this issue. Can someone please give me a little advice as I really don't want to go to court and waste more time and money? Thank you!!!

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Your tenant broke the lease, refuses to pay the fee to find another tenant and is threatening to sue you....over what? Lawsuits are about money; doesn't sound as if this fellow has lost anything in the deal.

Is the lawyer that you're dealing with familiar with New Jersey landlord tenant laws. New Jersey tends to be VERY tenant friendly.

Gail

 

[jschroeder]

He sent me an email stating he would not pay any rerental fees. I never responded and certainly never agreed to that. As a matter of fact, I forwarded him a copy of NJ laws that clearly state the tenant will pay rent and rerental fees until another tenant is found. My lawyer was concerned that $1500 was unreasonable and that my tenant could take me to court for this reason. I don't have any other way to rent my house since I don't live in NJ. My lawyer is suppose to specialize in landlord/tenant and only represent landlords but he has been of little help. I have read the real estate laws thoroughly and realize that they do tend to side with the tenant. However, this is a 2400 sq ft $300K house so I'm not renting some slum house and I have done everything by the books. I even let him out of late fees twice the first year, which he seems to forget. He keeps reminding me that he gave me $28K when all he did was pay his rent. I hate being a harda** but I also don't like being taken advantage of. Trying to deal with four houses right now as my husband is deployed overseas for a year. My tenant also tried to tell me it was illegal to deduct the rerental fee from his deposit, which I know is not true. He got out of his lease three months early thanks to the quick actions of my realtor. Does anyone think he has a case against me? Thanks so much.