What am I entitled to if tenant doesn't carry out full term of lease?

[jeniff20992]

Jurisdiction

Virginia

What is the name of your state? VA

If the lease I have does not offer a buy out (2 months rent) or other out to terminate the lease early, do I have any entitlement to sue my tenants if they try to move out early?

For example, I want to sell my home next spring/summer. If they move out in the winter and I don't try to get another tenant and just sell my house, can I sue them for not getting as much money in a slower housing market? Or would I have to show proof that I tried to obtain a tenant replacement?

When adding in renters insurnace and loweiring the rent after our tenant left, we kept the seucirty deposit price in and I fear it exceeds the 2 months rent law for state of VA. Before I approach the tenant to modify the lease. What would my exposure be if we left it as is? Could I get sued or be exposed to a law suite? I researched this and all I could find is that the limit is 2 months rent, it doesn't say what the punishment or recourse would be.

 

[adjusterjack]

Please keep all your related questions to this thread to avoid parallel discussions. I combined your posts and deleted the other one.

For example, I want to sell my home next spring/summer. If they move out in the winter and I don't try to get another tenant and just sell my house, can I sue them for not getting as much money in a slower housing market? Or would I have to show proof that I tried to obtain a tenant replacement?

A landlord's duty to mitigate is addressed in 55.1-1251:

nothing contained in this section shall diminish the duty of the landlord to mitigate actual damages for breach of the rental agreement. In obtaining post-possession judgments for actual damages as defined in this section, the landlord shall not seek a judgment for accelerated rent through the end of the term of the tenancy.

https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter12/section55.1-1251/

Basically, fail to mitigate - get nothing.

When adding in renters insurnace and loweiring the rent after our tenant left, we kept the seucirty deposit price in and I fear it exceeds the 2 months rent law for state of VA. Before I approach the tenant to modify the lease. What would my exposure be if we left it as is? Could I get sued or be exposed to a law suite?

Of course you can get sued. And the tenant can win. You can lose your right to keep any of the deposit.

Here is the security deposit law, which I suspect you have never read.

https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title55.1/chapter12/section55.1-1226/

Noncompliance could be quite costly.

I suggest you send your tenant a check for the unlawfully retained amount. Just mark it overpayment of security deposit and hope it stays under the radar.

Is this your tenant:

Landlord charged me more than legal security deposit

In the state of VA, the legal limit for a security deposit is two months rent. My landlord charged me more than that for no other reason that I was not still in the military. I have perfect credit and met all other requirements to lease. The contract is already signed. Is there any legal...

www.thelaw.com

 

[zddoodah]

If the lease I have does not offer a buy out (2 months rent) or other out to terminate the lease early, do I have any entitlement to sue my tenants if they try to move out early?

If all they do is try to move out, why would you think you'd have any claim against the tenants? Even if they actually move out, you don't necessarily have a claim. Residential leases don't generally obligate the tenant to occupy the leased premises. You'd only have a claim if the tenant fails to pay rent (or otherwise breaches the lease). In that case, you're entitled to rent through the end of the lease subject to your obligation to mitigate damages by finding a replacement tenant.

For example, I want to sell my home next spring/summer. If they move out in the winter and I don't try to get another tenant and just sell my house, can I sue them for not getting as much money in a slower housing market?

Huh? Sounds like you're anticipating things that may or may not be true, but your tenant is not liable to you for the vagaries of the housing market.

By the way, the first half of your post reads like a hypothetical, but the second reads like a situation that actually has happened? If it's the latter, please provide the relevant facts.

the 2 months rent law for state of VA.

Not sure what you're referring to here. Your post does a lot of hinting at facts, but you've expressly provided virtually none.

Before I approach the tenant to modify the lease. What would my exposure be if we left it as is?

No one who hasn't read your lease and who doesn't know the relevant facts can answer this question intelligently.

Pay for the advice of a local attorney. The chances are good that, if you try to do this yourself, you'll screw it up, and your potential liability will far exceed the cost of the lawyer.

 

[Red Kayak]

What is the name of your state? VA

If the lease I have does not offer a buy out (2 months rent) or other out to terminate the lease early, do I have any entitlement to sue my tenants if they try to move out early?

For example, I want to sell my home next spring/summer. If they move out in the winter and I don't try to get another tenant and just sell my house, can I sue them for not getting as much money in a slower housing market? Or would I have to show proof that I tried to obtain a tenant replacement?

When adding in renters insurnace and loweiring the rent after our tenant left, we kept the seucirty deposit price in and I fear it exceeds the 2 months rent law for state of VA. Before I approach the tenant to modify the lease. What would my exposure be if we left it as is? Could I get sued or be exposed to a law suite? I researched this and all I could find is that the limit is 2 months rent, it doesn't say what the punishment or recourse would be.

I would strongly suggest that you consult a local lawyer, since you apparently couldn't manage to download and use a standard lease for your state.

Otherwise, your fate is dependent on your tenants lacking the assertiveness to put up a fuss.

 

[jeniff20992]

If all they do is try to move out, why would you think you'd have any claim against the tenants? Even if they actually move out, you don't necessarily have a claim. Residential leases don't generally obligate the tenant to occupy the leased premises. You'd only have a claim if the tenant fails to pay rent (or otherwise breaches the lease). In that case, you're entitled to rent through the end of the lease subject to your obligation to mitigate damages by finding a replacement tenant.




Huh? Sounds like you're anticipating things that may or may not be true, but your tenant is not liable to you for the vagaries of the housing market.

By the way, the first half of your post reads like a hypothetical, but the second reads like a situation that actually has happened? If it's the latter, please provide the relevant facts.




Not sure what you're referring to here. Your post does a lot of hinting at facts, but you've expressly provided virtually none.




No one who hasn't read your lease and who doesn't know the relevant facts can answer this question intelligently.

Pay for the advice of a local attorney. The chances are good that, if you try to do this yourself, you'll screw it up, and your potential liability will far exceed the cost of the lawyer.

To be more clear. The situation here is that my tenant asked if they could break our lease to buy a home. They'd be breaking the lease 6 months early. I want to tell them no, too bad, you need to pay the lease until the end of the term (next spring) because that's when I want to sell my house. I don't want to sell it now because I think I can get more for it.

What I want to know if that if I flat out tell them no, and they move out and stop paying rent, can I sue them for the remainder of the lease term if I sell my house the day after they move out? I am worried that by selling the house immediately, I'd have no basis to say I lost out on rent since the property is sold and I probably can't ever sue them for getting less money for selling the house now vs next spring/summer.

My only other option would be to not sell now and try to rent the place out until next summer. The area my house is in is a very easy area to find renters. And I know I have an obligation to try to find another tenant otherwise I'll have no basis to sue for the rest of the rental term.

To me it almost seems like I don't have any case to sue my tenants if they chose to move out early and stop paying rent because I'd either sell my house or find other tenants. It's begs the question of why did we even have a lease in the first place if I can't actually hold them to it.

 

[Zigner]

What I want to know if that if I flat out tell them no, and they move out and stop paying rent, can I sue them for the remainder of the lease term if I sell my house the day after they move out?

Setting aside the fact that virtually anyone can sue virtually anyone at virtually any time for virtually anything...

You wouldn't be successful in such a suit because your rights in the lease would transfer to the buyers of the property. In other words, *you* aren't losing any money, the buyers are.

 

[zddoodah]

What I want to know if that if I flat out tell them no, and they move out and stop paying rent, can I sue them for the remainder of the lease term if I sell my house the day after they move out?

If you sell the house the day after the tenant moves out, then you will have incurred no damages and would therefore have nothing to sue for.

I probably can't ever sue them for getting less money for selling the house now vs next spring/summer.

You could sue, but you'd lose because that's entirely speculative.

To me it almost seems like I don't have any case to sue my tenants if they chose to move out early and stop paying rent because I'd either sell my house or find other tenants. It's begs the question of why did we even have a lease in the first place if I can't actually hold them to it.

You have a lease for the following obvious reason:

You wouldn't have let the tenant move in without a lease. If the tenant didn't move in, you'd be earning precisely $0.00 from your property.

Let's say the rent is $1,000 per month (just for simplicity's sake). Your entitlement under the lease is $1,000 per month through the end of the lease. If the tenant moves out early and stops paying, you're entitled to sue for $1,000 per month through the end of the lease. However, you (like every other party to a contract) have a duty to mitigate damages if possible. The typical way a landlord mitigates damages is by finding a new tenant. Tenant A's $1,000 per month isn't any different than Tenant B's $1,000 per month. You're still getting $1,000 per month. Where it comes from is irrelevant. If you sell your property before the lease term expires, then you have no damages because selling the property cuts off your right to receive rent.

Of course, you're obviously not going to sell it the day after your tenant moves out. But you might sell it two months later, in which case, you'd be entitled to sue for two months' rent. If you choose to retain the property until such time as you think the market will be most advantageous, then you'd seek a replacement tenant. Let's say your current tenant moves at the end of August and stops paying. You get a new tenant on a 6-month lease starting in November. You'd be entitled to unpaid rent for September and October. You'd also be entitled to your reasonable expenses in connection with finding a new tenant. Let's say that, despite your best efforts, you can't find someone to pay $1k per month and your 6-month lease is only $900 per month. You'd also be entitled to $100 per month from November through the end of the current tenant's lease.