Virginia - Tenant emailed notice of early lease termination

[smit5454]

Hello, I leased my home to a family for 1 year, which they signed and moved in on 7-1-09. They notified me this week that they needed to terminate the lease early via email due to "personal reasons". I contacted my real estate agent, and it coincidentally happens that she sold this family a HOME and they will be closing and moving in the end of November, about 6 weeks from now. This puts me in a tough spot since the rental market stinks in NOV, and they were only in the place under 4 months. I would like to put the home on the market now for sale. Is their notice sufficient via email? Can I use this as the go ahead to start showing the property and either sell or release it? How soon can I make them vacate now that they are terminating early? My concern is that I show the home, get interest, then find out they did not close on their new home and decide to stay. This would put me in a position where I would not be able to get a new tenant / purchaser, as well as know that they will probably leave early at some point anyway the next time they find a home?

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Does your lease allow for early termination (no matter the reason)? If not, your tenants are on the hook for for the remainder of their lease unless the place can be rerented.

While there are some "outs" for a tenant to break a lease early (for example, if they are active duty military and receive transfer orders), buying a house is not one of these.

Gail

 

[jharris352]

Lets deal with these one at a time:

Is their notice sufficient via email?

Yes their notice is sufficient since you acknowledge having received it and both you and they have a record of it.

Can I use this as the go ahead to start showing the property and either sell or release it?

Yes you can.

How soon can I make them vacate now that they are terminating early?

You can expect them to leave when they said they were leaving. If they do not you can evict them though that process will take you some time.

They have notified you that they essentially intend to breach the lease by terminating early. Read your lease concerning early termination and it will tell you what the agreement is. You not only "may" start showing your property, you have a duty to try to mitigate your loses on the lease. They are going to owe you some amount of damages for leaving the lease early which you can charge against their security deposit (which is probably forfeit under the lease) and you can get a judgment against them for the rest.

They can not go back and forth on you. They don't get to notify you that they are leaving and then change their mind without your permission. If they do change their mind they need your permission to stay. Show the home with confidence. Your availability date is the only real question.