For those who do not have an early lease termination fee in their lease, here is my recent experience. Tenant signed lease 8 months ago. At time of lease signing, I explained the ELT and how it was advantageous to her if she got a job out of state. Well, she got promoted. Moved out of state. She paid December rent, moved out in early December, and paid the ELT and thanked me for being so flexible. She thanked me (and paid me) for helping her get out of a contract to make a stressful time in her life less stressful. I even suggested, she may be able to get her new job to pay for it or reimburse her. She thanked me again. I understand that not everyone will pay but in today's world of early termination fees for cell phones and internet services, many people now expect there to be a fee. Plus, even if they dont pay, and you go to court, it gives the Judge guidance of what your damages.

CGB,

Congrats! ANd congrats on being here to learn ways to increase your income while helping residents.

Thanks for posting this and esp how she PAID and THANKED YOU!! There are still plenty of unbelievers here.

We’ve NEVER had someone not pay.

I agree with everything you said except the last sentence. In my opinion, if most ELTs "go to court", the judge will simply throw it out.

It's great when people just pay them -- and that is the whole plan/hope. But the reality is that I don't think most of them would float in court in Michigan.

But, yes, the goal is that they pay and it never comes to that. :)

- John...

I love the Early Lease Buy Out Fee!

I should clarify that I also like and use them. I just don't think they'd hold up well in court. :)

- John...

I actually disagree that they won’t hold up in court.

If the tenant chooses to leave mid-contract, so long as the ELT Fee isn’t the full year or a crazy amount, I see no reason they would not. The cell providers, cable providers, etc, all have early termination fees, and our is no different.

In fact, I have even had a couple of students who got their new employers to pay them on their behalf as part of their hiring and moving package.

I have collected several ETF and think they work well as an option to terminate the contract early.

Just last moth, I had a tenants move out early, so I filed a petition for breach of contract, for early termination fees and the tenant filed BK on me.

Barb: Most states have pretty specific laws against landlords being able to "double-dip". To be able to collect a termination fee equal to a month or two (or more?) of rent -- and then re-rent within that timeframe and get paid for it again.

The suggestion above was that if someone did NOT pay and you had to go to court, that the judge would use that ELT figure in some way.

I still maintain that that would be incredibly unlikely to happen. I think most judges would follow the normal situation of allowing the LL only to collect what they lost out on in rent -- meaning until they get it re-rented.

- John...

Our association lease gives them a choice of paying the ETF or staying on the hook until a replacement can be found ath there cost.

Suddenly the ETF seems real appealing since it is a sure thing for them.