I have a female tenant of 2 years who has been an excellent tenant so far,... but she pulled a fast one on me last Thursday which caught me by surprise.

On September 30th she sends a text saying she is buying a house and will be moved out of my house by October the 8th. (My lease says a 30 day notice is required). I then send her a text on October 1st and that said "October rent?" . Then she gets sassy with me and says "I am only going to be here for another week". I protested further and finally she says " you can keep my deposit and we will call it even,..how about that?" I just said 'ok' and just left it at that.

The above LL/Tenant exchange all happened in a few 'back and forth' text messages. Since I hate texting, I surrendered early and just accepted her offer of her deposit.

I send the portion of the lease that addresses the issue.

Lets not go overboard here just yet,...it is just the 4th day and I usually don't post P/Q notices until the 7th. In her case, I will give her the benefit of the doubt and see if she actually moves out this weekend. If she does not, then all bets are off and I will post her on Monday. Right now I am still on good terms with her since I agreed to her deposit offer. I want to keep the lines of communication open and positive until I can get possession of the house. Right now, she has the upper hand because she still has possession.

I would have simply pointed to your lease clause that says the deposit is not to be used to pay the last month's rent (you do have that clause, don't you?). I would have said I expected the October rent.

If the damages end up being anything more than 0, you are eating the balance...not good.

Plenty

State law says I can not charge more than a month's rent for a deposit, however, I am thinking about breaking this law and doing it anyway for obvious reasons here. Also, state LL/|tenant law says I have 45 days to return the deposit accounting statement.

How I would have handled this:

Reply text: Thank you for letting me know.

Send her an email with "Congratulations on your new home purchase"

I have received your notice by text that you will be vacating (address) on (date).

This is sufficient notice for you to vacate and the rental agreement to end on October 31, 2022. [copy/paste sections of the rental agreement]

Your security deposit will be returned to you according to state law.

Please remember it can only be used to pay for damages after vacating [copy/paste sections of the rental agreement], so the normal rent of $XX.00 must be paid on to before Oct 1st as usual.

Provide your forwarding address for prompt return of the security deposit.

Correction:

Roy at this point I'd let sleeping dogs alone. When she moves and if there are damages bring it up then. But if she really isn't gone in a week would you rather post or keep her?

Roy,

Unrelated to this tenant...but you mention that state law prohibits you from charging more than one month for a SD. What about this in your next lease...

"SD is equivalent to one month's rent and = $______. Also there is an "exit cleaning fee" of $____. This fee will be returned to tenant so long as the house is cleaned to the same condition as when the tenant moved in. A checklist of items that must be cleaned is included later in this lease."

The exit cleaning fee is not a deposit, but rather an upfront fee that you collect in case they do not clean...and cleaning is not something you can charge damages for. You could make this fee whatever you like...ours varies from $150 to $250 depending on the size of the house.

Small potatoes - Yes on sleeping dogs. I would not mind keeping her as a tenant if she decided to not move. We are still on good terms and on Friday I am going to make a surprise visit on her. She works the graveyard shift and sleeps during the day, so I may have to wake her up. She gave me a surprise last week (via texting) and on Friday I am going to give her one by showing up unannounced.

Roy, just don’t call it a cleaning deposit…call it a “fee”. If your concerned about the law, just reword it….

I would stick to my lease, as I always do.

Tenants do not dictate terms to me like this woman did to you. We stick to the lease.

There's no point having a lease if you're not going to follow through. Just do a spit-shake verbal agreement and let the chips fall where they may.

Again, though, this issue along with others recently posted all go back to tenant screening. When you only accept the right tenants, they have a vested interest in doing what it right by you. They pay on time, all the time. They don't play silly games. They treat you well because that's who they are and they expect to treat others as they would like to be treated.

RB's advice applies here: screen 3x the effort.

* No more than 1 charge off on credit report within past 3 years

* No bankruptcies (discharged or not) within past 3 years

* Solid, stable income... GARNISHEABLE is REQUIRED

* Minimum 3x the income take home pay + $500 of discretionary income (i.e. not taken up by payments/rent) per adult

* Positive current and past LL reference - 1st time renter may do double security deposit or co-signer

* Reasonably clear criminal background

* Cooperative

* Passes the 2 minute in home inspection

When I follow these criteria, I've NEVER had to evict or play dumb move-out games. When I've gotten sloppy or "let people slide"... I end up with problems.

It's funny how we sometimes think we got to get someone in there paying rent... but one missed month's payment on a year lease effectively eats up most of the profit.

I would respond a second time something like this:

"Miss Tenant, I apologize but I was not on my medication yesterday when I answered you. Our lease and Georgia State Law doesn't allow us to accept the deposit for anything that's due on your lease until after the lease ends, and rent is due now. So we have to have this month's rent paid on time as always, or we will take action specified in our lease. Late fees are adding on and will continue to increase until all funds due are paid in full. Please forward a copy of your receipt as soon as it's paid. We don't want to have to move forward with legal action. All the Best, The Management"

If she's really buying a house (doubtful), you can easily find her, drag her into court, and attach a lien. But me and a 12 pack of Coors says she's blowing smoke up your shirt.

"Alabama landlords can charge no more than one month's rent as a security deposit. However, this deposit does not include pet deposits, deposits to cover undoing tenant's alterations, or deposits to cover tenant activities that pose increased liability risks. (Ala. Code § 35-9A-201 (2022).)"

"OR DEPOSITS TO COVER TENANT ACTIVITIES THAT POSE INCREASED LIABILITY RISKS..."

WMH,

I will need to go back and re-read that AL code # you posted. AL LL/Tenant laws only say 'so much (or little)" and then leave you hanging for an additional explanation or who was the AL idiot that wrote that sentence.

"undoing a tenant's alterations" that is something I need a double deposit for. Like unauthorized interior painting which happens mostly with the D hood tenants.

Roy, if what you say is true then I've got nothing for you. I only rent to tenants who understand and abide by the lease. I only invest in areas where the law is known for enforcing private property rights and contracts. You're probably correct that you shouldn't use a lease if no one will read it or enforce it. Just take a fistful of cash from the first breathing soul to darken the doorstep and see what happens. That type of investing is not my cup of tea, but it sounds like you must either do that or sell and invest elsewhere.

Now... let's talk turkey: Are you sure this is true, or are you just feeling beat up by half-butt tenants and DIYing everything?

No surprise visits. You have to give your proper notice.

Oregon,

Are you telling me I can't knock on the front door like anyone else can? And the courts here do not allow tenants to do as they please. Your interpretation of what I said is totally off base here.

I agree with Deanna. I had a tenant say this and "you can go after me if you want but I'm filing bankruptcy." He left with less than 30 days notice and didn't pay the last month's rent. And yes, he filed bankruptcy so the amount due fell on his ex-wife who hasn't paid a cent.

Mapleleaf

frank, true but he actually DID go through with it. He and his dirtbag father showed up at the small claims court judgement hearing "just in case" I name them as a party. they were waiving their discharge papers which I already knew about.

He was stupid enough to tell his ex-wife about the court hearing and she showed up. I got a judgement against her for what it's worth (not much)

I also got threatening notifications from his two bit attorney (who uses a yahoo email address--can't spend the dough to get his own domain) letting me know the law. (insert eye roll)

Hoosier, yes that can happen if you have good timing but in this case, because of the wuflu, I could not get a court date to get a judgement on them BEFORE he completed his bankruptcy.