Apartment and Rental Properties - Broken Lease

"Hello everyone,
I just found out tonight that the people who said they would lease my property for one year, no longer want to lease it. Here is the whole situation. I went into a one year lease agreement starting June 1st 2007 now today, I get an e-mail from the tenant that they will be terminating the lease as of July 31st 2007. On June 1st, they paid 1st months rent, security deposit, and a pet deposit. My question is, what are they still liable for? By the way, they have not paid for Julys rent as of yet.

Thank You very much

In simple terms, they are liable for whatever your lease agreement says they are liable.

If your agreement doesn't outline what happens when a lease is broken, you are pretty much SOL, and shouldn't enter another lease until the agreement is updated to include same.

Most agreements state that the tenant is responsible for the term of the lease. Meaning if it's a 12 month lease and they move out in six months, they still owe the remaining 6 months. However, most places (by law) also require that you make an effort to re-rent the place and only collect the difference. If it takes you 30 days to re-rent, then the old tenant only owes for the month the place wasn't rented. Time to prep the unit for re-renting is not included in that time. If your area requires the unit be repainted and it takes you two weeks to repaint, that is not the fault of the prior tenant, and it is time that unit would have been unrentable regardless of when they moved out.

Our leases state specifically that the tenant is liable for the entire lease amount, regardless of whether they live there that long. We are required to make a good faith effort to rerent on their behalf. We also are allowed to charge 1/2 month's rent for the hassle we incur.

The Lease does not specifically spell out early termination, but it does say " the lessee will rent the following property together with all appurtences for a term of one year, to commence on June 1 2007 and to end on June 1 2008." Would that suffice, or does it specifically have say if they move out early, they are responsible for the whole years rent. I guess, would I have a chance in court to collect the amount of months that I am unable to rent it out. I don't want to go to court, but I do not want to lose money either.

Thanks

Go to court or write off the money - your call. They are liable for the full term, but you are required to put forth a reasonable effort to get it rerented.

"Hello everyone,
I just found out tonight that the people who said they would lease my property for one year, no longer want to lease it. Here is the whole situation. I went into a one year lease agreement starting June 1st 2007 now today, I get an e-mail from the tenant that they will be terminating the lease as of July 31st 2007. On June 1st, they paid 1st months rent, security deposit, and a pet deposit. My question is, what are they still liable for? By the way, they have not paid for Julys rent as of yet.

Thank You very much

What sort of lease agreement do you use? One drafted by a real estate lawyer? I once had one tell me that 90% of residential lease agreements are flawed and can be gotten out of. "Breaking" a lease is usually a misnomer in such cases because you can't break something that's so flawed it's not enforceable in the first place.

This seems like it is never ending. Another question, do I need to get the perspective tenants written permission to run a credit check. I had them fill out a rental application with all the pertinent information, and now they are upset that that I ran a credit check on them. Are all renters like this or did I just get some bad luck.

Thanks

Absolutely you must get permission to run a credit or background check!
Failing to do so could subject you to numerous penalties.

The argument can also be made that, as you are not extending credit, offering employment, or issuing/renewing insurance, that you have no legitimate business need for such a credit report.

I disagree whole heartedly with pendragon on this one.

A credit report is not meant for only those extending credit. It is a record of ones financial past. Poor credit scores generally mean they do not pay their bills. This directly affects a landlord and is extremely pertinent to the situation.

as far as what a tenant who breaks their lease;

it is very state dependant on what you must do to mitigate your damages and what you can keep or collect as a result of the termination.

In general terms, a lease is a contract fro a specified period of time with specific terms. As with financial contracts of this sort, you are allowed ot depend on that income. If the contract is broken, you generally get to seek damages (lost rent) for the remaining period of the lease. Now, depending on what state is involved, you are typically required to attempt to re-lease the property to mitigate (reduce) your damages. Most states are very strict about this, some (few) very lax. Advertising expenses are often allowed as damages as well.

If you are going to be a landlord, it would be of great benefit to you to read and understand your states tenant/landlord laws. If you post the state involved, I, or somebody else, can provide a link to your states statutes concerning tenant/ll.

I am rent the property in Georgia. I guess the question still stands, is a rental application permission to check credit or do I specifically ask for permission to check their credit.

Thanks everyone.

By the way, it looks as if I might have someone who is already interested, but since the current tenant is in the process of being between Georgia and Virginia, I might not be able to to show the propertytill the end of the month. What would you guys do?

Thanks again

a publication from the state of Georgia:
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/housing/HousingDevelopment/programs/downloads/landlord/contents.html

a link to the laws of Georgia concerning landlord tenant relations.

http://www.lexis-nexis.com/hottopics/gacode/default.asp

it is Title 44 chapter 7. It would do you good to read through both of the linked material.

In the first link, it does state it is acceptable to have a prospective tenant sign a release for a credit check. To me, that would infer a specific release to do so is required.

as far as showing the property; read the laws as to what the requirements are as far as youentering the property. Everything you need to knwo is contained inthe above links. After that it is only interpretation.

You would also have a hard time getting a tenant to pay anything over 60 days rent regardless of what the lease says. A judge will not grant the lessor that money when they know they can occupy that apartment within 30-60 days.

I know this because my old landlord tried to pull this one on me. I moved into an apartment in November (years and years ago) and got military orders to transfer in January.

I gave them a 30 day notice and paid them that months rent.

Months later, I noticed they had slapped a couple thousand $$ collection debt on my credit report. They also tried to keep my security deposit but the judge got me that back.

I finally got the debt collector off my back when I showed them a copy of the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act.

many states, and possibly federal rules, allow active military some special allowances if the soldier is transferred by the military.

which I see you have already referrenced.

Different states allow different situations. If housing remains empty for the length of the lease and the LL can prove they took adequate steps to procure new tenants, the states that allow the entire lease to be sued for will give that.

As a matter of fact, many apartment complexes play the game that when they haveral several open apartments and they have a tenant break their lease, their apartment is the last one to be rented out so the management can collect the lease money.

I haven;t read the Georgia statutes so I cannot comment on Georgia specifically. OP needs to do that.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (the federal law that would control your current request) indicates that you MUST get permission to obtain a credit report UNLESS you are renewing an already outstanding extension of credit or insurance. You are doing neither, and must therefore get permission, and must provide said permission to the agency with whom you are obtaining the report.

Likewise, as already mentioned, a credit report may be requested for extension of credit, insurance, or an offer of employment or other 'legitimate business need'. NO WHERE in the FCRA does it say or imply that a landlord has a legitimate business need.

That's not to say you cannot request permission to obtain one, but you may not obtain one without said permission.

It's much like social security numbers, there are very few places that may legally demand your SSN (the IRS for example). Yet there are hundreds that ask for it. Don't give it, and they don't have to do business with you. Got a potential tenant that doesn't want you to run a credit report, don't rent to them. You do NOT have the authority however to obtain their credit report without their explicit permission and are subject to civil (and possibly criminal) penalties for doing so, should the victim choose to pursue it.


For HotInOKC, the law provides some very specific protections for military members, someone doing business with a service member would do well do find out what those are.

Likewise, as already mentioned, a credit report may be requested for extension of credit, insurance, or an offer of employment or other 'legitimate business need'. NO WHERE in the FCRA does it say or imply that a landlord has a legitimate business need.
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obtaining credit history due to a rental app is considered a "legitimate business need". It is doen all across the country is situations such as this. As well, georgia state law addresses this issue, which I have posted previously.

The FCRA does not prohibit the request by the statement you yourself provided Pen.

As long and the LL has prospective tenant sign a request acknowledgement, LL is good to go with the credit report.

and you are correct, if the tenant does not wish to provide authorization, the LL is legally allowed to exclude their application.

If the request for a SS number is not supported by law, whatever the situation is cannot be denied due to that refusal. In this case, it is legal to require a credit report authorization as part of the appliction.

>The FCRA does not prohibit the request by the statement you yourself provided Pen.

Nor did I say it did, however you cannot simply go obtaining credit reports at will without the subjects permission, that's a good thing, or anyone could request a credit report on anyone else.

What I said was that the argument could be made that there is no legitimate business need for the report, because the requester is not engaged in one of the _stated_ positions that the law supports as a need.
There are plenty of re-sellers out there that could care less what you are going to use the report for, as long as your check clears.

> If the request for a SS number is not supported by law, whatever the situation is cannot be denied due to that refusal.

That is incorrect. A business can 'require' just about anything they want, and if you don't provide it, refuse to do business with you, provided that denial is not based on one of the protected 'classes' (race, color, creed, national origin, sex, etc).

I could require you to give me your middle name and phone number to shop in my store, and if you don't want to give them, then you don't get to shop in my store.

In the end, the OP's question has been answered. Permission is required from the subject of the report before you may obtain one unless you are engaged in extending or renewing insurance.

That is incorrect. A business can 'require' just about anything they want, and if you don't provide it, refuse to do business with you, provided that denial is not based on one of the protected 'classes' (race, color, creed, national origin, sex, etc).
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I stand corrected.

A government agency cannot refuse service for failure to provide a SSN unless there is a legitimate justification for it. The acceptable reasons have been already determined.

A private agancy can require disclosure although several states are taking action to stop that practice.
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In the end, the OP's question has been answered. Permission is required from the subject of the report before you may obtain one unless you are engaged in extending or renewing insurance.



Uh, ya. that was taken care of yesterday.

As a owner of over 200 apartments in GA, I can tell you any landlord that knows what they are doing will have in the application a statement that clearly says that you are giving permission to run their credit. Also we charge $25 with all applications to cover the cost of running credit.

We don't do it, but I've heard running a credit check and charging a fee to the applicant for it really weeds out the deadbeats because they won't bother to pay you for it in the first place.

As a owner of over 200 apartments in GA, I can tell you any landlord that knows what they are doing will have in the application a statement that clearly says that you are giving permission to run their credit. Also we charge $25 with all applications to cover the cost of running credit.

Ditto same here in CA. In fact right under that statement is a place for the applicant to SIGN and DATE it. If the application is not signed and the application fee not included with the application it will not be run. That is stated right on the application. In Red font. Tell me again applicant how you didn't see that? Heh.

Of course a LL has the right to do a credit check. You are after all intrusting the tenant with your property that is valued at least several hundred thousand dollars worth.
Here in CA that is. Mileage may vary from state to state.

Will you be able to get a loan for a house or a car with out a
credit check? No not unless you pay for it by credit card. To get that FIRST credit card you had to have a credit check.
If you are not making your credit card payments do you think that the credit card company is not going to run your credit?
They sure are. You signed a agreement. It's in there that they can run a credit report on you. Why shouldn't a LL be able to do the same thing?