2 bed apt - new tenants pull out last minute

trihead

Hi,

Hope someone can give me some advice on this...

Existing tenant ended his lease after 1 year. No problem there - few days before moving out he mentioned 2 friends who were interested in apt.
We were put in touch and communicated via email. Agreement was made for one year lease starting on a particular date. Keys were transferred to them giving them a 'free week' before the official start date kicked in.

ID and references were received.
First month and deposit paid.
Leases were posted to them to sign and return. This was not returned before I got the update from them below.

They contacted me on the weekend before the official start date.
They have had keys for week at this stage though they had not moved in as far as I am aware.
One of them has been offered job abroad they want to / needs to cancel the lease. This is tough for one of them who has been let down by their friend but I shouldn't be out of pocket for it.

Should they forfeit the first months rent? They get the deposit returned.
Is this the fairest / legal thing to do or should they get all of they money back ( deposit and first months rents). One of them has suggested this? I don't agree with this. Although there is no signed lease we have email communication with one year lease etc agreed.

thanks for any help

ps- I could not get access to PRTB site to search for this issue.

ps - it is outside dublin so lower rent

Baby01032012

The legal thing to do is advertise it again without delay and relet it. Deduct cost of advertisement and if you must any days lost until relet.

However in fairness I would return both deposit and first months rent. I've had to do this recently. Even when tenant has signed contract.
It goes with being a landlord. The rental market is good, you'll have it relet in no time. They didn't deliberately set out not to take the lease. Circumstances changed. That's life. Better that they didn't take it than they stay a month or two then leave and possibly not pay rent.

Return all money. Write it off to experience. Be the bigger person.

3DataModem

I'd either give it all back or keep a couple hundred for re-advertising, depending on how genuine you thought it was.

zef

You are right, you shouldn't be out of pocket for it, but If they have not lived there I would just deduct what this mishap is costing you- which really is advertising costs, and maybe a weeks rent for the combination of the week they had the keys and the extra week it will take you to get new people in. You could take a lot more I'm sure- perhaps even forfeit their deposit but thats a bit harsh in my opinion.
If it's in a City you should have no bother letting again quickly anyway.

edanto

Just be as up-front with these two people as they have been with you.

Recognise that this is mixed luck; initially it was good luck to find potential tenants without any searching/cleaning, but obviously now that luck has changed (for you and them). Get the place clean, get the ad up, see how soon you can get someone in.

If you end up with an empty place for a while, but are working hard to fill it, then it would seem reasonable to use some of their 1st months rent because of the very short notice they are giving you. It doesn't seem fair to use any of their money for advertising or other pre-rental costs since you have not paid those costs this time around.

I think Baby01032012 above is spot on.

_Kaiser_

I looked at a place that I initially thought would do for my needs, and paid the deposit to secure - but then a few days later got a callback on a bigger place for not much more.

Told the first person immediately, apologised and told them to keep the money - not that I was flush with cash, but it seemed only fair.

trihead

Thanks for all the replies.

Much appreciated!!

Carawaystick

trihead wrote: »

One of them has been offered job abroad they want to / needs to cancel the lease. This is tough for one of them who has been let down by their friend but I shouldn't be out of pocket for it.

Should they forfeit the first months rent? They get the deposit returned.
Is this the fairest / legal thing to do or should they get all of they money back ( deposit and first months rents). One of them has suggested this? I don't agree with this. Although there is no signed lease we have email communication with one year lease etc agreed.

What did the emailed agreement say about cancelling the contract?
What did the signed lease say about this?
Would you have been happy to never get a signed lease back from them, and just allow the tenancy on the email transactions?