Can Tenant Return after Moving Out?
I have a tenant that broke her lease and moved out without leaving a forwarding address. She had given me a security deposit before she moved in, but since she did not give me proper notice (and also broke her lease,) I ended up losing rent until I was able to find a new tenant….
I have a tenant that broke her lease and moved out without leaving a forwarding address. She had given me a security deposit before she moved in, but since she did not give me proper notice (and also broke her lease,) I ended up losing rent until I was able to find a new tenant. I was finally able to find a new tenant who has moved in. The old tenant is demanding her deposit back and threatening to move back into her old apt. if I don’t give it to her, claiming she still has a lease for the apt. The amount of rent I lost is more than the amount of the deposit. technically she is the one who owes me money but I don’t want to go through the headache of trying to sue her so I was just going to let it go. Does she have any right to move back into her old apt??
I don’t believe it’s true that she owes you rent the full amount of the lease if you re-rented. You must apply the rent you collected from the new tenant to the remainder of her lease.
It won’t be housing court. It will be small claims court. No lawyers. And yes, if she sues, counter-sue for everything.
P.S. One other thing: If you change the locks on a tenant, that is an illegal eviction. Be sure you can prove this happened after she moved out and took her stuff, just in case. Don’t change the locks now.
Relax. The courts are pretty realistic and fact-based. She owes you the deposit for unpaid back rent — regardless of the eviction issue. If she can’t produce a copy of the rent check you supposedly cashed, she’s got no case. What’s more, I think you can prove she moved out of her own volition because you have witnesses and email, even though the courts don’t love email. A date-stamped photo of the empty apartment would be nice too.
I concur with Slick and NYGuy7: Don’t pay her a cent, let her sue, then you countersue her for unpaid rent.
If it even gets to that point, most likely she’ll settle with you — and sign that lease surrender agreement — before even going before a judge. Be sure to bring printouts and a laptop to court so you can show the emails.
The first thing you should do is mail her an accounting (by registered, certified mail) of what happened with the deposit. She owes you x rent, and you deducted the deposit from it. Keep it short and businesslike.
BTW, the x rent she owes you is the FULL AMOUNT of the lease (minus the months she paid you). Under New York law, that’s what she owes you even though you got another tenant. That’s important — maybe it will scare her into not pursuing this further. Maybe she doesn’t realize deposit can be kept as rent. Or maybe this is a scam.
It’s possible she could have a free lawyer up her sleeve (relative, insurance) but very unlikely.
Good luck. And don’t sweat it.
Legal Aid has more real and compelling cases than they can even accept–I doubt anyone there is going to use their limited and precious time with your former tenant.
Good luck!
No, I never changed the locks to the apt. itself since i wasn’t changing the locks because of her but for another reason, I only changed the front door lock.
Can’t someone get a free lawyer from legal aid?
Since you’ve changed the locks there’s no way she can get into the building unless someone lets her in and I assume you changed the locks on the apartment she used to rent too. Frankly it sounds like she’s making threats to scare you into giving her the deposit back.
It’ll cost her more in lawyer fees to sue you than the deposit is probably worth. Plus if she’s claiming she was still renting the apartment then she’s kind of admitting she should still be paying you rent when she obviously hasn’t.
Ok, I have to ask. I clicked on your profile. Is this the same tenant you asked about back in December?
my opinion….
dont give anything. if she sues, hire an attorney and countersue for unpaid rent.
she moved. she knows it, you know it and the court will know it. can’t you track the certified letter, however, to see if she received it? usps.com and put in the tracking number. she is entitled to nothing and the fact that you had to change the locks, an additional expense for you, means that no security deposit should be returned. in fact, you could sue her for your expenses, but i wouldn’t waste time doing this.