My tennant of 2 months texted me this long reason why she has to leave the apartment. She moved in in June stating that her friend would be moving in in August to split the rent. She said her friend backed out on her and that her work hours had been cut "drastically" and she can't even afford to live there with a roommate and and could she move tomorrow and get her deposit back......

I tell her no, the deposit is forfeited because you are breaking your lease, however, if it gets rented soon I would reimburse her for the remainder of the deposit that wasn't used for rent for August and cleaning.

I unfortunately am a bit suspect....maybe she is telling the truth. She said she would leave most of her furniture to make it easier for her (and me), so if I could just give the deposit, she would be out today.

Rent is due today, I texted her that and needed to know what her intentions were. Break lease....forfeit deposit. I think she didn't think it would turn out that way and haven't heard from her again yet.

This is a college town and the apartment is very cute, and I have ads out on the internet so hopefully some students will rent soon since it's a block from the major university in town.

Once upon a time, I had a roommate in the dorms. She decided she wanted to save <5 minutes' walk in the morning, so she changed dorms at Christmas. "I'll leave the carpet for you, because my new roommate already has a carpet," she said. Of course, this was really code for, "I don't want to be bothered moving the carpet, so you can bring it 200 miles to my house at the end of the year."

"She said she would leave most of her furniture to make it easier for her (and me)" is code for, "I don't want to be bothered moving my stuff, so I'm going to leave it behind for you to get rid of."

Don't let her saddle you with her stuff, especially when "the stuff is gone" is a good clue as to whether or not an apartment is occupied or vacant. Either you rent furnished apartments or unfurnished apartments, but if someone says, "I'm just gonna do you a favor," the answer is, "The only favors I need are rent paid on time, take good care of the place, and don't bother the neighbors."

She just texted me and said that she needs a few hours to figure things out, but that she does have the rent money!

In the future, I would stop saying "the deposit is forfeited because you are breaking your lease." That is actually not allowed in most (all?) states.

What you really mean is that she is still fully responsible for the lease until you've rented it to someone else. (Within reason -- most judges won't allow more than 2-3 months, of course.)

In reality, you'll likely be applying the S/D to that -- but, again, it isn't a situation where they are "forfeiting the deposit because they are breaking the lease."

- John...

Yes, it comes down to semantics sometimes. I did indeed tell her that she was fully responsible for the lease and she knows that. If it gets rented soon, then she knows I will give her back the deposit minus any cleaning and outstanding rent.

"I'm leaving my furniture" --code for:

I'm shacking up with somebody who has everything.

I haven't seen what she wants to leave, but I do have my places as furnished as I can because it makes it so much easier for students to move in, especially if they come from a long way away...they don't have to schlep all their furniture to the apartment.

I'll take and keep whatever I deem to be in good condition and is useful. I don't know why she would want to leave anything good behind unless like you said Amy, she is going somewhere else that has everything. Could be that she just doesn't want to bother moving it...we'll see....

Well, she came over and paid her rent! She would like to stay if her hours increase at work, or if she could possibly find a roommate.

I think she might have panicked and wanted to make sure her bases are covered.

There is a PHD student coming over tomorrow to see the place, so I will let her out of the lease if this girl takes it. She has been very cooperative and wants to do the right thing. She said she would take her stuff if I didn't want it...a futon and bureau.

At least the rent is paid for August. We'll see what transpires next.