Tenant Notice To Vacate
I just received a call from a tenant who is stating that his real estate agent claims that if his new job is more than 50 miles away from his current apartment, he can terminate his lease with notice. He has a one year lease that does not terminate until 6/30/04.
I have tried all the sites I could find on the web to see if there was anything out there about this, but I couldn't find anything that addressed it.
Does anyone have any info?
Where are you? This may be a state or local rental ordinance.
Sorry about that...Michigan.
Quote:
On 2003-12-22 14:32, cottle wrote:
I just received a call from a tenant who is stating that his real estate agent claims that if his new job is more than 50 miles away from his current apartment, he can terminate his lease with notice. He has a one year lease that does not terminate until 6/30/04.
I have tried all the sites I could find on the web to see if there was anything out there about this, but I couldn't find anything that addressed it.
Does anyone have any info?
Is the Real Estate Agent the landlord? However, I wouldn't care how far my tenant worked from where he lived as long as the Rent was on time each and every month.
cottle,
I have heard of such law but don't know where it is in effect. You might contact local property management companies and ask or get the name and call the real estate agent that gave your tenant the advice and ask about it.
Where in Michigan?
-Ed
I know some leases contain provisions stating that if a tenant gets transfered more than X number of miles they will release the tenant from the lease; however, I am not sure that it is a "law"
I would check with your attorney or if you do not have a particular attorney any local real estate attorney should know the answer...
In military communities, it is fairly common to include this clause in the language of the lease.
I always called it a job transfer clause, and I was told that it was an outgrowth of the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act. The Act does protect active military members from civil suits for breach of contract incident to their military service, so it seems logical that the military member should be able to break a lease without penalty in the event of a mandatory transfer. I have never tried to verify this information because if the language was in the lease, the language was binding.
Now that I am a landlord, all my leases with military tenants provide for an early termination without penalty. Whether or not it is actually required, I consider it good business for the rental market.
Civilian tenants, I believe, have no such protection in the landlord-tenant statutes. If the tenant needs to break the lease, the landlord is usually required to mitigate the penalty incurred by the tenant. For example, the landlord must make a good faith effort to re-rent the unit as quickly as possible to minimize the tenant's liability for rent loss.[ Edited by DaveT on Date 12/22/2003 ]
Thanks for the help everyone. Let me try to respond to everyone in one reply.
We are in the Upper Peninsula and have a Coast Guard base here. Because of that, we have a lot of military clientel and we do use a military clause for all of our military tenants.
We have an early termination policy in place-which I have already informed the tenant of, but I think they are being told that it doesn't apply to them.
I am in the process of trying to contact the real estate agent who informed them of this "law". I have a feeling that she/he may be a landlord looking for a new tenant and these tenants are young kids.
I have put a call in to our attorney.
If I find anything out, I'll post it here.
Thanks again!
Ok,
First, forget the Real Estate Agent. Next, Look at your contract. If they do not have an out, then they don't have an out. Contracts are contracts, period.
Just be firm with the tenant, tell them that perhaps they should speak with an attorney if they wish to break their contract.
Bottom Line, I would play it as if I was in the right, especially with a lease in force. Make them PROVE to you that there is a law that lets them out of the lease. So far all I see is he said she said.
Goodluck.
Quote:We have an early termination policy in place-which I have already informed the tenant of, but I think they are being told that it doesn't apply to them.cottle,
If you have an early termination policy in place, what is it? Is it stated in your lease?
Is the tenant military? If not, then your lease and your local landlord-tenat law governs in this situation.
If the tenant is military, then the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act overrules your "early termination policy" if your policy could involve a civil suit for breach of contract when the breach is caused by a military transfer.
In the end, you have to decide whether the battle is worth fighting. If you can get a replacement tenant quickly, with minimal cost, then you may want to just release a tenant who does not want your unit any longer.
If you want to be really firm and hold the tenants to the terms of your contract, consider also suing the real estate agent for tortius interference with a contract. Discuss it with your attorney.
I hate being a landlord. But, it comes with the territory. My lease document does not contain any "early out" provision,. That's inconsequential anyway.
I tell each of my tenants (verbally) that if they want to move, if they don't like the area/property/costs/me----etc.etc. I'm not going to hold them to the lease.
I simply require a minimum of 2 months advance notice and complete cooperation with property access so that I can find a tenant who wants to live there.
I then get on to what I do best, investing.
telemon,
There are are laws that effect the terms of the lease that are not within the four corners. We probably get more of that out here than you may. We have cities with egregious rent and eviction control and at the state level, we can no longer give a 30 day notice, it has to be 60.
Since the realtor is the source, it will be of value to all of us to see if there is such a law or if it is a distortion of what is offered to tenants in military service.
Happy Holidays,
Ed
Ed,
I am aware of those laws. The point of my post was that the landlord should make the tenant show him how he can use the law to get out of the lease rather than worry about it and try to chase down a phantom RE agent.
My position would be; "OK, show me the law and we can work it out, but until you do, I am holding you to your lease." Put the onus on the tenant to get the information to you rather than you doing the leg work.
My 2 cents