Renters not ready to leave

BacktoBack said:

I'm not a landlord. But I suspect most landlords would unknowingly keep part of the security deposit for this type of transgression. It just makes practical sense. Or following the letter of the agreement I suspect they could be charged the entire months rent. Which would you rather as a tenant?

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The whole month seems extreme. You could pro-rate by day and then whatever actual damages incurred because of this delay

It does seem extreme. But I wonder if that's what the agreement states? And why does the landlord have no real rights?

In several states, you are entitled to the entire month's rent after the first day.

CDeacMan said:

The whole month seems extreme. You could pro-rate by day and then whatever actual damages incurred because of this delay

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It's not extreme, it's how leases generally work. After the agreement expires, they usually convert to month-to-month. So if you overstay, you owe an extra month (of course then he would have the right to stay in the house for an extra month too).

It doesn't turn into a day-to-day lease or an hour-to-hour or minute-to-minute. There's no need to pro-rate. But I would tell the guy, look, you now owe me an extra month's rent by the terms of the lease. But throw me $100 or whatever, get out today, and I won't come after you for it.

Have you thought about just moving in with them ?

MysteryMen said:

It's not extreme, it's how leases generally work. After the agreement expires, they usually convert to month-to-month. So if you overstay, you owe an extra month (of course then he would have the right to stay in the house for an extra month too).

It doesn't turn into a day-to-day lease or an hour-to-hour or minute-to-minute. There's no need to pro-rate.

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Except if the tenant gave proper notice, the lease would have terminated on the agreed date. Therefore its less of a tenant/landlord situation, and more of a trespassing situation.

DistrictDeacon said:

Except if the tenant gave proper notice, the lease would have terminated on the agreed date. Therefore its less of a tenant/landlord situation, and more of a trespassing situation.

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Did he give notice? All he said is that he's going to stay an extra day. That doesn't terminate the lease, it extends it for another month. Unless the landlord agreed to the one extra day thing

MysteryMen said:

Did he give notice? All he said is that he's going to stay an extra day. That doesn't terminate the lease, it extends it for another month. Unless the landlord agreed to the one extra day thing

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Unclear. Depends on the meaning of "So I am moving back to Florida. My renters know this and the lease expires today" is.

I told my renters that I was potentially moving back and offered a one month extension. In June. The original lease expired yesterday. They sat on the written extension for a week an a half into July (they had verbally said they were renewing but had not signed). I called them and said I need a signed lease for them to stay and at that point they said they were moving out. I had been willing to let them have the extra month but they declined originally.

They met me this am at 7 with hired movers got almost all of there stuff out. I've rescheduled cleaning and inspection from the am to this afternoon before my flight back

So what's the problem ? Are you trying to get $150 out of them ? Just let it go and be glad they're gone without much extra hassle.


Or call the cops because they haven't cleaned out their pots and pans.

You guys are all mostly wrong.

Unpaid rent can definitely be taken out of a security deposit. If they are in the property after the lease term then they owe you rent typically via one of two scenarios.

1. If you have a good lease, then there is a 'holdover' provision. This would typically state that in the case of them holding over after the term, then rent will be charged at say 150% of the normal rental rate for each day/week of holding over.

2. If no holdover provision, then most states would say that you now have a common law month to month lease or tenancy at will with these clowns, in which case they still owe you the rent at the rate they were paying or a commercially reasonable market rate. Either way, they still owe you money for the time they are staying over, and if they don't pay, you can take it out of their security deposit.

The issue you really have to weigh is the cost and timetable for evictions. In GA for instance you can get an eviction in like 45 days for maybe $1500 in atty fees. No idea in FL but that is what you would need to weigh.

Most likely they will be out in like another week, so your best bet would be to review the lease and then demand rent at the applicable rate, and if they dont pay by the time they are out, then you can deduct said rent from the SD.

You welcome.

Overeager lawyer is overeager.

The tenants moved out in the amount of time it took for you to lay down that sick burn.

Non lawyer pontificator is still wrong though. And he can still (and should) get more cash from them in prorated holdlover rent, if he wants, for his inconvenience.

Its amazing to me that people rent out presumably valuable assets using leases that are either worthless or they dont know the langauge that's in them.

TheTwinAndreBen said:

Non lawyer pontificator is still wrong though. And he can still (and should) get more cash from them in prorated holdlover rent, if he wants, for his inconvenience.

Its amazing to me that people rent out presumably valuable assets using leases that are either worthless or they dont know the langauge that's in them.

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I'm very familiar with the language on standard residential leases, which is why your advice is strange.

The language about security deposits is in the lease, which typically says that it may only be used for damages to the unit. Landlords have a set deadline to return it or to document their damages, which justifies keeping it. The security deposit cannot be used to pay back rent or to collect back rent. Back rent may be collected by a landlord in small claims court based on a pro/rated daily amount.

But, sure, keep the deposit unlawfully and open yourself up to a tenant's lawsuit against you.

Re:eviction - You have to give the parties on the lease notice prior to evicting them, which is either a notice to quit or to pay rent or quit. An eviction, in this case, is like killing a mosquito with a flamethrower, even before you take into consideration how much it will cost the landlord to go to court. Eviction is also going to extend both the landlord's inconvenience and, in the worst case here, the tenant's unlawful stay.

Not worth arguing but you are still wrong. By and large the SD can be used to offset any amounts due and owing under the lease, damages, unpaid rent, fines, whatever.

Your experience may be with CA law, though. Realize CA is probably the most tenant friendly jurisdiction out there, and therefor an extreme, if not the most extreme, outlier in the country, not the norm.

I had a buddy living in a 5k a month Santa Monica condo. His LL was taking the rent money and not paying the mortgage so the place was foreclosed by the Bank. The whole foreclosure and eviction process took over a year, at which time my buddy lived rent free. In GA, and I'm guessing Florida, he would have been out in 60 days tops.

You cant give people LL/Tenant advice based on what goes on in CA.

TheTwinAndreBen said:

Not worth arguing but you are still wrong. By and large the SD can be used to offset any amounts due and owing under the lease, damages, unpaid rent, fines, whatever.

Your experience may be with CA law, though. Realize CA is probably the most tenant friendly jurisdiction out there, and therefor an extreme, if not the most extreme, outlier in the country, not the norm.

I had a buddy living in a 5k a month Santa Monica condo. His LL was taking the rent money and not paying the mortgage so the place was foreclosed by the Bank. The whole foreclosure and eviction process took over a year, at which time my buddy lived rent free. In GA, and I'm guessing Florida, he would have been out in 60 days tops.

You cant give people LL/Tenant advice based on what goes on in CA.

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This happened with my ex-wife. I had a friend of a friend that owned a house he had moved out of and was unable to sell so I introduced them and she moved into his house with handshake lease. About 6 months later he decided to walk away from the loan and told her she could stop paying rent. She lived there for 3 more years rent free and she could probably have stayed even longer. BOA was just sitting on the house with no action. I'm still not sure why she didn't stay until they forced eviction. It was a nice house.

MysteryMen said:

You can probably charge them a full extra month's rent for overstaying, assuming the lease turns into a month-to-month after it expires (check the terms of the lease).

So you could threaten that, say you'll take them to small claims court for it, and then see if they'll settle for a $100 or something (I don't what the rent is)

But I doubt you can take it out of the security deposit

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If the terms go month to month after the lease ends and they stay a day or two after the lease, are they responsible for paying for the entire month? If they don't pay, can that come out of the security deposit?

TheTwinAndreBen said:

Not worth arguing but you are still wrong. By and large the SD can be used to offset any amounts due and owing under the lease, damages, unpaid rent, fines, whatever.

Your experience may be with CA law, though. Realize CA is probably the most tenant friendly jurisdiction out there, and therefor an extreme, if not the most extreme, outlier in the country, not the norm.

I had a buddy living in a 5k a month Santa Monica condo. His LL was taking the rent money and not paying the mortgage so the place was foreclosed by the Bank. The whole foreclosure and eviction process took over a year, at which time my buddy lived rent free. In GA, and I'm guessing Florida, he would have been out in 60 days tops.

You cant give people LL/Tenant advice based on what goes on in CA.

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Yeah, the NC Bar form residential lease includes a right to offset damages resulting from failure to abide by the terms of the lease or pay rent.

The OP should really refer to the terms of the the lease and the state they are in. Who knows what Florida law says or the lease.

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We ended up getting them out the next day inspection showed enough stuff thst after cleaning the deposit is used up.

Ice maker in fridge off. Smoke alarms taken down and not replaced. Custom blinds for sliding g glass doors torn. But they are out.

They also had made keys and access cards (which the hoa was supposed to check with us before issuing). So that they had 8 cards for the pool and clubhouse and 8 extra keys. (Beyond the three they were allowed) all against the lease and the hoa rules. Now just trying to get moved next weekend

bojanglefunk said:

Yeah, the NC Bar form residential lease includes a right to offset damages resulting from failure to abide by the terms of the lease or pay rent.

The OP should really refer to the terms of the the lease and the state they are in. Who knows what Florida law says or the lease.

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A substantial body of anecdotal evidence suggests it contains a statutory prohibition on evicting anyone in jorts.