What if your tenant wants to cancel the lease?

There are many things a landlord should be concerned about, getting the rent on time,maintaining your rental property and of course having a tenant.This sounds like a relatively easy thing in this time of high rental demand,However what if your tenant wants to downscale or move out for any number of reasons before the agreed upon end of the lease.

This could be a potential disaster.That is why it’s a great idea to have a cancellation policy in your lease agreement from the beginning.This will certainly save you many headaches in the future.One of the ways to do this is to state that the tenant is responsible for a certain percentage of the total monies owed for the remainder of the lease.

You could do that or have a fixed cancellation fee, as long as everything is legal and both parties agree ,this could really help you find a quick resolution to a potentially sticky situation.It is probably not a situation that occurs very frequently but it could also work to your advantage, you could then negotiate a completely new rental agreement with a new tenant.

In other cases where there is no such agreement the tenant will be liable for the payment of the rent for the remainder of the lease even after they have moved out if the landlord has been unable to find a replacement tenant.That said a landlord may never receive full rental payment for a property from two different tenants,because one of them will be paying for nothing in return.

The biggest reason a tenant will want to cancel their lease agreement early is because of financial strain and being unable to keep up with the payments.Another reason they may want to cancel their lease is for health reasons related to the specific type of property they rent.For instance ,if for some reason they can no longer climb stairs and their current home is on the second floor and their is no lift.

Job transfers to other cities and the landlords poor maintenance of the property are of course other factors to consider.The landlords maintenance of a property should be up to standard at all times as poor maintenance thereof is also considered a breach of contract on the landlords part,if the tenant can prove this they can cancel their lease without any negative implications for them as tenants.

Alot of times the tenant really doesn’t have any option but to move and there is no reason why you shouldn’t have protected yourself ,and indirectly the tenant , by already having a legal,satisfactory clause in your lease agreement that will resolve these situations smoothly.