Signed Lease but Tenant Says They Arent Moving in

[dtaylo13]

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Indiana

I have a home for rent and signed a lease with tenants. Prior to moving in they tell me they are no longer wish to move in because the house will be too large to clean (it is only a 1100 sq ft house). I have not collected a deposit or rent yet, but now I have to find other tenants. Do they have to pay me a fee to break the lease? Can I take them to court for a judgement?

thanks

[antrc170]

Look for new tenants. The time it takes between when the old lease starts and the new one begins is recoverable. For example, if the old lease starts Aug 1 and you find tenants Aug 15, you can expect to recover 1/2 months rent on the old lease. You can certify a copy of the fees owed to the people, but realistically you'd need to go to court to get a judgement since I doubt they would willingly pay. Plus you can recover whatever penalty clause is built into the lease.

[SChinFChin]

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Indiana

I have a home for rent and signed a lease with tenants. Prior to moving in they tell me they are no longer wish to move in because the house will be too large to clean (it is only a 1100 sq ft house). I have not collected a deposit or rent yet, but now I have to find other tenants. Do they have to pay me a fee to break the lease? Can I take them to court for a judgement?

thanks

Nobody gets a signed lease from me unless they have paid at least a month's deposit. If the lease starts on the 1st, I expect the first months rent on the first or the day before. Then sometimes I tell them I give them the keys when they pay all or part of the first months rent. I also include a clause that says "lease is not operative until receipt of a months deposit and the first months rent". Sometimes, tenants hang you up to the last minute, and if you received nothing, someone else want to pay you more, you can go for it, telling the procrastinator that time is up.

What happens in cases such as yours is the tenant may have just found something a bit cheaper, since he paid you nothing, decide to go for it, and left you holding the bag, figuring it's too much trouble for you to sue. Too big to clean is BS. Personally, I think it's a bit much to spend an evening down in small claims, got enough to do managing rentals, though I've been to small claims a few times when other people didn't think it was too much trouble to sue me.