Does a Tenant Owe Rent After Breaking a Lease if a New Tenant Moves In
My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: New York
If tenant break lease and moves out without written early termination agreement but the premise is filled by new tenant immediately. No vacancy between the dates when old tenant moves out and when new tenant moves in. Is it possible for landlord to collect rents from old tenant for the remaining period of the lease she signed? That is, while collecting the same amount of monthly rent or more from the new tenant? Must the landlord return deposit to old tenant?
Thank you for your answers
Re: Does a Tenant Owe Rent After Breaking a Lease if a New Tenant Moves In
It's a bit odd that a vacancy would be filled "immediately" by a new tenant when the previous tenant breaks the lease and moves out without a written termination notice. However, if the landlord has lost no rent between these two periods of time, the previous tenant no longer owes rent.
And yes, the landlord must return the security deposit to the old tenant minus any funds held for damages above normal wear and tear. In addition, if the landlord incurred any additional advertising costs to rerent the unit because of the previous tenant breaking the lease and skeedadling, it could certainly be argued that the funds for such can come out of the security deposit.
Gail
Re: Does a Tenant Owe Rent After Breaking a Lease if a New Tenant Moves In
Agree.
If you suffer no monetary damages from the breach, you don't get any money from the previous tenant and you do have to return the deposit.
A basic doctrine of contract law is that the aggrieved party does not profit from the other party's breach and only gets compensated for his actual monetary loss.
If the loss is zero then the compensation is zero.