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  1. #1

    Default What Can a Landlord Do After a Tenant Breaks a Lease

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

    Tenant broke 6 month lease and now does not want to pay me. Tenant has 6 month lease that runs thru February. They just moved out on me. They have not paid the water bill since they have lived there nor 2 month of utilities. Also owe one week of rent. It is all stated in lease that they are to pay this. Now I am stuck because I kept them in my name and they were to pay me. In October they informed me that the heating did not work. I offered to have it looked at but they did not want me having someone come in when they were not home nor would they take time off of work to have someone look at it. They said that they would get heaters to take care of it. I have the text messages where I offered heaters to them and they said they would take care of it. Indiana has not been that cold. They also had a dog in the apartment when the lease said no pets. Now they are saying that they could break the lease (3 months remaining) and do not have to pay those bills that I could take it out of their security deposit. Security deposit was $400 and the bills are $512 without the $1200 for the 3 remaining months on the lease. BTW, they moved back with parents as they could not afford. Lost jobs because they were arrested for selling pills.

    What can I say to them and can I sue for the $1712 plus Court costs and interest?
    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    16,474

    Default Re: Tenant Breaking Lease

    Quote Quoting inmom
    View Post
    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Indiana

    Tenant broke 6 month lease and now does not want to pay me. Tenant has 6 month lease that runs thru February. They just moved out on me. They have not paid the water bill since they have lived there nor 2 month of utilities. Also owe one week of rent. It is all stated in lease that they are to pay this. Now I am stuck because I kept them in my name and they were to pay me. In October they informed me that the heating did not work. I offered to have it looked at but they did not want me having someone come in when they were not home nor would they take time off of work to have someone look at it. They said that they would get heaters to take care of it. I have the text messages where I offered heaters to them and they said they would take care of it. Indiana has not been that cold. They also had a dog in the apartment when the lease said no pets. Now they are saying that they could break the lease (3 months remaining) and do not have to pay those bills that I could take it out of their security deposit. Security deposit was $400 and the bills are $512 without the $1200 for the 3 remaining months on the lease. BTW, they moved back with parents as they could not afford. Lost jobs because they were arrested for selling pills.

    What can I say to them and can I sue for the $1712 plus Court costs and interest?
    Thanks.
    You have to attempt to re-rent the unit to mitigate damages before you sue them. If the heat is really not working that is problematic for you.
    Realistically though, if they lost their jobs how do you think that you are going to actually collect any judgment that you might win?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Posts
    1,026

    Default Re: Tenant Breaking Lease

    "What can I say to them and can I sue for the $1712 plus Court costs and interest?"

    Why would you say anything further to them? They aren't going to pay you what they owe.

    Yes; you could sue them for the current owed rent and utility bills (minus their security deposit). If you win the court typically orders that they cover court costs. Interest? Forget it.

    While they have no jobs now this does not mean they will not have them in the future. You would need to research whether your state allows wage garnishment if you were to win your judgment against them.

    Gail

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    18,340

    Default Re: What Can a Landlord Do After a Tenant Breaks a Lease

    You are apparently a rank amateur at being a landlord and you should sell the place and get out of the landlord business.

    Here's why.

    Quote Quoting inmom
    View Post

    Tenant broke 6 month lease and now does not want to pay me. Tenant has 6 month lease that runs thru February. They just moved out on me. They have not paid the water bill since they have lived there nor 2 month of utilities. Also owe one week of rent. It is all stated in lease that they are to pay this.
    Amateur mistake number 1:

    You should have served them a pay or quit notice the absolute minute that they failed to pay what they were supposed when they were supposed to pay it and follow up with an eviction in court when the deadline of the pay or quit notice came and went.

    Quote Quoting inmom
    View Post

    Now I am stuck because I kept them in my name and they were to pay me.
    Amateur mistake number 2:

    NEVER keep the utilities in your own name. Put it in your lease that the tenants get the accounts set up in their own name by the time they take possession and that you are taking the accounts out of your name the day before possession.

    Quote Quoting inmom
    View Post

    Also owe one week of rent.
    Amateur mistake number 3:

    Always serve your pay or quit notice immediately the day after the day a tenant defaults on rent.

    Quote Quoting inmom
    View Post

    In October they informed me that the heating did not work. I offered to have it looked at
    Amateur mistake number 4:

    You don't OFFER to have it looked at. You say "I'll have a repairman come over today." Then you call a repairman and just get it done.

    Quote Quoting inmom
    View Post

    they did not want me having someone come in when they were not home nor would they take time off of work to have someone look at it.
    Amateur mistake number 5:

    That's not their option. It's your option. You get it fixed immediately upon learning that it's not working and YOU tell them when your repairman is going to be at the house fixing it, whether they are there or not. If they don't want somebody there when they are not home, they WILL be there when you tell them when the repairman will be there., you can bet on it.

    Quote Quoting inmom
    View Post

    They said that they would get heaters to take care of it. I have the text messages where I offered heaters to them and they said they would take care of it.
    Amateur mistake number 6:

    NEVER rely on a tenant to do anything to absolve you of your statutory obligations, no matter what they say.

    Quote Quoting inmom
    View Post

    They also had a dog in the apartment when the lease said no pets.
    Amateur mistake number 7:

    You should have served the pay or quit notice for that the minute you discovered that they breached the lease by having the dog there.

    Quote Quoting inmom
    View Post
    Now they are saying that they could break the lease (3 months remaining) and do not have to pay those bills that I could take it out of their security deposit.
    Amateur mistake number 8:

    Never take legal advice from the enemy.

    Quote Quoting inmom
    View Post
    Security deposit was $400
    Amateur mistake number 9:

    Always get a security deposit of 1 1/2 months rent (at least).

    Quote Quoting inmom
    View Post
    the bills are $512 without the $1200 for the 3 remaining months on the lease.
    As already pointed out you must mitigate your damages by rerenting as soon as reasonable possible and then they will only owe you for the interval from the move out date to the rerent date. If you don't mitigate they can use that against you in court along with claiming that the defective heater was constructive eviction.

    Quote Quoting inmom
    View Post
    BTW, they moved back with parents as they could not afford. Lost jobs because they were arrested for selling pills.
    Irrelevant with regard to your decision to sue them or not.

    Although with the heater issue a judge might rule that they had good reason to move out. In case you are wondering, there is probably something in your state's landlord tenant statutes that says you can't accept a tenant's waiver of your own obligations.

    You might just want to consider accepting this fiasco and consider it a life lesson from the school of hard knocks and learn from your mistakes if you plan on continuing to own the rental.

    Meantime, here is the Indiana landlord tenant statute in case you haven't bothered to study it yet:

    http://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/...32/article-31/

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