This is about as close as is gets at GW to a section remotely for a landlord question ;) You are absolutely right, you will have a tough time renting in Feb. I had a tenant bail on me in late Nov once, by sheer luck I found a senior couple w/no kids who wanted to move in January. Otherwise the prospects were not there. I always renew my leases in warm weather (typically May/June) for that reason. Kids out of school for the summer, easier to move, etc. Yes, absolutely keep his deposit. (I normally wouldn't add this to a landlord but since you're asking if you can keep it: double check the language on your lease to make sure it includes breaking the lease, lost rents, and not damages alone. If you used a preprinted form then breaking the contract will be covered.) If he leaves you will need to send a Termination of Lease Notice (send it Certified w/signature required and hand-deliver a copy as well). If he rejects the Certified and it comes back to you, keep it in your files unopened. State in the Notice that you're retaining his Deposit for breach of contract and lost rental income, then list the date the lease ended and the early date he bailed out. (If you need a sample form to use click on my ID and email me, I'll send you one.) Technically, not only can you keep his deposit, he owes you rent till the end of the term of the lease (a binding contract), even if he's not living there. That would mean going to court to collect. If you did manage to continue collecting even if he bails, a landlord is expected to re-rent so you could only hold him liable for rents owed up until the day you get the unit occupied with a new tenant and start collecting rents from new tenant. (Can't collect double rents.) Can you at least get him to hold off till March or April? Consider letting him pay Feb in installments or at a reduced rate? If he bails in March, you've got that month covered with his deposit (providing he didn't trash the place). By April the weather will be breaking and you'll be in a better place to rent it. It really would be in your best interest to try to keep it occupied till the weather breaks. You'll have to weigh rents you get versus no rent, and ask yourself if partial rent is a viable option. Keep in mind you'll have utility expenses on top of cleaning and advertising, you'll have to keep some heat on while it's vacant so pipes don't burst. I've had tenants make serious noises about leaving in dead of winter either because a roommate on the lease bailed unexpectedly or one long time tenant lost his job. I got flexible at that point, because some rent is better than no rent in Jan/Feb in the Chicago area ;) In the one instance I let the remaining roommate pay in installments (they borrowed from a friend) and in the other I gave the guy who lost his job a reduced rate (50%) just to keep the place occupied and buy another month closer to warmer weather. Both times it worked out, within a month the one tenant secured another job and the other situation the tenant found a roommate. It helped the the tenants and me. I made sure it was crystal clear up front it was a one time deal, that I have expenses to meet that come out of rents, etc., and I was not doing this as a favor to my tenants, it was for my benefit. They respected that and didn't push for more. If he does leave and you re-rent, do what you have to so the next lease does not renew in winter.

You have a right by law to inspect the apartment as the rental company inspects it~if you put it in writing. That way,you can walk through with them,and if they try to say it isnt clean,you can have them point out exactly what it is they say isnt clean. Or,take pictures of how clean it is.then when they tell you you're being charged for cleaning,you have your pics to prove it already was cleaned.

It is not in the landlord's best interest to remove you from the lease and replace you with the no credit/dwi guy. You might want to start looking for opportunities to be away from the apartment. Any possibility of traveling for your job? Do you have friends who could make you the third or fourth person in their apartment but only spend a couple nights a week there? Go visit mom and dad more often? Sister or brother who you could visit? Fall in love and spend more time with your SO? Offer to house sit while people are on vacation. Find someone on craigslist in a similar situation and trade - hey, that would make a cool movie concept. OR, maybe your roommate would be happy to have you leave and all you need to do is talk with him about it.

I've been out of town so am a little late to this party ;) Just thought I'd toss in my .02. I'm not a lawyer but am a landlord. I'm going to disagree to some extent with some posts here. I'm looking at it from my perspective and personally I feel like your landlord goofed, and is perhaps circling back to you to cover her mistakes. A lot of things that should have been put in writing were not. However, there are strong indicators of the direction this deal was taking. Allowing you to pay prorated rent for October is a big indicator that your landlord was not only aware of the fact that you were moving, she also approved a specific and premature (prior to lease expiration) 'end' date in October that your rent payment would cease. In other words it's not like you up and moved out under cloak of darkness ;) Clearly discussion and negotiation took place because a specific number of days for October rent was decided and agreed upon by both parties. Next she went so far as to secure a deposit from a different prospective tenant. It's true you're responsible for rent till your lease is up, but it's also true she needs to seek other occupants and secure them via a binding contract. She fell short here. I don't see that it matters whether she took $500 to 'hold' it or the same amount that she charged you for a deposit, because landlords can change deposit amounts from tenant to tenant, as long as it's not in violation of the ceiling dictated by State law. The dollar amount she took from them is not really your concern or burden to bear, that was her call to make and does not involve you because she's commencing a new agreement with entirely different parties involved. The fact is she took a deposit, released you early, but failed to obtain the most critical component: a signed, binding agreement with the new tenants. Big mistake. Deals fall through all the time. A deal is never sealed until all parties have signed on. I'm imagining myself standing in front of a judge explaining why I'm trying to now come back to worrywart for rents due and frankly, I think I'd be embarrassed. It would have been so easy to have a lease ready, signed when the deposit was collected, but not commence until 10/5. Then she could have officially let you know that you only needed to pay through 10/4, because a new lease was starting 10/5. She dropped that ball. So I'm thinking you're not entirely responsible at this point and that you do have recourse. The strongest indicator is the acceptance of the pro-rated rent, the second indicator is the deposit she got from the other couple. If your landlord failed to follow through and seal the deal with a signed lease with new tenants before letting you out, that's not really your burden to bear. That's how I see it anyway.