Problems w/Tenant in Ohio, Pls Help

My situation...I gave my tenant a 30 day notice to terminate her month to month lease. She apparently moved out approximately a week after I gave her the notice but didn't inform me of this until this past Tuesday (about another week later); she left me a voice message. She also failed to return any keys.

My questions...

1. Am I correct in that I will have to return unused rent money since she moved out prior to the termination date or is she still responsible for that?

2. In her voice message, she also requested that I let her know when I'm available to meet w/her & complete a walk through. I assumed that I could do 1 of 2 things, (1) still consider her as a tenant since she still hasn't returned any keys, hold her liable for any accrued rent and go ahead and meet w/her for a walk through. (2) Or consider the property abandoned (not sure if that's the right term for this situation) since she vacated the property, change the locks with no obligation to let her re-enter the property, do my own documented walk through and send her a statement in the mail with a deposit refund if applicable. Even though this is after the fact, I chose option 2 in order to cut my losses and avoid any further hassle as she has been a very difficult tenant in my opinion. Was I within the law in doing that?

3. Again, she didn't return any keys. The key I had did not open the locks. I can't prove that she changed the locks for some reason during her 2 year stay at my property but the key I had no longer worked. Can I count the expenses I incurred in getting the locks stripped and rekeyed against her?

Please help...thanks in advance

-Stressed out landlord

[OHlandlord]

Ohio is a term state. Notices must be given at the beginning of a rent cycle and move-outs are supposed to be at the end of the rent cycle. She owes rent for the month of the notice period. She could have stayed to the end of that period. She chose to move out early. That was her choice. You do not owe her a refund of the other rent days, although credit for those days would be a nice gesture. If you so wish, you can add the credit to the deposit on the disposition sheet and then subtract damages from the total. Otherwise, just state on the disposition sheet that she had until x/xx date to move out and it was her choice to move out early. You do not owe her money because she chose to leave before she had to.

Since she left a message on your voice mail that she was out, she gave up possession of the unit on that day. It was not abandoned, she gave you possession and informed you of this. She said she was out of the unit, correct? You need to return the deposit statement to her by putting in the mail within 30 days of the date of the phone message. She didn't offer to return any keys in that message did she? You should save this voice message in case she later says she didn't state she was out. Copy it onto a cassette tape so you can play it for court if need be. Document in her file that she called on x/xx date and xx:xx time and left a voice messsage that she was out of the unit.

Since she left no keys, you may charge her to re-key, especially since your key no lnger opened the door. (Since you haven't used that key the whole time she was there, you didn't wear it out. She had the locks changed.) On the disposition sheet, list "rekeying charge", then note that your "keys no longer opened the unit and no keys were returned as required".

As far as I know, there is nothing in state law that says she has to be there for this post move out inspection. I frequently do them without the tenant, especially if the tenant was asked to leave or was evicted. This type of tenant can be hostile and you are best to not have them present. They will argue continually about everything you write down and the arguments can escalate easily with a hostile tenant. Make sure you do a good job of documenting the condition of the apartment so she can't argue with not being allowed back in to do a walk through with you.

She could have documented the condition of the unit herself before she left with photos and witnesses if she wished. Whether she did this or not again was her choice. (BTW, I put in my move out letter that they need to contact me in advance to schedule this meeting and return the keys.) Since you didn't know she was leaving that day, you had not scheduled any time to do an inspection then. You can't be expected to change your schedule for her because she feels like moving out early. In fact, you had planned to do it 2 weeks later, correct? Do document the condition yourself with a condition check sheet, and LOTS of photos (dated). Take pictures especially of any damages you plan to charge for. Send her a copy of the inspection report with the disposition sheet. Of course, keep copies of everything in case she wants to challenge this later. If you have to replace carpet, keep a 1' square piece of the worst section to show in court if needed. Good luck. Feel free to post more specifics about damages if needed.

Thank you so much for the response...I feel a little bit better now. However, I did make one mistake, I didn't give the notice on the 1st of the month it was a few days after thinking that only 30 calendar days would suffice so that is 100% my error. But with that said, what am I potentially liable for because of that?

As for the refund, she received government assistance for this month and I was going to refund any money back to them as of the date she left me the message; even if it was going to her directly, I would still give a refund though. And yes, I saved her message but will now copy it to a cassette tape. She absolutely made no mention of keys in her message.

I only rented my home because it didn't sell like expected and we no longer could afford 2 mortgage pmts. But bless those good landlords that do this for a living. I now know why this was never a career goal for me )

But again, what am I potentially liable for because of my error?

[OHlandlord]

If you didn't give her notice until after the 1st of January, keep that rent. Your notice hadn't even gone into effect yet until Feb. 1st. She would have had to be out by Feb. 28th; and if she was on Section 8, she wouldn't have had to be out until the end of March, since those tenants need 60 days notice by HUD guidelines. Keep the rent. And don't bother to prorate a credit. That agency pays by the month, not the day. If they later come back and ask for it, give it to them, not the tenant. But not until. You were entitled to that money since your notice hadn't even taken effect yet. (Actually, you are entitled to 30 days rent ater it goes into effect, but I wouldn't push that.) I have evicted Sec. 8 tenants in mid month and never returned a credit or prorated amount, nor have they asked for one.

As for not giving notice until after the first of Jan., it is not a problem. It just goes into effect for the next month. She had even longer to vacate than she thought. (If she was on Section 8 her caseworker would have told her this.) She chose to leave early. Her choice.

If her deposit was paid by another agency or charity, any deposit refund should go to them. They paid for the deposit for her. I always refund these monies back to the organization so they can use them again for some other person who needs help. I don't send the deposit refund back to the tenant if someone else paid it. If the agency meant for her to have the money, they can sign the check over to her. (Never had one do that yet either.)

I can't thank you enough; I greatly appreciate the help!