Topic: Tenants Ask for Early Term Fee Waiver

In the past 12 months, I have had 2 tenants ask us to waive the early term fee because they were unhappy with their apartment. Both have had some issues that took extra time to remedy, but we are in compliance with our lease agreement and well within our rights to charge the fee.

My concern is our online reputation. Could I put in writing that for consideration of waiving the fee, that they refrain from writing anything negative or positive about the community anywhere online?

The last one paid through a 30-day notice and we charged her 5 days lost to vacancy for turning the unit, instead of one month's rent early term. She accepted it.

I want to do the same for this one. I'm waiting on the owner's decision about it.

FYI on the tenant:

This tenant had a leaking sewer line under their apartment that was misdiagnosed as a problem with the water heater. It took us 6 weeks to figure out it wasn't the water heater, repair the line and clean up. We spent $200 to clean their carpet and furniture because they insisted we do it, even though it was just an odor coming from under the building. They got a new water heater, too. Then 2 weeks ago, they called on Easter weekend to say their air had not been working for nearly a week. I didn't fix it for 4 days because it was a holiday weekend and my HVAC contractor was sick for 2 more days. Their lamp had knocked the thermostat cover loose and it wasn't getting contact. The temps were under 75 degrees the entire time. Ants last week (no sign of any outside at all!) Now their toilets are not flushing all of the way. There have been a couple of other minor issues, too. And, they've complained about both of their neighbors being noisy and won't let me send them a letter.


Any discussion about the waiver consideration?

What you do for one, you must do for all, and if this deviating from the Lease, it must be done in writing. If you did not make the other person swear on his mother's life he wouldn't write a negative review of the property, then you shouldn't demand it of the other. Frankly, I don't think the background information is relevant and can be slightly prejudiced.

It's tough when our Residents ask us to do them a favor, or grant them a special dispensation. But in the long run, I have found that word gets out and opens you up to a possible Fair Housing violation and ultimately a lawsuit.

I would strongly recommend that the Owner have the attorney add verbiage in the Lease defining a Lease Break option in a clause. That way, ALL residents know exactly what they must do to comply with the lease should circumstances force them to move before the end of their Lease.

Thanks Mindy. I agree with you. Our lease has a clause about the Early Termination and the fee. Both tenants cited that they were "Unhappy with their apartment." They believe because they are unhappy, we should just let them leave without paying anything.

Both tenants had maintenance issues that were all fixed within the guidelines of our landlord/tenant law. I am giving this one the same release terms as the last.

I am looking at changing it from "Early Termination Fee" to "Penalty for Breaking your Lease" with multiple charges listed.

My apartments are over 30 years old and there is going to be issues and they will be fixed. I can't afford 2 or more people moving because they have to call for maintenance every month and are unhappy about it.

Sandy, I do not have to tell you that Mindy is always on target with the advice that she gives. I just want to throw a couple of tidbits to it. It is about process in taking care of maintenance issues. It is never a question of if you have maintenance issues it is a question of when you will have maintenance issues.

I always had an (A) and a (B) plan. In this case if your primary maintenance tech cannot perform, who is the back-up?

One example is when a boiler went out and the temp was 35 degrees in a building, I had portable heaters to issue out, until we got the problem fixed. For the hot weather, I had the portable a/c units until the problem was fixed. Priority went to the aged/ personnel with medical issues. Parents with infants and small children.

The two things that I always kept front in my mind were: (1) What would I expect to be done if I were the tenant? (2) Housing is a basic need in Maslow's Hierarchy of needs and therefore it is going to be complaint driven when things are not going right. Besides work people spend most of their time in their homes, and their homes are where they come to live and for sure do not want stress and anything that is not going how they want, then it becomes annoying and they will cause stress to the management and staff!

When there is an issue, I stay very visible and I am going to them and not waiting on them to come to me. When they know that we care and we understand, there is a tendency to work with you. If they have to call, and it seems as though they always have to seek out the management, then they think no one cares.

I know you care Sandy, because you are on here and you are getting feedback from others. If you ever need to, you can always shoot me a line. Not saying I will have the answer, but I can guarantee three things, you will consider it, reject it, or maybe give it a try :)

Thanks Nate. Since I started here 4 years ago, I have had to endure with only part-time, poorly qualified maintenance staff. That is about to change.

I just wanted to follow up one last time on this one. Last fall, when a tenant asked to be released because she was unhappy with her apartment (lived there 8 weeks) I suspected she wanted out of her apartment because she and her boyfriend finally decided to move in together. At least, that is where she moved when she left here.

The latest tenant to ask for their early termination fee to be waived told my maintenance guy today that they are relocating to Seattle. Hmmm?

Should you waive the lease-break fee?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: No no no no no no no no no no no no no.

People forget that a lease is a contract, and when they sign a lease, they are committed to the terms of that lease.

Sometimes, of course, people have unexpected issues, like a job loss or transfer. For that, you can relax the terms, although even then it should be stipulated in the lease that these kinds of reasons can result in a reconsideration of the lease-break penalty.

But a lot of people who want to get out of their lease will start complaining about maintenance issues and later claim that that's why they should be allowed to leave, even though the real reason is that they can't afford it, or they want to buy a house, or something like that.

If a resident has a truly disruptive maintenance problem that has not been resolved in a timely manner, then you might want to offer them the chance to break their lease; however, be sure to put a time limit on this, like they have to let you know within two weeks. I've witnessed residents who were given this offer, and then four months after the problem was resolved came back and wanted to use it as a reason to break their lease when really it's because they just want out of this particular housing agreement.

Finally, I would say to never, ever, EVER try to control what people put out on social media. That usually backfires. Since a lot of the reviewing sites are anonymous, you probably wouldn't be able to stop anyone from putting it out.