Suing a Tenant for Unpaid Rent
Did your former tenants move out of your property without paying full rent? You can recover some of the unpaid rent by suing them in a small claims court if the security deposit doesn’t cover the whole amount.
A small claims court can help property owners if:
- The tenancy agreement involved monthly payments and the tenant left without fulfilling their 30-day notice period.
- The tenant had a lease and they broke it by leaving before the defined term was completed.
Unpaid Rent by a Month-To-Month
A tenant that pays monthly is legally required to give their landlord notice that they intend to move out. During this period, tenants should continue to pay rent.
For example, if the notice period is 30 days long and the landlord only received the notice on the 20th day, the tenancy will only end 30 days after the landlord is made aware of the tenant’s intentions to leave.
In case the tenant leaves without paying the rent, they will owe prorated rent for 20 days of the following month. If the tenant refuses to pay this amount and if it can’t be covered by the security deposit, the landlord has the right to sue them.
Usually the security deposit cannot sufficiently cover the amount of owed rent and costs of repairs, in which case landlords should go to court.
Landlords are advised to keep a rent ledger to prove that rent wasn’t paid for the months in question.
Typically tenants do not argue the landlords claims when they know they are in the wrong and may or may not show up in court. Either way, landlords usually prevail in such cases.
Unpaid rent & Tenants with Leases
Tenants who vacate the property before the terms of the lease have expired and refuse to pay the outstanding amount have “broken the lease” and are liable for the rent of the entire term.
However, a landlord’s ability to claim the entire term’s rent from a tenant that has vacated their property is limited by the state. Landlords are advised to find a new tenant to mitigate financial losses.
Tenant’s Defenses
Tenants who failed to make rent don’t typically challenge their landlord’s claims in court unless the rental unit was considered uninhabitable. In a rental agreement, the landlord assures that their property is “fit and habitable” and that they will provide certain maintenance services when required.
If landlords fail to live up to their end of the deal, tenants have the right to break the lease. In court, they will have to prove, that the landlord was made aware and given time to address the issues, the problems were not caused by them and that property was a health and safety hazard.
Cases of unpaid rent can usually be handled in small claim courts, however, if you’re a landlord that’s suffered from major financial losses due to a bad tenant, you’ll need to hire a real estate attorney.
Milenkovic Law Group PLLC. provides legal services in parts of New York including The Bronx, Brooklyn, Long Island, Manhattan, Queens and Westchester.
If you’re looking for a real estate lawyer in New York, contact us at 914-202-0610.