Need the hive's input on a landlord dilemma.

So, I started being a landlord last year and managed to find great tenants. They take care of the place, they're clean, friendly and their dog is great.

They're a young couple trying to get their lives started and I hope they do well.

They found a new place and gave notice last month, no issues. I wish them well. They said they would be out by the 30th of this month.

Had a chat with them this morning and they will be out by the 22nd.

Now that they're leaving early, I'm wondering if returning a portion of the rent is the right thing to do since they won't be here the full month.

I will be returning the damage deposit in full plus interest as long as the suite is in good shape.

Need some advice here, thanks.

Do what feels right.  You can keep it, you can give it back, you can screw them out of a few hundo on the deposit for "cleaning and refurbishing"

All up to you.  Would be tempted to refund it, although BITD I wouldnt have given a nickle.  Guess I am getting nicer with age.

**retyping, darned browser ate my last response

I'd say give them the pro-rated amount of rent for a week.  It probably means a lot more to them than to you and you got lucky having such great tenants.  Moving is always more expensive than we expect it to be and they'll always talk about how cool you were helping them out just a bit "back in the day".

As a former tenant, I say yes, definitely do that. 

As a [once and future] prospective landlord, I say NO FREAKIN' WAY. This is a business you're running. They signed a contract, they're paying per that contract. Your money, stash it away for further investment. Maybe, MAYBE if it is already rented and someone moves in on the 23rd, but otherwise, nope. Especially since you'll have to wait to find new tenants. 

It's a very nice gesture, but it sets a dangerous precedent on your part.  You are a landlord to make money, not for charity.  Your mortgage payment will not be pro-rated, people understand that. 

Refunding 100% of their security deposit is great and shows you are a good landlord. Allowing tenants to extend their contract on a month-to-month basis is nice for good tenants you trust who are moving out. Doing little upgrades to the property for good tenants is nice. Just put your kindness into things that build on your investment AND are good for your tenants. 

No just because they moved out early it doesn’t alleviate their obligation to pay rent through the end of he month. I say this mostly as a landlord but also past tenant. 

Now if you had someone chomping at the bit to get in and they were doing you a favor then yes pay them out. But not in this situation. 

do you have another tenant yet? if not, the current tenants might have friends very similar to themselves. Use the extra week to offer them a finder's fee of sorts?

Another creative idea is to tell the tenants you will donate the extra week to charity and that you would like them to pick the charity. 

The finder's fee idea is a winner. We recently got out of the landlord biz, but found that when good departing tenants recommended friends, they were always good tenants as well. Finding a good tenant is easily worth a week's rent.

Robbie said:

do you have another tenant yet? if not, the current tenants might have friends very similar to themselves. Use the extra week to offer them a finder's fee of sorts?

Another creative idea is to tell the tenants you will donate the extra week to charity and that you would like them to pick the charity. 

The last place I rented is still going off of a chain of referrals from us -> friends -> friends... We were great tenants and they were great landlords, we were honest about people we knew looking for a new place and it seemed to work out well for everyone. We did not get anything in return for this, it was just a courtesy. I think stuff like this is very relationship dependent. 

No new tenant yet but I did tell them that I would give them a finder's fee if they referred a good tenant to take their place.

I have nobody lined up yet but the ad will go up as soon as they leave. I don't have any current pictures of the suite because I lost everything in a hard drive failure a little while ago.

Thanks for all the advice, you guys made some good points that I hadn't fully considered yet.

As a former landlord:

Karma is a good thing. You will be berked on some tenants. If they were good, be good to them, maybe they will refer others.

You have to ride the good times, and the bad. Some months you'll lose.

Recognize that the competition gets a one year lease, and if they leave, weather it is 11, or 1 month early, they are responsible for the entire year's rent. I think respecting the old way, honor, and fairness is best. I hope this opinion is not bad advice.