Unique situation. Tenant had lease through August 31st. Moved out early but paid through the end of their lease. They left the property something late July or early August (they didn't tell us what day they were leaving) they turned off all utilities and lef the keys with an associate. We found a new tenant who signed a lease for Sept. 1st. Because the place was vacant and abandoned, they asked if it would be okay to move some things in over the weekend as the 1st fell on a Wednesday this month. Now old tenant heard from a neighbor that people moved in and want to be compensated or the couple of days that the new people are living there. We DID NOT collect any additional rent from the new tenant. Only did them a courtesy by helping them to move some things over the weekend. Does old tenant have a case?
State of California if it matters...

No.

They turned in their key, thus surrendering possession.

Had they given you proper notice that they would be out on the end of the month, that would have been different. But as I understand it, they didn't give you any notice (in most places, 30 days prior to the end of a lease a tenant is required to give notice if the tenant intends to move out).

You can not collect rent for the same property twice, had you taken any money for the extra days.

Now you will have to appear in court , present their lease paper work showing the dates of the lease.

No.

They turned in their key, thus surrendering possession.

Had they given you proper notice that they would be out on the end of the month, that would have been different. But as I understand it, they didn't give you any notice (in most places, 30 days prior to the end of a lease a tenant is required to give notice if the tenant intends to move out).

Some additional info for clarification:
They did give us "some" notice but it was fuzzy. They sent us an email saying "they think they will be out by July 30th" We told them the new tenant wouldn't be moving in until Sept 1st. We asked them several times after that which day they would be leaving the property so we could make arrangements for the walk through, maintenance etc. They never answered with a firm date. We live in another State. We finally made plans to fly down on the 21st of August and discovered they had turned off our utilities. Finally got a message back that they had left our keys with "an associate" and they would be under the mat.

We only allowed the new renters to move a few things in out of courtesy. No additional rent was collected.

Do they still have a case?

You can not collect rent for the same property twice, had you taken any money for the extra days.

Now you will have to appear in court , present their lease paper work showing the dates of the lease.

Thanks for your answer. I think it would be worth it to appear in court then because it sounds like they don't have a case.

Do they still have a case?

No. They didn't have a case before your last post. They don't have a case now. I only mentioned the issue about the notice because, strictly speaking, you would be entitled to September's rent had you not found a new tenant.

And, BTW, I respectfully disagree with what Fr_Chuck says: "You can not collect rent for the same property twice". It's neither here nor there, because that isn't the case. But if it were, it wouldn't be necessarily true anyway.

No. They didn't have a case before your last post. They don't have a case now. I only mentioned the issue about the notice because, strictly speaking, you would be entitled to September's rent had you not found a new tenant.

And, BTW, I respectfully disagree with what Fr_Chuck says: "You can not collect rent for the same property twice". It's neither here nor there, because that isn't the case. But if it were, it wouldn't be necessarily true anyway.

Thank you for your time!

Both your answers are correct from my experience. Once they turned in the keys they relinquished possession. Even more than that, the new tenants didn't move in, they just stored some belongings with your permission. And you didn't charge them for it. Given all three facts, they have no case.

However, it is generally true that you can't double dip. If you are collecting rent from one tenant you can't legally collect rent from another for the same period. But I think even if you did charge them something, it would not constitute double dipping in this case since the previous tenant did not properly terminate their lease.

In fact, if they had turned off certain utilities it could have caused damage to the property that they would be liable for.

Both your answers are correct from my experience. Once they turned in the keys they relinquished possession. Even more than that, the new tenants didn't move in, they just stored some belongings with your permission. And you didn't charge them for it. Given all three facts, they have no case.

However, it is generally true that you can't double dip. If you are collecting rent from one tenant you can't legally collect rent from another for the same period. But I think even if you did charge them something, it would not constitute double dipping in this case since the previous tenant did not properly terminate their lease.

In fact, if they had turned off certain utilities it could have caused damage to the property that they would be liable for.

Thank you Scott for your help!