At the beginning of October, I gave one of my tenants notice to vacate by the end of October. They did sign a lease, but it was open ended as they did not specifiy the duration. I mentioned at the time of signing that as long as I have one month's notice, when they want to vacate, it's not a problem. Subsequent to my giving her notice, she came to me and said they were moving out on the weekend, 5 days into the new month. Rent for October was not paid. Am I within my rights to keep the security deposit in lieu of the rent for October? They are threatening to sue me as I refuse to refund the deposit.

If your written lease: (1) did not have a specific time for ending; (2) provided for payment of rent on a monthly basis; and (3) did not state how much notice had to be given to terminate the tenancy, then this was a month-to-month tenancy and either party was required to give the other at least 30 days notice that they were terminating.

Since you gave them 30 days notice at the beginning of October they were responsible for October rent no matter when they moved out during the month. So you are entitled to deduct the October rent from their security deposit. However you must make sure that you return the balance of the deposit (if any) within the time required by law in your state. If there is no balance remaining then you must send them something in writing within that time stating how the deposit was applied.

If your written lease: (1) did not have a specific time period for ending; (2) provided for payment of rent on a monthly basis; and (3) did not state how much notice had to be given to terminate the tenancy, then this was a month-to-month tenancy and either party was required to give the other at least 30 days notice that they were terminating.

Since you gave them 30 days notice at the beginning of October they were responsible for October rent no matter when they moved out during the month. So you are entitled to deduct the October rent from their security deposit. However you must make sure that you return the balance of the deposit (if any) within the time period required by law in your state. If there is no balance remaining then you must send them something in writing within that time period stating how the deposit was applied.

Thank you Lisa. This is most helpful.

If your written lease: (1) did not have a specific time period for ending; (2) provided for payment of rent on a monthly basis; and (3) did not state how much notice had to be given to terminate the tenancy, then this was a month-to-month tenancy and either party was required to give the other at least 30 days notice that they were terminating.

Since you gave them 30 days notice at the beginning of October they were responsible for October rent no matter when they moved out during the month. So you are entitled to deduct the October rent from their security deposit. However you must make sure that you return the balance of the deposit (if any) within the time period required by law in your state. If there is no balance remaining then you must send them something in writing within that time period stating how the deposit was applied.

The security deposit is equal to one month's rent.

The security deposit is equal to one month's rent.

Then you can keep the entire deposit for October rent and if there is any damage to the property you can bill them for the costs of repair and sue them for it if they fail to pay. However you must send them something in writing within the required time period that details how he deposit was used. Tell us in which state the property is located and we can tell you the time.