Here is a question to the blog clinic from Andy who is a landlord
My tenant has left his tenancy 11 days earlier than agreed and has requested a refund on the 11 days as he had paid in advance. Is he entitled to this?
No.
When your tenant signed his tenancy agreement he entered into a legally binding contract with you to pay rent for a period of time – let us say this is for six months.
Under the terms of the contract, you are entitled to the rent for that six months (normally on a month by month basis).
The tenant cannot unilaterally change this by moving out early. He is bound by his contract. He is liable to pay you whether he is living there or not.
In some circumstances you might AGREE to a rent refund if he moves out – but thats up to you. You don’t have to. And the tenant cannot force you to, by just moving out early.
If your tenant says that this is unfair because you are charging for somewhere he was not living in – well thats his fault. He didn’t HAVE to move out.
The property was available for him to live in until the end of his six months, so you had performed your part of the bargain.
So it is quite in order for you to say no.
