Reasons Why A Landlord Can Break A Lease

The first and foremost concern of a landlord is to always keep good tenants on his rental property. But sometimes, a landlord is obliged to give notice with or without the help of eviction firms such as Express Evictions to the tenants for their activities. A lease agreement between the landlord and the tenant is completed when the home is rented. The landlord may terminate the lease agreement with the tenant under contract law, but there may be other reasons beyond the contract for which a landlord can terminate the lease agreement with the tenant to get his property back. In this article, we will discuss some valid reasons why a landlord can break the lease agreement.

Rent Arrears

One of the main reasons for the cancellation of the lease agreement is for rent arrears or failure to pay the rent at the right time. A landlord can file a claim to force out a tenant when the tenant fails to pay the rent on time, and almost all the states have specific guidelines and procedures for requesting it. However, landlords need to know the tenant’s due diligence period and the laws regarding unpaid rents to understand if the claim for cancellation of the lease agreement will be successful.

You will need to be ready to take your tenant to court if you want to regain control of your property, and you must find out what the legal rights regarding late rent are. It is best to try to negotiate a suitable compensation lease from tenants without reaching out to the court because the process of court eviction can be lengthy.

Additional Tenants

You can notify tenants that you are going to terminate your lease contract when your tenant has additional people living on your property without your permission. In a property contract, it should be explained whether the property can be subleased to another tenant, and the agreement must include the names of those living there. Without the permission of the landlord, a tenant is better off without having more tenants. If your property agreement does not allow for the additional tenants, and extra tenants violate that agreement, then you have the legal right to terminate the lease with the tenant, with the permission of the court.

Pets

Commonly, landlords try to keep pets off the property because pets can cause insect infestations or damage the property itself. Landlords must allow pets to be kept on their property if the tenant agreement specifies that pets are permitted, or if there is a document stating that there is no issue with keeping the pet. However, if there’s a no-pet policy and any of your tenants gets a pet on your property, then you have the right to cancel the lease agreement with that tenant.

Alternatively, you can ask the tenant to remove the pet like you can do about additional occupants. When you or your property manager visit the property, you can look for signs of pets since most of the tenant will eventually try to hide the evidence of pet.

Disturbance or Nuisance

A landlord may be subjected to a complaint by building managers or neighbors because of his tenant’s activities, such as if the tenant arranges a loud night party, making noise, creating problems, or having loud arguments, etc. Therefore, a landlord must make it clear in his lease agreement what tenants are allowed to do.

Also, just as your property could have a noisy tenant, you could also accidentally rent to a tenant who is involved in criminal activity. So it is crucial to know how to deal with this kind of tenant. In most states, landlords have the right to cancel the lease agreement with the tenants if the tenant is involved in prostitution, illegal activities,  gambling, drug dealing, etc.

If you want to report your tenants’ illegal activity to the police, you must have the appropriate evidence so that you can file any termination claim related to the criminal or noise disturbance. However, after the first report, it is OK to allow the tenants to correct their behavior. But if the tenant still doesn’t respond, you will need to start the termination of the lease agreement with the problematic tenant by giving the notice to evict.