Tenant Refunds of Pre-Payments

AnitaJohnson1269

We had a tenant that payed 12 months to get the 13th free... then vacated the space about a month later. (this was a year ago).  Then same tenant rented again (2 units) , paid 12 months in advance on both and vacated in the 1st or second month.  The owner asked to reach out on this forum to see how other managers handled these situations.  Do you charge a cancelation fee?  No notice fee?  or just issue the refund?  It takes time and money to process...  SiteLink generates refund at move out, I have to forward to accounting, she then verifies with owner, writes and mails check, etc.  Thoughts on thisone?

ESS

It makes me wonder why they are vacating after a month or 2 after paying in advance multiple times. We do not charge a cancelation fee, but accounting does deduct a check processing fee of $25 and mails them a check for the remainder. In the future, if it were me, I would take that offer off the table. 

Editing to add: You mention no notice fee. Are they not providing you with a vacate notice? In that case, please be very careful moving them out even if the unit is empty w/o a lock. I usually contact via email and call to verify they have vacated, if no response, they still have the unit next month and I tag the unit and place an overlock...especially if they've paid in advance or on autopay. Last year I went thru this and thankfully did not move them out of my system because they ended up keeping the empty unit 4 more months paying with their autopay and insisted they still needed the unit after going 2 months without contact.

AnitaJohnson1269

Thanks @ESS.  Yes, the tenant did confirm he had vacated the units and asked about a refund.  Our lease requires a 10 day notice before the end of the month, he let us know the day of.  We do understand these were circumstances that just happened... Son needed to live in their RV for 1 year while making home repairs.  1 yr later tenant came back, recently paid 1 year and then had someone approach him about buying it.  Then decided to put items from unit into his garage.