Can I sue my property manager for incompetence? My current tenants gave a notice to break the lease 4 months before the lease ends. Now my Property Manager says my tenants are not responsible for the rest of the lease amount. The PM says they can only charge a “reasonable amount” for breaking the lease ($2400), which doesn’t make sense. They also say they will keep the amount (this was not included in the agreement I signed). What is a “reasonable amount” to charge the tenants? The Property Manager also doesn’t want to answer my calls and only wants to communicate via email. Is there no consequences for a tenant breaking a lease early?

Thank you for reaching out. I’m sorry to hear about your situation. There are several aspects to address here.

First, tenants who break a lease early owe damages for breaching the contract, but landlords have a duty to try to re-rent the unit. The cases of Ruston v. Centennial and Tremitek v. Resilience Code confirmed that damages are limited to the actual loss after reasonable mitigation, rather than automatically being the full remaining rent.

Second, as to whether the $2,400 fee was reasonable, any lease-break fee must reflect actual damages. Tremitek invalidated fees that don’t reasonably estimate actual losses. If $2,400 is an arbitrary amount or exceeds the actual damages, it may not be enforceable.

Third, if your property management agreement doesn’t allow the property manager to keep the lease-break fee, retaining it could be a breach. Midland Bank v. Galley Co. stresses that an agent can only keep fees that are reasonable and authorized.

Finally, the property manager’s preference to communicate via email isn’t illegal, even if you may feel it is unprofessional. Email communication only becomes an issue if it violates the management agreement. Your best option at this point is to speak with an experienced real estate attorney.