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Mr. Hull has been writing articles for Real Estate publications in the valley since 1989. Additionally, he writes a monthly newsletter to his clients that deals with current questions or problems in the Landlord/Tenant field. His articles include such topics as damage by tenants, breaking leases, immedediate evictions, bankruptcy and evictions, and his monthly newsletter is both amusing and informative. Some of his articles are attached here, and if you are looking for some particular information, please feel free to call. TO: All Clients FROM: Andrew M. Hull DATE: November 10, 2009 Some recent questions that have come up regarding what damages we can and cannot ask the court to award us in evictions. The normal lease agreement usually will have a provision for rental concessions that were given to the tenant as an inducement in signing the lease. These rental concessions then would be repayable as unpaid rent in the event the tenant does not fulfill the lease agreement. Many other leases also have a lease break fee or early termination fee for not fulfilling the contract. The courts have seemed to be consistent in allowing rental concessions in evictions but not allowing lease break fees. The lease must specifically state that the concessions must be repaid as additional rent if the contract is not fulfilled. Most of the courts will also prorate the concessions for those used as of the date of the eviction. Lease break fees on the other hand are really a penalty for not fulfilling the contract and must be reasonable. The reason they do not allow these to be collected in evictions is that you may re-lease the property relatively quickly and then, in effect, you would be charging double rent against the prior tenant rather than a reasonable lease termination fee. Once the tenant has been evicted and you are calculating future charges, you can include the lease break fee in those. You may wish to use the following language also in your lease agreement regarding the lease break fees so that there is no confusion as to what the tenant potentially can be charged for not fulfilling the lease. A proposed lease break fee provided me by one of my clients stated as follows:

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