When a tenant tells you they are leaving, record it on the lease. From that moment ProperLease knows the tenancy is ending: rent stops at the move-out date, reminders follow what you agreed about the last months, and the move-out checklist and deposit settlement are ready when you need them. This page covers recording the notice, the two ways the remaining rent can be paid, what changes in your rent and emails, the checklist, settling the deposit, and what to do if the tenant decides to stay.
Move-out tracking is part of Premium.
Record the notice
Open the tenant and choose Notice to vacate. On iOS it is under Actions on the tenant. If you wrote the notice in ProperLease, a generated Move-Out Notice also offers Track this move-out next to it.
Fill in:
- Notice received: the day the notice reached you.
- Given by: the tenant, or you if you are the one ending the tenancy.
- Last day in the unit: the planned move-out date.
- Rent until move-out: how the months between now and the move-out are paid (see below).
- Notes: anything worth keeping, such as the reason for leaving or where the keys go.
Once saved, the tenant and the property show Moving out with the date, and the dashboard alert for the lease ending is replaced by a move-out alert.
Two kinds of deposit
A lease can hold two separate deposits, and ProperLease treats them differently:
- A last month's rent deposit is rent paid up front for the final month. It pays rent and nothing else, and any part not used is refunded. In Ontario this is the deposit the standard lease provides for.
- A security deposit is held against damage and unpaid amounts, and is settled with an itemized statement.
Record each one on the lease under its own heading. For a property in Ontario the rent deposit comes first. If an Ontario lease already has its amount recorded as a security deposit, the lease offers to move it to the rent deposit; nothing changes until you choose Move it and save.
Choose how the last months are paid
There are two options.
Tenant pays rent as usual is the default. Nothing changes until the move-out: rent is charged each month, reminders and overdue emails go out as normal, and the deposit is settled after the tenant leaves.
The deposit pays the last month. If the lease holds a last month's rent deposit, this is already selected and covers the move-out month, because that is what the rent deposit is for. Pick other months only if they apply.
Without a rent deposit, the same option lets the security deposit pay the last month or months. Choose it only if you and the tenant agreed to it: whether a security deposit can be used for rent depends on where the property is, and in many places it cannot without that agreement. Note the day you agreed it in Agreed on.
Pick the first and last month covered (they have to fall between the notice month and the move-out month). ProperLease shows how much rent that is and which deposit pays it: the rent deposit first, then the security deposit. It warns you when the covered rent is more than both, because the tenant would still owe the difference and nothing would be left for damage.
If the security deposit is paying rent, a short email from the tenant asking for it, and your reply agreeing, is enough to keep. A rent deposit needs no agreement: covering the last month is what it was paid for.
What changes in rent and emails
- Rent stops at the move-out date. No rent is charged for months after the move-out. If the tenant leaves partway through a month, that month is charged for the days they are in the unit, counting the move-out day, divided by the actual number of days in the month.
- Covered months are not chased. For a month that comes out of the deposit there is no rent reminder and no overdue email, and the month reads as covered by the deposit on the dashboard, the payments page and the tenant's invoice instead of late.
- Utilities are still owed. Covering rent from the deposit does not cover utilities you pay and bill back. Those still appear on reminders, and if they go unpaid the overdue email asks for the balance without calling it rent.
- You get move-out reminders. ProperLease emails you 30 days and 7 days before the move-out, and on the day. These follow your lease expiry email setting.
Follow the move-out checklist
While a notice is open, the tenant shows a Move-out checklist. Each step ticks itself off from what you record, so there is nothing extra to maintain.
- Notice recorded.
- Move-out inspection: record a move-out condition report and compare it with the move-in one.
- Keys back: open the notice and enter the Actual move-out date. If it is earlier than planned, rent stops at the actual date.
- Tenants moved to Past: available once the keys are back, because moving a tenant to Past stops their rent and reminders.
- Deposit settled: settle the deposit and send the statement.
If you entered the actual move-out date by mistake, clear it and save. The notice goes back to before the keys were returned.
Settle the deposit
Open the tenant and choose Deposit (Deposit return on iOS). Each deposit on the lease has its own section.
Last month's rent deposit. Once the keys are back, choose Apply to rent. ProperLease records the covered rent as a rent payment in that month, marked as paid from the rent deposit, so it counts as rental income then and the month reads as paid. Whatever the last month did not use, for example after a mid-month move-out, shows as To refund. The rent deposit never pays damage or utilities.
Security deposit. Deductions belong to the lease, so joint tenants share one list. Under Suggested from the move-out, ProperLease lists what it can already work out for the notice period:
- rent agreed to come from the deposit, less anything the tenant paid toward those months anyway
- rent or charges still unpaid in the notice period
- charges billed after the move-out, such as a final utility bill
Each line has Add, so you choose what goes on the statement. Add your own lines for damage or cleaning, backed by the condition reports. If the lease holds no security deposit, these amounts are listed as still owed by the tenant instead.
Final utility bills often arrive after the tenant has left. You can still bill a utility to the lease after the tenants are moved to Past, as long as the notice is open, and it then shows up in the suggestions.
The statement covers whichever deposits the lease holds, and its title says so. Once the keys are back and every deposit on the lease is marked as dealt with (applied, returned or partially returned), the notice closes and the checklist is complete. Return deadlines are set by local law, so check the one that applies to your property, counting from the move-out date.
If the tenant decides to stay
Open the notice and choose Withdraw notice. This is available until the keys are back.
- Rent, reminders and overdue emails go back to normal for the months still to come.
- If some covered months have already started, their rent is billed back to the tenant as one charge, added to the month you pick. The deposit stays at its full amount (a rent deposit stays held for the real last month), and those months stay marked as covered, so they never show as late.
- Any deductions you added from the move-out suggestions are removed. Deductions you typed yourself stay.
The withdrawn notice stays in the lease history.
Notice periods, whether a deposit can be used for rent, interest on deposits, and return deadlines differ by province and state. This page explains how ProperLease records what you decide. Confirm the rules that apply where your property is located.
Related
- Hold and return security deposits for the condition records and the return statement.
- Utilities and chargebacks for billing a final utility bill to the lease.
- Add and manage tenants for moving a tenant to Past.
Run your rentals with absolute clarity
ProperLease helps self-managing landlords in Canada and the US track rent, generate provincial and state leases, serve notices, and stay tax ready.