What you decide to do if you recently signed on a tenant who has suddenly changed their mind and no longer wishes to honour the rental agreement is entirely up to you.  However, as a landlord, you know that there are costs involved in securing a tenancy.  If your tenant has provided first and last month’s rent, they will be eager to receive it back in full.   We advise that you use this letter than explains the predicament you are in as a landlord having a tenant backing out of a legally binding agreement they agreed to. This Change Mind letter form will express the situation in a sympathetic but solution oriented manner.  It will stress that you – as landlord – will double your efforts to find a suitable replacement tenant to assume tenancy by roughly the same timeline.  However, you will deduct advertising, and relate [legitimate] costs for securing a new tenant from this tenants deposit.  That’s a fair and reasonable solution that will hopefully be acceptable to your tenant as well under the circumstances.  You can always adjust the wording of the letter to suit your specific needs.

Note: The laws in your area may address a situation where a tenant wishes to back out after committing to tenancy but before actually moving in or assuming tenancy.