For Arlington landlords, lease renewals are success stories. When your tenant decides to renew their lease agreement and stay for another year (or however long the term of your lease happens to be), it usually means they’re happy with where they live and they enjoy the rental experience you’re providing.
Lease renewals are also good news for you because it means you have
fewer vacancy and turnover costs. Reducing tenant turnover and increasing tenant retention earns you more money.
You need to know how to handle lease renewals efficiently and effectively. Here’s what we recommend, as experienced
Arlington property managers.
Timing Your Lease Renewal Offer
As your lease comes to an end, you want to make sure you’re approaching your tenant in plenty of time for them to decide whether to move on or renew the lease agreement. Check the agreement that you signed; it will likely include a notice period. Typically, tenants must provide 30 or 60 days of written notice before they move out.
We suggest you follow the same period of time. If your lease agreement ends on May 31, for example, you’ll want to approach the renewal process by the end of March. This will give you time to put together a renewal offer and it will give your tenants enough time to decide what to do.
Offer Your Arlington Tenants a Lease Renewal Offer
Decide if you want to renew your lease with the tenants you currently have in place.
Unless your tenants are bad about paying rent on time, they are problematic in terms of following the lease requirements, or they fail to
report maintenance in a timely manner, we recommend that you do renew the lease agreement. When you keep your tenants, you earn more money. You provide stability for your investment property.
Send a letter to your tenants offering them a new lease for another one-year period (or longer). You can also offer a shorter term if you would rather, or they request it. Usually, a lease for less than a year will have a higher monthly rental rate, but they might be planning to leave the area in a few months or buy a property over the course of the next year.
Offer the renewal and ask them to make a decision and sign the lease by a specific date.
Rent Increases and Lease Renewals
