Tenant Refusing to Sign Lease
I have a tenant whose lease is expiring in August. The tenant has refused to sign the new lease. What are my options?
I have a tenant whose lease is expiring in August. The tenant has refused to sign the new lease. What are my options?
She lost it twice -shows how important it must be to her.
I personaly handed her a copy of lease today. She said that she missplaced the original (twice). She said she will look it over before signing it.
Get another tenant.
tsarina is absolutely correct. Most protected renters don’t bother to sign their leases. It is a state-run system, they are covered -and protected- in spite of themselves. You will only end up out-of-pocket with an attorney. It sounds like the tenants in this case are more savvy than the landlord. In small buildings that have recently changed hands that is often the case. There is a lot of misinformation out there, probably put out by realtors, pertaining to renters’ rights. Over time I have noticed many posters on this bloig minimize the trouble and aggravation of dealing with, let alone evicting, rent regulated tenants. Remember, the system was entirely devised for their benefit and protection. As a landlord, you are the villain.
If it is stabilized the lease automatically gets renewed. You send a letter stating that because they have not replied to the renewal, and have not given notice of moving, their lease is automatically renewed for 2 years. Some tenants are just lazy and dont return the paperwork. the lease increase is already determined by the begining date of the lease. dont spend more money on lawyers. This is a simple matter. Nolo press has a great book explaining rent stabilized procedures.
when did you give them the renewal notice? – They have 60 days to respond.
And if what will you do differently if they do renew or not renew? – Do you want them to stay or not?
Does it really make big difference to you – your plan of action if they give 15 days notice or 60?
You say expiring in August. This is June 15th. Does expiring in august mean Jul31 or aug 15th or august 31st?
I’d bet good money that the tenant is just waiting to see what the new Rent Guidelines increases will be.
He/She won’t want to sign a two year if the new percentages are low.
I’ve had similar experiences with stabilized tenants waiting until after the board votes before returning their lease. It’s annoying but not that big of a deal really.
It sounds like you haven’t even tried talking to the tenant. I would pick up the phone or pay a visit to the apartment before getting an attorney involved or anything like that, it could just be a misundertanding easily solved by a conversation.
Thanks so much for the advice. The certified return receipt will go out this morning. I will follow up with a real estate lawyer.