Tenants asking for 6 month renewal lease
Given that they have reliably rented from you for four years, I would give them the flexibility of the 6 month lease. It may mean that they’re planning on moving on… such is life, right? But at least they’re prepared to give you time to plan your next step. Archiefina makes a good point though. Perhaps 9 months is a good negotiation that works well for both parties.

rashanti12a
in General Discussion 2 years and 3 months ago
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decoart | 2 years and 3 months ago
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My tenants have been renting from me for 4 years. I raised the rent 5% on the renewal. Their response was “we have a lot of moving pieces. We’d be willing to accept the higher rent for a 6-month lease”.
To me that sounds like they are moving out after the renewal. They are a very successful couple, probably buying a home. Their proposed timeline gives them enough time to close and move comfortably. That’s my theory. Honestly looking at their financials, I’m not sure why they rented from me for so long.
I am unwilling to give a 6-month lease b/c it will leave me in December looking for new tenants. December is the worst time of year to look for tenants. Summer is the best FWIR.
Options:
1. I could offer a 9-month lease which would leave me in March looking for new tenants. Not ideal but better than December.
2. I could offer a 12-month lease with a slight discount on the 5% increased rent. But to me it sounds like they are moving and want the shortest term possible. The rent increase is not an issue for them.
3. Offer a 12-month lease. If they move ou t prior to the lease they are responsible for the rent, but I will do best efforts to get a new tenant. Old tenant is responsible for all missed rent.
Any advice on how to proceed?

arewedoneyet | 2 years and 3 months ago
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Some food for thought..
It depends largely on how flexible you want to be and how good of a tenant they have been. It’s worth noting that:
– Rental inventory is low right now and the cost to move before they actually buy would be high – moving costs, brokers fees, time away from work etc.
– 5% isn’t a particularly large increase particularly if they’ve been in your apartment for 4 years. Many renters are seeing enormous increases right now.
You might broach the subject of whether they are considering buying. If they admit to it you could offer a 12 month lease with some flexibility to terminate early – say 3 months notice but leave it at your discretion based upon your ability to rent the apartment. You could tell them you’ll be flexible if they need to find someone to take over the lease and/or you’d help them find a new tenant.
If you need to do maintenance that hasn’t been performed over the last 4 years you could offer a break-lease option after 6 months with a one month fee or such. You could use those fees to justify some vacancy time to do repairs.

brokelin | 2 years and 3 months ago
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In my opinion, landlords often get too hung up on when leases renew. (There is always a market for tenants if an apartment is kept nice with decent upgrades, and the rent is not excessive compared to similar rents in the market).
It is better, I think, to accept the fact that people are going to move when they move. One can’t always predict far in advance when a closing will occur when purchasing a home, or when renovations on a new home will be finished if they are renovating before moving in, or when a new job causes a move, or a family member’s illness, or any of the other myriad reasons that prompt tenants to move on a date other than their lease termination date.
If your tenants have been good tenants for four years, which it sounds like they have been, it is better to just work with them. By letting you know they want a 6-month lease, they have given you notice that you may need to rerent sometime this year. Better to keep communication lines open so the transition works as smoothly as possible for both parties, I would think.
I say for both parties, becau se with good communication, you will have notice of termination to start showing the place, knowing when it will be available. And, in actuality, as you know, you can’t force a tenant to move out when you want them to anyway – if there’s a delay in their plans, evicting them would take time, money and aggravation you are better off avoiding by just collecting (accepting) the rent while they are there instead.
I’m glad the landlords I had before purchasing a coop weren’t jerks about the fact that I couldn’t control when I would close. I had been a good tenant for 4+ years when I let them know I was looking to buy (I had to have them sign a letter that I’d paid my rent on time for my mortgage application under the old mortgage underwriting standards.) Then there was a few months delay that was not mine to control, so instead of closing in fall, I closed in early January. I kept them informed of the process timing; they were totally patient, as they likely recognized that I would move when I could move.
They were left to show the place in, yes, December – two brokers came be with customers one Sunday afternoon, and one of them took the place. My landlords were happy because they hadn’t realized the rents had gone up much higher than the more modest increases they’d charged me over the course of my tenancy – they were happy to get 150% of what I was last paying from the new tenant.
If they had told me I had to move to a temporary place to accommodate some notion that they couldn’t rent the place near year end, I wouldn’t have moved anyway – no way could I afford to move my stuff twice. But then, I always signed a year’s lease (so my lease was good ’til summer), because you never know what might happen with plans you have – and one can always break a lease. Your tenants have possibly simply made the mistake of being upfront with you, and your reaction is to make them pay for that.
It is better to accept that tenants are people you can work with, rather than to perceive them as means to maximizing every penny of your profit, especially when it is based on some dubious notion that you can’t rent a place in the winter. Remember that you can’t control when people move, but you can work with them, and avoid causing unnecessary aggravation (and potentially monetary loss) for yourself by your own actions.
You might even end up better off (more rent from the next tenant.) If they are willing to sign a 6-month lease, I’m guessing they plan to be out well before that and have built in some time for potential delay, so you will probably be renting it out again well before December. Even if it is December, many people like to move around year end, as it is often much easier to take time off from work to move at that time of year.

colonialrevival | 2 years and 3 months ago
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It sounds like your tenants are being open with you about their intentions, have been good tenants, and are anticipating a life change. Why make their life more stressful than necessary? It’s free to be kind.

Guest User | 2 years and 3 months ago
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I have seen rent prices drop as much as 25% in the dead of winter versus height of competitive summer rental market. I have met several rental tenants over the years who prefer to rent during winter because it is seasonally a renter’s market instead of a landlord’s market. The only thing I tell those kind of tenants is yes the market is softer in winter for renters, but the trade off is less options to choose from due to lower supply

cate | 2 years and 3 months ago
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We have rented in the winter and found incredible tenants who stayed for eight years .The season would not have changed the amount of rent we were asking. We have subsequently been inundated with potential tenants in early August but none of them worked out. The worst season for us to rent and have move-ins has been July and August because of the terrible heat. Also while we have sometimes been able to show and rent the place while it is still occupied, we have found it works best to have a few weeks between tenants to allow for any necessary repairs. Asking for a fee of a month’s rent to break a lease early seems compelling although we have not tried it. We’re small time landlords who live in the place. We’re not an investment company with hundreds of units running a business. I would go with the flow and keep the lines of communication open as others here have suggested.

mozeeatupu | 2 years and 3 months ago
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Are tenants dictating lease terms now? Give them 12 months, with a flexible penalty for leaving early if you want. Almost guarantee they will not vacate after 6 months.

NewOwner | 2 years and 3 months ago
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I think your last option provides the most flexibility for everyone. Do a standard 12 month lease and let them know that you’d be flexible about a 6 month move-out but only if you can get a new tenant lined up – and that you may need their support to find a good replacement tenant. Otherwise they would need to be on the hook for the rest of the lease. This assumes your rent is reasonable and comfortably within market.
For what it’s worth, I’ve had no trouble with winter rentals, but I keep my rent low so that I can have my pick of good tenants.

lucie | 2 years and 3 months ago
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Much better then our former tenants. They did not utter a word then suddenly at the end of August told us that they are closing in mid September. Also, they asked for prorated rent and their deposit back.

lucie | 2 years and 3 months ago
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Much better then our former tenants. They did not utter a word then suddenly at the end of August told us that they are closing in mid September. Also, they asked for prorated rent and their deposit back.

stoopsitter | 2 years and 3 months ago
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I agree with other posters that it’s best to be flexible if you can. Karma, and all that. One way to handle a mid-winter vacancy is to make the first lease 15 months, instead of 12. That’ll push the renewal into Spring. Then revert to a standard 12-month term. Finding a new apartment is such a hassle that most new tenants won’t have a problem committing to a few more months than usual. I’ve done this myself and it’s a simple solution.

eg66bk | 2 years and 3 months ago
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what about a 3 month extension and that way you can prepare better new tenants?, then address it again with them

Archiefina | 2 years and 3 months ago
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The burden shouldn’t fall on you to find a replacement tenant in the winter. You also don’t want to be a jerk. I would provide a 9 month lease, at your 5% increase, that gets you to the end of March (or 10 months, if that’s the math). If they are reasonable, they should understand that it’s unreasonable to ask you to find tenants in the winter, and accept that you are doing your best to be fair. If that doesn’t work for them, and they decide not to renew, I wouldn’t feel bad at all (and you’ll probably be able to re-rent at perhaps more than the 5% increase).

rashanti12a | 2 years and 3 months ago
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Given that they have reliably rented from you for four years, I would give them the flexibility of the 6 month lease. It may mean that they’re planning on moving on… such is life, right? But at least they’re prepared to give you time to plan your next step. Archiefina makes a good point though. Perhaps 9 months is a good negotiation that works well for both parties.