How far in advance to lock in renewal of lease?

[Lucky Recardito]

How far in advance of the lease end date do folks here contact renters to find out if they plan to stay another year or not?

DH and I are brand-new landlords with inherited tenants (came with the 2-flat we bought mid-lease), so we're tackling renewal time as landlord virgins. The tenants are great (and we know they lived there for several years before we bought the building), and we hope they want to stay.

Landlord/tenant codes in our city stipulate that if they are not renewing, we can begin showing the apartment from 60 days before the end of the lease. I'm interpreting this to mean that I can ask them to sign or decline by that 2-month-prior mark (and list/show the apartment if they decline).

Lease ends 4/30/2017 -- I'm planning to contact them at the start of the new year (right after the holidays) to ask their plans, and give them a deadline of 2/28 to confirm yay or nay.

Does this seem roughly appropriate?

[clarkfan1979]

My two leases state that tenants must let me know 180 days in advance, if they want to re-new. I do this to protect myself. However, as long as they end up being good tenants, I ask for 120 days advance notice on one house and 90 days on the other. They are college rentals that typically rent out 2-3 months before vacancy.

[marty998]

90 days is the standard where we are. As long as you comply with your local legislation it's up to you. Tenants and landlords play by the same rules.... so they may be expecting a call around February.

[Lucky Recardito]

Awesome. Thanks, both!

I'll do more reading on both city and state statutes, but will aim for a 90-day commitment (rather than 60) assuming that's allowed.

[mskyle]

Awesome. Thanks, both!

I'll do more reading on both city and state statutes, but will aim for a 90-day commitment (rather than 60) assuming that's allowed.

I think what is customary in your area is almost as important as what you're legally allowed to do - if you're requiring 90 days notice and all the other landlords are requiring 30 days notice that's going to make you less attractive to some renters. And if other landlords aren't requiring such long notice, you won't necessarily be able to find good tenants 3 months in advance either, because they won't have decided yet whether they're moving or not.

I've rented in areas where it was customary to get a formal notice about re-signing a lease 6 months in advance and areas where I got a phone call about renewing 30-60 days in advance. In general my impression is that places where all rentals turn over in the same month (college towns, e.g.) and places where demand for rentals is low tend to want longer notice periods than places where turnovers are distributed throughout the year and there is a lot of demand. It seems easiest to be in sync with the local market.

[jinga nation]

We send out a notice for renewal 60-days prior to lease end, they have at least 30 days to ponder and look around unless they are renewing. They have to provide notice of non-renewal at least 30 days prior to lease end. Most of our tenants renew or provide notice to leave around the 45-day mark.

[Lucky Recardito]

This is helpful, all. Sounds like I need to do a little basic recon on standard rental timelines in my area. I feel like a dolt, but it's been a decade since I rented myself... so I need to ask around a bit. Seems like the most important thing is to be in tune with the local market, rather than looking for a general rule that applies everywhere.

[njmoney]

I have 90 days written into the lease.  Most of the tenants either don't look at that part of the lease, don't remember it, or in one case the tenant didn't even know what it meant.  I usually contact them a few weeks before the 90 day time period to remind them that their 90 days is coming up soon. 

[NoNonsenseLandlord]

I typically contact them a couple of months out, or not.  I often let it run to a month-to-month lease.  Sometimes with a rent increase, sometimes not.

...and give them a deadline of 2/28 to confirm yay or nay

And what are you going to do if they do nothing?  Increase rent?  Terminate the lease?  When you have a deadline, you better make sure you know what you will be getting into.  Some folks just want to leave the status quo.  Some procrastinate.  Some are not sure.  Some may be buying a house, or getting a divorce.

Know what your backup plan is, it may not be as simple as staying or leaving.

[Lucky Recardito]

I recently had the genius idea to ACTUALLY LOOK AT THE CURRENT LEASE. 2016 has completely roasted my brain, you guys. Why did I not start there?

Current signed lease has this clause: "At the end of this Lease Agreement, this lease will continue in full force and effect on a month to month basis unless Tenant or Landlord provides written notice to the other party at least 30 days before the end of the term (Term of Lease Agreement) to terminate the Lease (including any exercised renewal or extension thereof)."

I strongly suspect our renters will have a plan and will respond to an earlier check-in; if not, we'll get real at the end of March when we hit that 30-day mark. We're in a busy, popular part of the city, and 5/1 is a major lease start date... so I suspect that even a 4/1 posting could net new tenants on 5/1 if we needed it.