Tenant Departure, what is the procedure?

[Petur Karlsson]

Hello everyone! 

The time has come... my first tenant departure.

They are not renewing their annual lease which expires January 31st. Their reason for departing is that they're buying a house but otherwise they have been rock star tenants. I don't think I'll have any issues with them vacating the property in time, but I'm wondering... 

Am I supposed to send them an official notice to vacate or anything similar? How do you "officially" resign the lease? Since leases automatically renew upon their expiration unless otherwise disclosed, I want to make sure I'm doing this correctly.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much everybody!

Ps.

I have a move-in move-out check list and plan to walk the property with them on the last day to verify the conditions before returning the security deposit. 

Anything else I should bear in mind when it comes to ending this tenant-landlord relationship?