Options for ending / inducing end of month to month lease

[Nikolas K.]

Hi All,

We have tenants whose lease has transformed into a month to month lease after initially being a 6-month lease. We have a verbal agreement that they will go month to month while home shopping but convert back into a longer term lease in a few months. Of course this is well intentioned but a little ambiguous with our interests being on total opposite ends of the spectrum. 

I understand that in Seattle the landlord cannot terminate a month to month lease unless any of some 18 conditions are met. So I dont think that is an option... However we believe that we may submit new lease agreement to them, with 60 days notice, increasing the month-to-month rent and they will then have 30 days to decide.

- Does this sound accurate?

- Are there any gotchas / fine points to this plan?

- Can we submit a new lease agreement with different rates for long-term leasing and month-to-month leasing? I am thinking that a more expensive month-to-month rent would incentivize them to consider signing a longer-term lease while they home shop or what not. At the moment they are behaving rationally and opting to stay month-to-month -- I do not want to raise rents, they have been great, I just also do not want to be left holding the bag in the fall and summer since it is historically harder to rent the unit out then.

Thank you!

N