drawing up a new lease and have questions?

[Brent Kostner]

My wife and I just bought a 4 Plex on the 31st of march. We are writing up the new leases but having a hard time knowing what we should do. My wife sent out a notice of rent increase to the tenants stating that June 1st rent would be increasing. All of the tenants are currently on a month to month lease. We need to get the new leases drawn up and in our names instead of the old owner because one of the tenants is on section 8 and in order to get section 8 to pay us we need to have the lease agreement in our name. The problem we are having is there is no way to write in our lease with the lease agreement that we have ( we are just using one we paid for that is legally correct for our area, that way we don't screw things up) that the rent is x amount of dollars right now but starting june 1st that it goes up. My question is can i just do a lease addendum and state in the lease addendum that rent is x amount now but starting june 1st it will be x amount. From everything I have read it seems like I should be able to do this. Thoughts??

[Shawn Davis]

Hi Brent - Be sure to check the rules for rent increases and notice required both for your "section 8" and non section 8 clients.  Where I have rentals in Oregon, for my month to month tenants that have been there more than a year, they must be given at least 60 days notice of a rent increase and in certain cases 90.  Also there are no rent increases allowed within the first year of tenancy even if they are on a month to month.  Finally, the subsidized housing vouchers require a year lease and not a month to month.  Just get really clear on what the rules are in your area and don't assume thy are the same for your section 8 as your non-subsidized renters.  Where I am, timely notice is also required to be served on the housing agency providing the vouchers.