Current tenant want month to month after current lease expires

[Don Chen]

I have difficult dilemma with one of my rental properties. The current lease expires on 7-31-16. This is a great time to get a new tenant. The current tenant does not want to renew for long-term lease. They want to do a month to month or 3 month short term lease. The reason is they are interested in buying a house on their own in the future. They have been great tenant always paid rent on time. I am not big fan of month to month or 3 month lease. Because if I do a month to month lease or 3 month lease it will be more difficult to find new tenants in November and December. The current property could be vacant all the way to March of next year. I am trying to figure out what is best way to handle this situation. I would appreciate if someone could offer some advice on what is the best way to handle this dilemma.

[Jennifer Bennett]

The reality is that they will leave whenever they want, regardless of a 1 yr lease or month to month. Is this property in Texas? If so, you shouldn't have problems renting it out, even in fall/winter. It's just a little slower than the crazy months of May-August. I would bump them up to market rate (which in DFW area is quite high right now) and just allow them to go month to month.