When do you sign the new lease?

[Brett M.]

My tenants 1 year lease is up July 31. They want to resign for another year.

What day are we supposed to meet up to sign the new 1 year contract?

I wasn't sure if I'm supposed to wait until August 1st to sign it or what typical protocol was

[Samantha Klein]

I'd get it signed very soon. Typically I sign them if I am using a 1 year lease, I sign a new one 60 days before the old one expires

[Kelly Skeval]

I deal mostly with college students who are looking to secure housing sometimes 9-10 months in advance and I'll have them sign a new lease for the following school year at that point if it's been a good situation. For my non student rentals, I will usually give a heads up 3 months prior to the end of their lease that I need to know if they're interested in resigning in the next month. Then 60 days prior to the end of the current lease I either resign them or start advertising the apartment for rent. As for when to allow them to resign....if I like the tenant and they're interested in renewing their lease then I get them signed as quickly as possible. I want to lock them in before they can change their mind.

[Paul Vincent]

You can sign any day before and even after the end of the lease. Of course, before the close of the lease is best.

[Thomas S.]

Assuming he has been a good tenant why not simply allow him to go M2M. This will benefit both landlord and tenant when a good relationship in in place. Landlord has ability to non renew if things do turn bad and tenant is able to give notice when/if their life changes without having the stress of having to break a lease. 

Ultimately tenants will always leave when necessary, regardless of a lease, so why not make life easier for everyone.

[Ryan Murdock]

Originally posted by @Thomas S.:

Assuming he has been a good tenant why not simply allow him to go M2M. This will benefit both landlord and tenant when a good relationship in in place. Landlord has ability to non renew if things do turn bad and tenant is able to give notice when/if their life changes without having the stress of having to break a lease. 

Ultimately tenants will always leave when necessary, regardless of a lease, so why not make life easier for everyone.

I'm a big fan of M2M leases for the reasons stated but the risk is the tenant leaves in a cold winter month when it's very difficult to re-rent. With a long term lease they may still leave anyways but it's likely they will be obligated to continue paying rent until such time you have found a new tenant.  This alone may motivate them to stay put and honor the rest of the lease term.

If I am going to renew a long term lease I try and do it 30 +/- days prior to the expiration of the current lease. That way I know for sure whether or not they intend to stay. If not, I want to start advertising for a new tenant immediately.

[Thomas S.]

The major plus side I have found in the M2M is that tenants are far more upfront regarding their plans. You will generally have months of notice when they need to leave as opposed to the minimum when a tenant is looking at breaking a lease. You should rarely have a vacancy with M2M where as when a tenant on term must move they will not thing twice about breaking a lease any time of the year and will give minimum amount of notice.

With a term lease landlords are obligated to find new tenants any way and very few will actually take a tenant to court that refuses to pay a lease breaking penalty so there really is no value in a lease. It may be different if landlords actually enforced their leases by very few actually do. Most have a defeatist attitude and simply let their tenants walk away scot free. 9 times in 10 a landlord will be on the losing end when a tenant leaves mid lease.

I have never believed a tenant needing to move will give any consideration to a lease.

[Ryan Murdock]

I'm surprised at this @Thomas S. You're usually pretty militant with your standards. Figured you may have had 10 year residential leases locked down. Haha.

I do both M2M and 12 month leases - depends on the situation. If we weren't so weather dependent here it would likely be all M2M.

And I absolutely agree that a tenant wanting to leave will often burn you without hesitation, it's just nice to occasionally be able to burn them back by keeping them on the hook for rent through the end of the term. It's especially useful if you're already holding last month's rent and a security deposit.