Is it him or is it me?

[Dustin Hughes]

Brief background: I still own rental property and relocated from TX to AL in 2017. I decided to rent a house for a year to decide where I’d prefer to live long term instead of rushing. Straight to the point: I am buying my next home end of Feb and my current lease is not over until end of Apr. I have notified the owner the the house could be ready for a new tenant early as Mid-March. His response: “I prefer to hold you to the end of the agreed upon lease and have no intention to find another tenant early.” My question to the Bigger Pockets members: as a landlord myself, I cannot see any advantages. What am I missing here? Any idea why the owner would show no interest in another placement? (He is not likely to move in—this is one of at least two rentals I know he owns) Just seems like he had the advantage of early warning. I guess I can say my conscience is clear for trying—but that’s why I’m posting this—I want to make sure I am not missing some perspective and it’s kind of driving me crazy. Thanks for any useful feedback.

[JD Martin]

Possibilities:

1. It is easier to find tenants in May than March. I know it's that way where my properties are.

2. There's no advantage to the landlord to have to get the place ready earlier in the process. Every turnover costs money and energy, such that a turnover every 12 months is better than every 10 months.

3. He plans his vacancies/possible vacancies in some orderly fashion and thus may already be working on other vacancies in March. We try to stagger our lease end dates for this very reason (within the parameters of summer) so that everything doesn't empty at once. 

4. He's bitter that you're leaving.

5. The timing is inconvenient to him for some other reason - vacation, etc.

In any case, you asked why the owner would show no interest in another placement - but he's going to have to place a tenant anyway, whether it's mid-March or the beginning of May. Personally, if you were leaving anyway, and had paid March in full and had given proper notice such that it could start to be advertised just before you left, I would probably be inclined to give it a try, but your rationale is really one to your advantage than to the landlord's advantage. You can turn it around, if you were in the shoes, and change some of the dates and times around, and see how it would suck for you if the situation were reversed.