Inheriting Month-to-Month Tenants

[Daniel Kramer]

A duplex I am looking at is currently occupied with two month-to-month tenants. I've read a lot about inheriting tenants, but nothing about inheriting month-to-month tenants. I'm not sure why, if they are both currently looking at buying houses or if the current owner was nice enough to give them an out if they don't like the new landord... No idea. What are some advantages or disadvantages of this situation? Would you try to get them on a 12-month lease after the first month or let them roll with their current situation? I want to be firm in getting things straight from the beginning but I also don't want to eat vacancy right off the bat.

Thanks!

[Thomas S.]

When a tenant signs a term lese it places them in full control of your property for the duration. As a landlord your only option when a tenant turns bad would be to evict, stressful and expensive.

With a M2M lease the landlord remains in full control and can non renew a lease when necessary. Tenants are fully aware of this and are highly motivated to adhere to the landlords requests.

Keep in mind a lease has no bearing on when tenants leave. They will break a lease at will when ever they deem it necessary.

I only use M2M leases with all tenants and have done so for 10 years without issue. They auto renew monthly and can be terminated by either party with 60 days notice.