Month to Month Lease?

[Regina Bailey]

I have a tenant who's been renting for 2 years and usually pays on time, but her lease is expiring at the of end November 2020. I have contacted her asking if she would be renewing her lease for another year.  She replied and said "I would like to do a month to month, if not I will be moving.".  Note that this is not the first time that this has been discussed with tenant upon renewal of lease. And as explained before, we (landlord) don't do month to month and can only give her either a 6 month or 12 month lease. For the record, we have given her 6 month leases for the last year and a half. 

Now my question is, I don't do month to month (too much paper work and uncertainty) but considering COVID times we're living in should I accept the month to month or find another tenant (which isn't guaranteed)?

Thank you in advance.

[Kyle J.]

@Regina Bailey Well your tenant has made her position clear (either she goes MTM or she’s going to move). So I guess the choice is up to you. Personally, if it were up to me, I’d keep her as a tenant and let her go MTM. 

Tenant turnover and vacancy kill landlord’s profits, so I wouldn’t want to force those things before you have to. 

I actually don’t have a problem with MTM tenancies. There’s a lot of benefits for landlords with them (you can change the terms and raise the rents whenever you want, with proper notice, for example). 

Some people think longer leases avoid vacancies. However, the reality is tenants can and do move whenever they want (lease or no lease).

Now, you don’t mention where you’re at, and in some areas there’s some benefit to using a lease if you’re going to time them to not end during winter if you have harsh winters and it’s hard to find tenants during that time where you’re at. However, being in California where I’m at, I don’t have that problem, and you don’t seem to have timed yours in such a way (since your lease is ending at the end of November).

So, if I were in your shoes, I’d just let her go MTM and keep this tenant who pays on time and avoid the vacancy. Just my two cents.