New Landlords, Inherited tenants, Upcoming renewal

[Billy Cha]

Hi All,

My Wife and I recently acquired our 1st rental property and inherited long term tenants along with the existing lease. Now the lease is set to expire soon and we'd like to increase the rent and incorporate a couple of our preferred policies in a new lease. Can anyone share their experience navigating the introduction of a new lease to existing tenants? 

We'd hate to scare them off with A. rent increase and B. a stack of lease documents but the rent is well below comps and has never been increased (going on 4 years) and the original lease was very general. I'm typically "by the book" and someone who likes to follow the rules strictly. My wife on the other hand is the compassionate one who is typically more accommodating. Now we're stuck with finding a balance of how much to increase rent and which policies to keep or modify knowing we don't necessarily agree with them. 

We'd love to hear what your experience was like.