Lease renewal options

[JB B.]

hi,

I have a tenant in a property who is starting to have difficulties making his rent payments. so far he has been paying on time, but recently, he has warned me ahead that he is waiting for client's payments (he is a contractor) to have the funds to pay the rent. His business has suffered due to the pandemic and the lack of demand for his services.

2 weeks ago he asked me that he would like to extend his lease for another year; the lease does not expire until the end of May (30 days notice). 

knowing the difficulties he starts to have with rent payments and the line of business he is in, i don't expect his financial situation to improve anytime soon.

In order to avoid an eventual non payment of rent and eviction procedure (complicated during Covid), I was thinking about doing a month to month lease instead of a term lease. That way, should he not pay his rent, i would not renew the lease going forward. Is that a viable option ? any input, help or guidance would be great.

Thank you all!

JB

[Nathan Gesner]

I agree that there's too much risk involved. Keep him on a month-to-month. I also recommend you talk to him about trying to get ahead, even if he just pays a little extra every 2-4 weeks until he's a full month ahead. That gives him an additional 30 days to collect funds on contracts.