Month to Month as a protection from Eviction Moratorium

[Shanna Vataj]

We are in NY, a very tenant-friendly state but in an area where rents are very high. I met with a client yesterday to list his 3bed 1 bath for rent. Typically we would ask for a 1-year lease and 1m security (max here in NY).

He is concerned about non-paying tenants and people working the system. The last tenants stopped paying in Nov racking up 13k in missed rent. The lease ended on Jan 15 and they never left. He got them out by raising their rent $400 each month until they asked a judge and left because he said it was legal.

On paper - He wants to do a month-to-month now so that he can raise rents on a tenant to get them to leave if they stop paying. Off paper-He will treat it as a 1-year lease and only raise the nominal annual amount.

It sounds like a pretty straightforward plan as long as the lease is written properly and given we can find someone to rent with these one-sided terms.

How do I word this when writing the lease? Month to Month lease with $400 monthly rent increase after 30 days non-payment?

Example of his plan if non-payment:

Month 1-7 2600.

Tenant stops paying on time

Month 8 - grace period (were all human and this gives them time to pay)

Month 9 3000

Month 10 3400

Month 11 3800....

[Jon Kelly]

@Shanna Vataj If a tenant is not paying rent, how will increasing rent encourage the tenant to leave? It just leaves the landlord with a larger uncollectable balance. 

If it's a month-to-month lease and the tenant does not pay, you can simple provide notice to the tenant the landlord will not renew the lease. The landlord does not need to provide reason why they are choosing to not renew.