Tenant doesn’t want to move out & demanding 6mnth lease extention

[Primrose Nyahwai]

Hi Everyone,

I really appreciate all great pieces of advice you’ve to give here and I already regret for not asking sooner. So, I got my first and only property in 2019 - it’s a 2 bed 2 bath apartment in Jersey city where I live in one bedroom and rent out the other - kitchen and living room are fully furnished. Land-lording has been fairly easy with my first tenant and I never had to do much. However with the tenant I currently have, I’m losing my mind. Things had been great the first 10 months until recently. She had reached out to me stating that she is not renewing the lease as her goal was to move into her own place where she doesn’t share. I said no problem- this is what she really communicated when she initially moved in. 2 hours later of the same day she came to me and said she wanted to reverse her decision and extend because upon discussing her situation with the urgent she was working with, it was best to stay and fix other things that she was currently chasing in her life. I then said ok, I could extend but I want to give you 2 weeks to think about it since you sound a bit confused. I also offered to extend by 6 months instead of 12 if that was a better situation for her but only on the contingent basis my agent advised I wasn’t taking too much risk letting her out during Feb when it’s really cold and people aren’t really looking as much.

Sure enough I checked in with her in 2 weeks to have her decide on what worked for her and she said she is ok with either 6 or 12 months. I then told her if I were to choose, I would go 12 months since that’s what is convenient to me and she agreed.

However, later that month (July) she start acting weirdly. Sending her rent late without asking for approval, Coming back home at 4 am making loud noises, and cooking and setting the fire drill on during those late hours. One day I then told her to close her door and ton it down and that is when issues started. She reached out to me now wanting to change her mind and have 6 months instead. I was having weird feelings about this whole idea and wanted her to leave actually since the new lease wasn’t signed and she had started acting very entitled. I said if we’ve to extend then we need to set new rules for the ground. When I told her she needed to send her rent on time and be more respective otherwise she needed to leave at the end of the month when the lease expires on Aug 31st. That’s when we started disagreeing and she was cursing and telling me that she pays me when she wants and when she gets paid. She said she is not moving, and is demanding me to extend the lease because she knows her rights -since we’re in COVID I’ve to work with her until she is ready to move and she needs 6 months to be ready.

Honestly I feel scared in my own house since she threatened the other day. I feel like extending the lease is going to throw me into my own jail for another 6 months but I’m worried too that she might take advantage of me and stop paying. What do I need to do??