Tenant lease with a tired rent structure?

[Kevin Phillips]

I have a triplex which, based on our planned maintenance schedule, will have the roof replaced, siding fixed up (siding is already newer), trim paint and new exterior porch/stairs in the spring of 2022.

One of the tenants, who also just reached his lease term, gave notice.  He's a great tenant and I while I don't want to see him go, there is an opportunity to bring the rent for that unit up almost 25%.

The question I'd like to pose is, for the next tenant, has anyone written a lease where months 1-6 would be at one rate and months 7-12 at another?  We intended to raise the rent on the other two units when the work is done while pointing out the investment we are making in the building.  I don't expect we can bring someone in at a premium rent with the exterior looking like it does need the maintenance and I don't expect they'd be comfortable paying it based on a promise of a future upgrade.

My plan B was to inform them of the upgrades up front and offer two options.  Either a 12 month lease at rate X but to know that a renewal or month 13 would be at rate Y OR incentivize them to go with a longer 18-24 month lease with an amount that is a premium to current rent X but still not market rate Y.

Appreciate the feedback.

[Colleen F.]

@Kevin Phillips  Your rent should be at market for the space.  So the exterior may not have as big an impact.  You might say the rent is x  but we are offering an  x month discount because of xyz (inconvenience?).    Or you could just average the difference and charge that for the entire duration. You don't want to talk about the investment in the building as a cause for the increase, what they care about is what they pay for their unit.    Don't incentivize a longer lease, it doesn't buy you anything, people break leases all the time