I recently acquired a 12 units apartment in Tennessee and self-managed since I want to get experience in management. I need to renew all my tenants' leases so I went ahead and served them a letter like what's at the bottom.
I wanted to offer the tenant some incentive with monthly rent if they sign the lease early with rent increasing earlier than 90 days. One of my tenants seems to have misunderstood and thinks the $800 rent offer still applies if they sign the lease early and pay rent of $800 starting from February 1, 2023. I feel like did make a mistake of not explicitly saying when the lease would start.
Now I am not sure what I should do. Try explaining what I want to offer to the tenant. None of my tenants have signed the lease yet. I want to make the terms I am offering clear to the tenants.
This is the letter I sent to tenants about the rent offerings.
Dear Tenant,
Thank you for your tenancy at Apartment! We’ve really appreciated having you here. It is a privilege to be able to work with you, and we thank you for your business.
According to our records, it appears that your lease term is coming up and, as such, we need to discuss your future plans. Due to the naturally increasing cost of property taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs of the building. In order to keep pace with those expenses the cost of renting your home will increase as well. The state of Tennessee requires that you are served with a 30-day written notice of a change in your rent. We are serving you a 90-day written notice of a change in your rent.
Please choose from one of the following options for your future at your home.
Sign a new one-year lease at $850 per month, which will begin on February 1, 2023, and end on January 31, 2024.
Sign a new six-month lease at $875 per month, which will begin on February 1, 2023, and end on Jul 31, 2023.
Sign a new month-to-month lease at $900 per month, which will begin on February 1, 2023.
DISCOUNTED RATE: One-year lease at $800 per month if the lease is signed before November 30, 2022. Six-Month lease at $850 per month if the lease is signed before November 30, 2022. The deadline for both of these offers is November 30, 2022.
Please return this form and let us know your plans by November 4, 2022, so we can make that work for you. You can email the form or call us.
NOTE: The old owner had an agreement where the tenant and landlord have to give 90 days' notice for any changes(Termination, rent increase, etc..).
