Renewal of rental agreement - Landlord Forum thread

Renewal of rental agreement by SD (Florida) on February 22, 2012 @18:46

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Our current tenants agreement ends in April and they want to continue for next one year. We got these tenants from an real estate firm. My questions are:
1)do we have to go through this real estate firm again for renewing or we can do it independently.
2)should we check the house before we renew the agreement for next one year.
3)should we increase the rent.If yes, what is the standard?

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Re: Renewal of rental agreement by Jake on February 22, 2012 @19:13	[ Reply ]

1. Will you be expecting the property manager to handle your property another year. Does the property manager only collect the rent? 2. Always check the house before every renewal. You may find it a wreck. You need to make this inspection personally with the property manager. 3. Many are not increasing the rent during these times. Remember, it is easy to raise the rent. But you still have to find someone to pay it. Make sure the property manager is not putting his deadbeat relatives in your rental. Have you seen the applications, the completed lease, the credit reports and the criminal background checks?

Re: Renewal of rental agreement by Anonymous on February 22, 2012 @19:25	[ Reply ]

1. You can do it independently 2 Yes, you should check the house. Schedule an inspection prior to any lease signing. There is no need to tell the tenants that this is in relation to the lease renewal. It is wise to inspect the property periodically-at a minimum, yearly. 3. An increase in rent is up to you. Take a look at the expenses you pay for the house-mortgage, property taxes, utilities, if you pay for any. If these have increased, then it is reasonable that you may want to work in an increase. However, if these are good tenants and the property is well maintained, then maybe you wish to keep rent the same if your expenses increased minimally as it will cost you more money to re-rent the place between advertising and screening new applicants and hoping they are good ones. Most states require the landlord to give written notice of a rental increase. This can vary from 30 days to 90 days. Check with your state's law on this matter. How much you may increase also depends on if you are in a rent controlled area or not.

Re: Rent increase by Anna Mouse on February 23, 2012 @11:23	[ Reply ]

How you determine if you should in crease the rent is by studying your market. You need to have statistics that shows what houses like yours are renting for in your area. I have been watching the properties in my area for the last year and have a chart that details the following. Address, what the street is like, how close to the highway and downtown, square feet, number of bathrooms, garage, finishes. I even know how many accept dogs and or cats and what properties provide lawn service, utilities ect. With all this information you will be able to conclude what the fair market rent is for your property. If you are close to the correct price but you see rents are trending upward then it is a bad idea to not give a small increase. A small increase every year is far easier for the tenant than a large increase every three years. Someone is not going to move over a very small increase but they may move over a large one especially if they can find a same proeprty for less. It is your responsibility to keep your property at market price. For a larger increases you need to factor in one months rent being empty. After knowing your market you know what you could rent the property for. Make sure that if you give your tenant a large increase that you could rent it out and make the additional profit that would cover that months rent.

Good input, Anna Mouse!

Re: Renewal of rental agreement by SD (FL) on March 1, 2012 @23:40	[ Reply ]

Thanks for all your replies. As suggested we will check the house before we renew the contract with our current tenant for one more year.How should we handle if we find any issue?