Lease offer - Landlord Forum thread 361305

Lease offer by Beverly on June 11, 2021 @14:40

Hi Garry: I gave an UNSIGNED lease to a tenant who wants to connect her unit with with one next door (we own both) and we were going to do this -- I wrote a lease that explained exactly what we were willing to do -- and found out later that day the renovations were going to cost double what we thought ($8000) -- we wrote the lease for 3 years --- she complained and said she thought my husband agreed to 2 years -- he said he never agreed to that, but that she had requested that -- on further thought I would like to rescind the lease offer -- because with that much cost I would want a minimum of at least 5 years which she would not agree to. (She is already renting one unit-- that least is up in Sept or October) --- Can I rescind the offer with no repercussions? I thought probably so since she is able to decline the offer, just making sure, Thanks much!!!

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Re: Lease offer by Garry on June 11, 2021 @20:10	[ Reply ]

Beverly, as Judge Judy would say, You have to have a SIGNED lease by both parties in order for it to be a legally enforceable lease. You apparently don't have that-----there was no "meeting of the minds". And you should NEVER sign a lease longer than 1 year. NO ONE can predict the future, not even by 1 day or 1 week or 1 month------and you want to go for 5 years. 2 things about signing extra long leases---1- It may be illegal in your state to sign a lease longer than 2 years, and 2- If your T breaks the lease mid-term, and you have to go to court, a judge will probably only give you 2-3 months worth of rent, saying that gives you enough time to repair damages, and find a new T. You won't be able to let the property set vacant for 1-3 years (to the end of your lease), and expect the T to come up with $20,000 - $30,000. It simply won't happen. I'm guessing you are doing the remodeling specifically for this tenant only. NEVER do that. If you are going to remodel, do it to add value or to increase rents, no matter WHO lives there. Sign leases 1 year at a time. If everything is "hunky-dory' between you both each year, your T could possibly stay there for 10 years, while renewing the lease each year. I used to go with 1 year leases. But about 12 years ago, I went to month to month leases for everyone, no matter what time of year it was. That way, if I get in a "bad" tenant, I can just give them a 30 day notice to move. Currently, I have 5 tenants (out of 19 places) who have been with me for 5-12 years------all on M2M leases from the beginning.

Re: Lease offer