The LPA Newsletter
Mid September 2006
Dear Fellow Landlord,
One of the inevitabilities of rentals is that all tenancies have a beginning and an ending. The beginning of a tenancy is usually full of promise and hope. Unfortunately, the ending of a tenancy is usually quite the opposite for many landlords. Preparing properly for a tenant to vacate is one way to save you a lot of money and trouble. This newsletter is a compilation of some of my favorite form downloads articles dealing with the ending of a tenancy.
In this newsletter:
Free Form download in MS Word and PDF of our Notice to Renew Lease or Vacate
I included our LPA article "What do I do when the tenant wants to leave?" to remind / share with you the steps to take and forms to use while the tenant prepares to move out of your rental.
Landlord Do's & Don'ts
Recent Tenant Excuses
Please e-mail us if you have any questions or would like to add or share any material / information. Have a great month.
John Nuzzolese
John@theLPA.com
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Two Forms in One!
The Notice to Renew Lease or Vacate is a combination form which can be used as a lease renewal form or a tenant's notice to vacate. The form provides for a rent increase, as well as the preservation and extension of all the terms and conditions in the lease.
The landlord should send this form to the tenant at least one or two months before lease expiration to give the tenant
an opportunity to consider any rent increase and to respond with enough notice time to vacate or renew tenancy according to lease requirements.
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What do I do when...
The tenant wants to leave?
When a tenant wants to terminate a tenancy, it is done in one of two ways. Either:
in accordance with the lease agreement, or
in violation of the lease agreement.
If your tenant wishes to vacate tenancy properly, it usually means giving you, the landlord written Notice to Vacate in a timeframe outlined by your lease agreement. Normally this allows the landlord enough time to prepare and find a new tenant for re-rental.
The usual steps a lease abiding tenant would take to terminate tenancy are:
- Notify the landlord in writing within the proper number of days notice according to the lease. (Most leases require 30 days written notice before the last day of the last full month of occupance, but many landlords require 60 or more days - In the absence of a written agreement, most states require a minimum of 30 days written notice.)
Keep in mind that a tenant can only give a valid 30, 60 day or whatever notice during a Month to Month tenancy, unless that notice is coordinated with the expiration date of the lease.
The LPA recommends having your tenants use the Tenant's Notice to Vacate Form found in our Free Forms area of this website. I give my tenants a copy of this form along with their copy of the lease agreement so they'll be able to give proper notice to vacate as agreed.
- After notice is given to vacate, you can make arrangements with the tenants to show the rental to new prospective tenants.
- About 2-3 weeks before the tenant's proposed moveout, it is a good idea to send the tenant a Moveout Reminder Letter which instructs the tenant how they are expected to return your rental property to you and where to return the keys in order to get a security refund.
- The Moveout Cleanup & Debris Letter is another reminder letter I like to send. Over the years I have found a definate difference in the way people will leave a rental property when I use this form. Use it. It can only help.
- Inspecting the Rental for Damages: As much as the tenants may want to do a "walk through" with you to confirm that they will get the deposit back, DON'T until after they have moved out. And then do it without the tenants present. There are many reasons I say this.
- Most damages are found after the tenant leaves
- In fairness to the landlord, you can not make a full careful list of security deductions with the tenant watching. It takes time to do a good inspection
- Avoid a confrontation that may cause more damage from a disgruntled tenant at move-out. Let them go out smoothly. Then you are in better control over their refund.
As far as inspecting the property and calculating a refund with your Settlement Charges Guide, Property Condition Report checklist and Security Settlement Statement and handling tenants after they leave, check out our next article, What Do I Do When... the tenant has moved?
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Landlord Do's & Don'ts
After the Tenant has Moved
What The LPA says you should do and shouldn't do:
DO
DON'T
- tell the tenants that they will not be getting their security deposit back- let them see that on the Security Settlement Statement.
- return any security deposit until after tenant vacates and the rental has been inspected for damages
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Tenant Excuses
"I'm not giving half my paycheck to some stupid kid."
I just bought an already occupied three unit rental home, and the tenants in
one apartment seem to have a problem, not only with paying the rent, but
with the fact that I'm 24 as well. Hope they like getting evicted by "some
stupid kid" a little better. - Kendra F.
"My husband is an alcoholic and he has been having blackouts. We don't know what happened to the rent money."
Like this is a legitimate excuse for not paying rent? I think I will include the question of whether the applicant drinks or has done drugs on the rental application next time. - Jesse U., Seaford, NY
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Quotations...
"I will persist until I succeed." - The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino
"You don't save a pitcher for tomorrow. Tomorrow it may rain."
Leo Durocher
"Watch the crowd. Go in the opposite direction." - Robert G. Allen
A Way of Being
- Gary Link, Attorney at Law
"How much did your last tenant problem cost you?"
- John Nuzzolese
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Interested in past LPA Newsletters?
Feel free to view the
LPA Newsletter Archive
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Notice to Renew Lease or Vacate
Notice to Renew Lease or Vacate