Don’t Forget to Renew Your Leases

We are a landlord’s rights firm, choosing to represent only residential property owners and not tenants (we do represent commercial tenants).  A frequent mistake that we see is landlords failing to renew their leases in writing at or prior to the time they expire.  When they have a good paying tenant, many landlords want to avoid causing problems by simply letting the tenant continue under the terms of the written lease as they currently exist.

This approach can become a problem if the tenant stops paying rent or some other reason arises for wanting the tenant to vacate the premises (creating a nuisance, letting unauthorized people move in to the property, taking in a pet in violation of clear lease terms, etc.).  The legal obligations of both the tenant and the landlord may or may not be the same as they were when the written lease was in effect.  The lack of a written lease could slow down or even prevent you from evicting the tenant if that becomes necessary.

Pre-lawsuit termination notices can be different when a lease has expired.  Also, you may be able to seek double rent against a holdover tenant but only if certain statutory requirements are met.  Your eviction case will proceed much more smoothly if a written lease is in effect.

If you are a landlord having trouble with a tenant, feel free to contact us for assistance.