Refuse signing the lease

[Tarcizio Goncalves]

Hi everyone,

I inherited a tenant when I bought my owner occupied 2-family. The tenants lease is up so being proactive, I met with a lawyer to help me put together a strong lease. Gave the lease that my lawyer and I crafted to the tenants and they said that they are not signing the lease because they never saw a lease that had so much details on it. They are not comfortable signing it. Going to meet with them tomorrow and see why they are so uncomfortable about signing the lease. 

These are good tenants and I hate to see them go. I want to keep them around but if they don't sign my lease, I am going to have to serve them a 60-day notice. Am I over reacting about this? If I serve them a 60 day notice, that means that I will have an empty apartment in the middle of winter which isn't the best. Just wondering if any landlord has been in my shoes and if there is any advice that could be shared with me. 

Thank you 

[JD Martin]

Seems to me your options are pretty clear. If you want to keep these tenants, you either have to lighten up the lease or just keep them as is. Otherwise, you give them their marching orders. What's more important, your lease or having the apartment occupied right now?

You could find a happy medium; keep them on their existing setup until spring, then give them their walking papers.