Tenant not signing lease after rent increase

[Maria M.]

Hello everyone, I would like to ask you for advice about this puzzling situation. I inherited tenants on a yearly lease who always paid on time and keep their apartment spotless. Only, their rent is extremely low because they used to do construction work for the previous owner in exchange for a lower rent. I decided to raise their rent $500/month, even though market rates for comparable apartments in that area are $200-$600 higher than that. I even offered to have them repaint the house in exchange for a lower rent, but they refused. I started communicating with them via text messages (they don’t seem to read emails) 4 months in advance about the rent increase and they assured the increase was fine and they wanted to stay. Anyway, in the last two months I was not able to have them sign a new lease. First I sent a DocuSign document and didn’t hear from them for a while, when I re-asked them to sign it, they said they were not able to open it. So I re-sent it , they said it didn’t work again. I gave them a lease in person to review and sign (I gave them the lease first as they mostly speak Spanish and the lease is in English, so I wanted to give them the time to read it). I haven’t heard back from them in a week. I still have about two weeks before the 60 days mark before the end of the lease. Should i send them a rent increase certified letter? I never did, as I thought if they signed the lease that’s a legally binding contract and the letter would be superfluous. Or should I just send them a letter of non renewal of the lease? I was told they have always been good tenants but if their rent is so much below market rate and they are not willing to raise it, it’s not worth keeping them. Unfortunately I can’t just call them to try to clarify what is going on as they speak Spanish and I mostly don’t, so we have to communicate in writing. I would really appreciate your advice, thank you!

[Ray Hage]

Hi there, you'll need a Spanish speaking friend to help you translate and have a phone call with them. Just let them know if they are not willing to sign the lease with the increase that they will need to leave by X date. 

It sounds like they're just playing around and ignoring you. Maybe they are looking for another place as well? But from what you're saying, they won't find a cheaper place because they are so far below market with that increase. Sometimes, you need to be really firm. If after the call, they don't sign the lease within a week, I would probably just tell them, they will need to move out.

[Maria M.]

Quote from @Ray Hage:

Hi there, you'll need a Spanish speaking friend to help you translate and have a phone call with them. Just let them know if they are not willing to sign the lease with the increase that they will need to leave by X date. 

It sounds like they're just playing around and ignoring you. Maybe they are looking for another place as well? But from what you're saying, they won't find a cheaper place because they are so far below market with that increase. Sometimes, you need to be really firm. If after the call, they don't sign the lease within a week, I would probably just tell them, they will need to move out.

Yes, l suppose sometimes you just need to call directly. They finally signed, so the issue was resolved, but thank you for your reply Ray. 

[Ray Hage]

Quote from @Maria M.:

Quote from @Ray Hage:

Hi there, you'll need a Spanish speaking friend to help you translate and have a phone call with them. Just let them know if they are not willing to sign the lease with the increase that they will need to leave by X date. 

It sounds like they're just playing around and ignoring you. Maybe they are looking for another place as well? But from what you're saying, they won't find a cheaper place because they are so far below market with that increase. Sometimes, you need to be really firm. If after the call, they don't sign the lease within a week, I would probably just tell them, they will need to move out.

Yes, l suppose sometimes you just need to call directly. They finally signed, so the issue was resolved, but thank you for your reply Ray. 

 No problem. I am betting they looked around and found that they are still well below market!

[Tim Baldwin]

If the tenancy is at-will, you can deliver written notice of the rent increase by giving the number of days' notice required by F.S. 83.57. 

If the tenancy is a specified lease term under a written agreement, and the lease term has not yet expired, you cannot impose a rent increase during the term, unless the lease agreements provides that you may do so.