Can landlord change lease term from annual to month2month?

[Qiu Jennifer]

Hi all, 

I have a tenant that signed a 18 months lease and kept delaying on their rent payment in the first 6 months. We have a clause in the original contract saying that if they cannot get caught up on payment by the end of the 6th month, the lease agreement will be terminated. Now walking towards the end of the 6th month and they haven't paid in full, can I terminate the contract by giving them 30 or 60 days to move out by the end of the month？If they do not leave by the move out deadline, can I start eviction process? Or as plan B, can I change the current lease to a month to month lease? They are still paying but very late each month, so I'm afraid of them becoming no-pay tenants down the road. Any comments would be greatly appreciated!

[JD Martin]

Quote from @Qiu Jennifer:

Hi all, 

I have a tenant that signed a 18 months lease and kept delaying on their rent payment in the first 6 months. We have a clause in the original contract saying that if they cannot get caught up on payment by the end of the 6th month, the lease agreement will be terminated. Now walking towards the end of the 6th month and they haven't paid in full, can I terminate the contract by giving them 30 or 60 days to move out by the end of the month？If they do not leave by the move out deadline, can I start eviction process? Or as plan B, can I change the current lease to a month to month lease? They are still paying but very late each month, so I'm afraid of them becoming no-pay tenants down the road. Any comments would be greatly appreciated!

 Whatever your lease & the law says, you should begin the eviction process as soon as they have not paid by the due date. As soon as they realize you are serious about evicting them, you'll either get them evicted through the courts or they'll get serious about paying on time. 

On a side note: I would not give anyone a lease longer than 12 months. Now you see why. In my state you can post "pay or quit" on the 3rd day and post a late fee on the 5th day. I warn all tenants who give me whatever story on why rent is late or going to be late, that they will be getting a POQ notice on the 3rd day and a late fee on the 5th, I don't care if it's because their employer burned down or thieves stole all their money or their grandma needed an emergency appendectomy. Amazingly, they suddenly figure out that they happened to leave some spare rent money under the mattress or their rich uncle left them a bond they can cash out. But my state is a pretty quick evict state, our rents are somewhat below market, and we have extremely high demand. If I have to boot someone I'll have it re-rented for more money in a week and the person getting booted will probably be living under the bridge as they won't find anything as cheap as me.