Renting

[Luis Saez]

Would it be better to do a month to month lease agreement for a new tenant whose credentials are questionable so as to see how they are before doing a one year lease?

[Marcia Maynard]

Some of the factors to consider are location specific, because of how landord-tenant laws work in each jurisdiction and whether you are in a cold weather state and want to discourage a move-out during the winter months.  If can be harder to re-rent during the holidays and winter months, some landlords will set in place a lease that expires at a better time of year, like spring or summer.   However, tenants will move when they want to move regardless if they have a lease or not.  Longer leases will not allow you to raise the rent when you want to, as you are locked in with your current rent for the duration of the lease.

Month-to-Month is our preference.  If a tenant becomes a problem, we can easily raise rent to cover our extra work or to encourage the tenant to voluntarily move out.  We can also serve a no cause 20-day "Notice to Terminate Tenancy" to force a move.  For non-payment of rent, we serve the 3-day notice.  We can evict "for cause" too, but that requires proving the cause in court.  It is much easier to evict using our "no cause" option, which we are lucky to have in Washington State (with the exception of Seattle).  The "no cause" option may not be available in your jurisdiction.

Like others have said, thorough tenant screening in the first place is key.  That starts by establishing clear and reasonable rental criteria.  Also you must have a well written rental agreement and be ready to swiftly enforce it.