Early Lease Renewal - any reason not to?

Question

I have a tenant whose lease expires in September (I know not a good time to have a lease expire especially when you live in Ohio). He has indicated to me that he does not mind renewing his lease early. I also want to keep him and fine with renewing now

Question is - is there any law against renewing lease early that anyone knows? If both landlord and tenant agree to it. Our lease agreement states lease will renew automatically unless they give at least 30 days notice to move. He told me he has no plans to move.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

Rather than a "renewal" you could just sign an extension. Extend his existing lease 12 months. A hand-written note and signatures by all parties is sufficient.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

@Fidelis O. a lease can be modified at any time with landlord and tenant agreement. If there is overlap, you may want to have them sign and agreement terminating the old lease at the same time you sign the new lease. If I have leases come due in the fall or winter, I usually have the renewal extend to May or June. For example, renew in September and I may do an 8 month lease or a 20 month lease. The goal is to force renewals to the begging of nice weather. It is just easier to find tenants that time of year - in colder climates especially. If your tenant wants to renew right now, maybe consider having it be an 11 month lease, so it comes due beginning of June instead of July.

Ryan B. · Answer

@Fidelis O. If you don’t like having the lease end in September, offer a renewal for 10 months, or whatever length you want so that the end date is where you want it.  I routinely do this to get leases that end in summer.

Percy Matsunaga · Answer

@Fidelis O.

I have a property in CA and the tenant renews 1 month early. I think as long as they sign the lease with the understanding that it starts on a specific month, you should be fine.

Btw why is Sept not a good month not to have a tenant? Is it because of the weather?

Early Lease Renewal - any reason not to?

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