Use a Lease Extension or New Lease Contract?

Question

I have wonderful tenants and their lease is ending on August 31. I want to renew at the same terms of the original lease (which was created and provided by my realtor and I dont have access to that document now). Trying to do the lease renewal myself.

Any thoughts as to using the Lease extension vs Lease agreement form?

Tim Baldwin · Answer

You can use a lease extension agreement to renew all of the same terms and conditions of the original lease but with new lease term dates (from new lease date to new end lease date). The time you want to use a new lease agreement or an addendum to reflect new terms and conditions to the original lease is when you have changes you want to incorporate into the new tenancy. Best wishes.

Peter Tverdov · Answer

I could never get our property management company to do a lease extension addendum because we are constantly improving our lease every 1-2 years. Plus some attorneys will argue the extension is not valid or if you are doing an extension to a lease that is weak to begin with it just doesn't help.

Our policy is a new lease every renewal. We do hundreds of lease renewals a year this way and it works well.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

Pen-and-ink changes are allowed on contracts. Add a short statement at the end outlining whatever you are changing, have all parties date and sign, and you are done.

Example: "Landlord and Tenant agree to extend this lease for an additional 12 months with a new termination date of 12/31/2025 and a new rent rate of $1,950.00 per month."

You only need to sign a new lease when (a) the original can't be located, or (b) there are enough changes to justify a new contract.

Thomas Talbert · Answer

The lease extinction form works great if you truly don't want anything to change.

We use the extension form currently but I am thinking about changing that and having people sign a whole new lease every time. I change the wording in my lease it seems like every week to line up with a particular process or maybe increase a fee etc.

Adam Bartomeo · Answer

We never use extensions for the same reason that @Peter Tverdov mentioned, we improve the lease every 12 - 24 months. I would recommend writing a new lease. At some point you are going to have to revise the lease and get it on editable program like word. Might as well start now. This may take some time but it will be worth it in the end.

Christina Swaby · Answer

Great information and examples from everyone! thank you for your time. This is very helpful.

Use a Lease Extension or New Lease Contract?

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