Prattville AL · Member since 2019 · 6 posts · 0 votes
I have a tenant that has been in a lease for one year. he is building a house but is unsure when it will be complete so he wants to go to an month by month lease or possible an 6 month lease. should I raise the rate and what percentage? or should I just stick to the one year?
Investor · Manteca, CA · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
3y
The monthly rent is based on the current market in your area. Look at comps in your area and decide if a raise is in order or not. Some landlords charge more for the flexibility of doing MTM but personally I don't see the point. If people want/have to bail, they do and you wont see a dime of your long term lease commitment they flaked out on. I only do MTM..... allows me to kick anyone out at any time.
The monthly rent is based on the current market in your area. Look at comps in your area and decide if a raise is in order or not. Some landlords charge more for the flexibility of doing MTM but personally I don't see the point. If people want/have to bail, they do and you wont see a dime of your long term lease commitment they flaked out on. I only do MTM..... allows me to kick anyone out at any time.
Check you market and decide
Well, can’t say I agree. Most tenants I’ve had would try to reach a compromise/settlement with me when they wanted to break their lease. In most areas I’ve owned residential properties lease breaks without settlement get reported and the tenant would have a hard time obtaining a new lease for a decent apartment. I also found small claims court to be effective. But my properties were/are higher end rentals, so maybe it’s the financial position of the tenant that’s a determining factor. in answer to the OP’s question, if a tenants lease expired and he wanted either a month to month or a 3 or 6 month lease, I would tend to do the following: in a very weak rental market I would be inclined to keep the rental rate the same. in a normal to strong market I’d charge 10-15% more monthly on a 6 month lease, 20-30% more on a 3 month lease, and 35% more for month to month. in a very strong market I would do a competitive rent survey and let that guide me.