How To Handle The Expiring Lease Of Co-Tenants

If, you are a landlord in a non-rent controlled city and have two tenants signed up on a year’s lease drawing to a close, which leaves you to decide, whether you wish to renew it or let it expire. However, if one roommate offers to renew the lease, stipulating that it should only be in his / her name and would like you to ask the other tenant to move out. Now, what is a landlord to do, if despite repeated phone calls, the second tenant does not return them, nor indicates, whether he / she would like to renew the lease? In a situation such as this, who can blame a landlord for wishing to offer a new lease to the tenant, who is willing to sign on for another year. To play it legally safe, a landlord should keep in mind the following:

When a fixed term lease draws to a close, it ends the tenancy rights of concerned renters. Of course, one can send the tenants a polite note to remind them of the approaching deadline, before they cease to be your tenants. Remember to follow the 30-day notice period even if it is a fixed term lease.

A lease that ends means the landlord is free to rent to whomsoever he / she wishes or desires. A landlord can decline to make an offer of renewal, as long as his / her decision to do so is based on valid business reasons, reasons that are neither discriminatory nor retaliatory in nature. In other words, one cannot refuse to rent to a tenant on the basis of race, religion, etc. etc.; nor because a tenant taking advantage of his / her legal rights, complained to a health inspector about code violations on the rental property.

This advice may not apply to a landlord whose rental property is located in a rent-controlled city. However, if the property is in a rent-controlled city, then a landlord will require ‘just cause’ for eviction or non-renewal of the lease, unless the second tenant does something that justifies eviction. Perhaps, the only way out of this quandary is to offer the place to both the tenants, and ask them to discuss the situation with each other. Before, doing so it would make good sense to check the details of rent-control ordinances to help you out!

On that cautionary note, another bit of advice, to avoid expensive landlord / tenant litigation, take necessary precautions, such as, screening tenants and conducting background checks on prospective tenants. A simple click of the mouse and one can visit www.e-renter.com for tenant screening and background check services.