What Fort Lauderdale Rental Property Owners Need to Know About Handling a Lease Renewal

Florida PMServices • February 12, 2021

Your lease agreement governs the relationship you have with your tenant, and it sets out all the responsibilities and expectations that shape the lease term. Typically, a lease agreement covers the term of one year. When the lease is nearly up, it’s time to decide whether the tenant you have in place will renew or move out.

A successful investment experience relies on a high renewal rate. Keeping a good tenant in place is important. It reduces your turnover and vacancy costs, and increases your ROI.

Timeline for Fort Lauderdale Lease Renewals

Your lease should indicate how much notice a tenant needs to give before vacating or renewing the lease. We recommend a 60-day requirement. This means that if a tenant plans to move out, he or she needs to notify you in writing 60 days ahead of the end of the lease. If they decide they want to renew, you will need to create a new lease. Many rental properties are in an HOA or community association and if that applies to your property, find out if there’s additional renewal paperwork required by the association.

Conducting a Walk-Through Lease Renewal Inspection

Before agreeing to a lease renewal, it’s a good idea to make sure your tenants are taking good care of the property. Consider scheduling a full walk-through and inspection. This is a good opportunity to check for any deferred maintenance issues or unreported repairs. It also allows helps you to ensure the tenants are following the terms of the lease. If they’re taking good care of the home, you will certainly want them to stay in place for another year.

Consider Your Tenant’s Rental History

Deciding to renew a lease depends on property condition and the behavior of your tenant. One factor to consider when you’re thinking about renewing a tenant’s lease is if they pay their rent on time. If they do pay on time consistently every month and you’ve never had to send a reminder or ask where the payment is, that’s great. It’s a good reason to renew the lease.

However, if your tenant doesn’t pay rent on time every month, you’ll need to decide if you’re okay with that. If they pay a few days late every month but they always pay, you might find it’s tolerable since you get to collect a late fee. The tardy payments may be inconvenient, but if you like the extra income that late fees provided, renewing with a tenant who pays late might also work out well for you.

Rental Increases during Lease Renewals

Evaluate the rental market and decide if a rent increase is warranted. We suggest you get help from a Fort Lauderdale property manager so you have reliable data on the average rental rates for homes like yours in your neighborhood.

With our lease renewal process, we take a close look at market rents and make recommendations to our owners about whether rent should be increased and if so, by how much. Most tenants expect a rent increase during a lease renewal period, but you don’t want to chase away a great tenant with an increase that’s too high.

Retaining good tenants is an important part of your investment strategy. If you’d like further advice about lease renewals, we’d love to talk to you more about this topic. Please contact us at Florida Property Management Services.

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