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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:
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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.
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