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Every apartment complex seems to expect you to be able to time your leaving at twelve month intervals. I understand maybe not letting someone out before the first twelve months, but what's the difference in cost to the land lord if the renter leaves at fourteen months instead of twelve months? Wouldn't my staying for fourteen months instead of twelve actually reduce the overhead of my moving out?
Every apartment complex seems to expect you to be able to time your leaving at twelve month intervals. I understand maybe not letting someone out before the first twelve months, but what's the difference in cost to the land lord if the renter leaves at fourteen months instead of twelve months? Wouldn't my staying for fourteen months instead of twelve actually reduce the overhead of my moving out?
It used to be a standard that after your one year lease was up - you just went month to month. But when we had the housing crash and it got harder to get a mortgage, apartments started filling up. Since then, apartment owners and managers seem to see this as a good opportunity to scalp tenants.
Not only do they try to force you into another twelve months, unfortunately, they jack your rates too.
I imagine that when (if) the home buying market is "normalized" and people start going to houses again and apartment start having lots of vacancies, this practice will go away.
Last edited by blktoptrvl; 04-27-2017 at 07:54 PM..
Every apartment complex seems to expect you to be able to time your leaving at twelve month intervals. I understand maybe not letting someone out before the first twelve months, but what's the difference in cost to the land lord if the renter leaves at fourteen months instead of twelve months? Wouldn't my staying for fourteen months instead of twelve actually reduce the overhead of my moving out?
Its just a standard lease time term. Truthfully your moving out at 12 or 14 months has no bearing on my overhead. It would have a bearing on your overhead. And if you're a bad tenant they can get rid of you sooner at 12 months rather than 14-16-24 months. I had people wanting to lock in a 24 month lease. I had a guy who wanted a 36 month lease. I declined in all instances. I had people offer to pay rent in full for the whole lease term. I had a guy offer me 12 month paid in full if I let him stay 14 months. He was especially annoying cause he just wouldn't take no for a answer. He acted like a spoiled child.
Quote:
Originally Posted by blktoptrvl
It used to be a standard that after your one year lease was up - you just went month to month. But when we had the housing crash and it got harder to get a mortgage, apartments started filling up. Since then, apartment owners and managers seem to see this as a good opportunity to scalp tenants.
Not only do they try to force you into another twelve months, unfortunately, they jack your rates too.
I imagine that when (if) the home buying market is "normalized" and people start going to houses again and apartment start having lots of vacancies, this practice will go away.
I don't force any tenants to rent for another 12 months after the initial lease. I only go month to month after that. Truthfully I don't even want a 12 month lease. I much prefer month to month. This way if we don't like each other we're 30 days away from a divorce. Most want a 12 month lease because they want a guarantee of no rent raise. I would have no issue writing a MTM lease with a guaranteed no rent raise for 12 months. In fact I wrote one for month to month and no rent raise guaranteed for 14 months. The guy has been there three years. I finally bumped his rent $100.
I don't force any tenant to sign a lease and pay my rates. If my rates are too high feel free to give notice and rent elsewhere. So far even with occasional rent raises (2-3 year intervals) I find myself at a lower rate than average rent prices. And when I advertise I seem to not have much problem getting multiple applications.
Last edited by Electrician4you; 04-27-2017 at 08:26 PM..
Its just a standard lease time term. Truthfully your moving out at 12 or 14 months has no bearing on my overhead. It would have a bearing on your overhead.
What I meant was if I moved out and was released from the lease at fourteen months, it wouldn't cost the land lord any more than if I just hadn't renewed my lease when it expired at twelve months. It actually costs him a little less if turnover happens a little less frequently. However, it costs me an enormous amount of money if I need to leave at fourteen months instead of twelve months, which doesn't make sense. I'm costing the land lord a little less money but being heavily penalized for it.
Sometimes it matters to Landlord.
If your 12 months are over in September and you want to stay for another 2 months, then the landlord may find it very difficult to get another tenant in the months of December/ January, especially in the colder states.
Also, If your lease is up in July and you want to stay for another 2 months, then the landlord loses the opportunity to rent it to prospective tenants who might want to settle before the start of their kids' school
People who write residential leases have better lawyers than people who sign residential leases written by others. There's a real estate cliche which says you make money in RE when you buy, not when you sell. Landlords make money when you sign a lease because they've got you locked in for 12 months of payments.
Sometimes it matters to Landlord.
If your 12 months are over in September and you want to stay for another 2 months, then the landlord may find it very difficult to get another tenant in the months of December/ January, especially in the colder states.
Also, If your lease is up in July and you want to stay for another 2 months, then the landlord loses the opportunity to rent it to prospective tenants who might want to settle before the start of their kids' school
I found this one apartment complex that listed the monthly cost of each lease term. I noticed that the price wouldn't steadily increase with the length of the lease. It would decrease, then increase, then decrease again. I thought it was a bug, but this might explain it. However, this explanation wouldn't explain why the complexes that only offer a standard 12-month lease would make their tenants sign another 12-month lease when their current lease expires.
Probably it depends on the time when their lease is ending.
What is more irritating is when apartments change their rental lease rates everyday. So an apartment which was available for 1600 pm on one day may be quoted as high as 1675 or 1700 after 2 days and 1650 after 4 days. This was noticed by me when I was looking for an apartment in Burlington/ Woburn area recently.
Every apartment complex seems to expect you to be able to time your leaving at twelve month intervals. I understand maybe not letting someone out before the first twelve months, but what's the difference in cost to the land lord if the renter leaves at fourteen months instead of twelve months? Wouldn't my staying for fourteen months instead of twelve actually reduce the overhead of my moving out?
It's really a supply & demand thing. The market provides what the market demands.
If there were tons of apartments sitting empty, rent would go down and leases would become much more flexible.
But that's not the case. So here we are...
That said, typically you can break a lease by paying a one month penalty.
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