When it comes to fixed term leases or month to month leases and which is the best option for you the answer is ….
Either.
You see there is no right answer as it all depends on your local landlord tenancy laws.
In some areas month to month gives landlords all the power as it only requires a months notice to terminate the lease. In other ares, like mine, month to month gives the tenants all the power as I can only evict for a breach of the lease.
You might think that would be fine, if the tenant isn’t breaching the lease terms why wouldn’t I want them. Well, if they are exceptionally needy, if they are neat hoarders, if they are horrible at looking after the property, if they are causing issues with other tenants or neighbours making my life hell and about a dozen other reasons that aren’t explicitly in breach of my lease but aren’t helping me, why would I want to keep them?
For our region fixed term is the way to go as under our local rules I only need to give thirty days notice to terminate a fixed term lease when it is coming up for renewal. I tend to give more as I want to make sure they have plenty of time to leave, but it does put the control back in my favor.
To help me even further, and because I understand the local rules, when I get new tenants I typically only use a three month or six month initial lease giving me a feeling out period.
If they pay on time, if during my inspection everything passes muster and if they generally seem to be good tenants, we move onto a longer lease. But again, that’s in my region!
It’s so important to do your homework and find out your local rules and laws about everything tenant related before you go down the wrong path and pick the wrong lease.
Why don’t you share you lease stories below. Did you learn a lesson the hard way? I know many of my lessons came that way…