A few months back I took over the management of a property, the tenants lease expires on the 30th December.
This morning I received an email from the tenants, saying they won't be renewing their lease and will be vacating at the end of the month.
Now, thankfully in Victoria a tenant needs to give 28 days notice. They can vacate on the 30th, but will need to pay through to the 12th January.
However, unfortunately this makes it quite awkward to lease the property. If the tenant doesn't agree to earlier inspections, I can only access the property within the last 14 days of the tenancy - from the 29th December. Not ideal.
It's also not ideal to list before Christmas, as this means the property could "go stale" over the Christmas period and of course, a lot of people go away for the break, so even doing inspections will be difficult to get people through the property!
This is why from November or so, I always start placing new tenants on leases that are either shorter or longer. Ie. <11 months or >13 months. So most lease renewals fall due, from late January through to early March.
Moral of the story, think ahead! Look at the termination date of the lease, and if it falls within the Christmas period deduct a month or two, or ideally for most residential leases (where you're after a long term tenant) look at a 14 or 15 month lease.
I know a lot of agents always issue 12 or 6 month leases, but there is absolutely no reason you cannot vary the lease to expire at a date that suits you better financially.
So if you are renewing a tenancy at anytime in the next month, make sure your next lease doesn't expire in 12 months!
This morning I received an email from the tenants, saying they won't be renewing their lease and will be vacating at the end of the month.
Now, thankfully in Victoria a tenant needs to give 28 days notice. They can vacate on the 30th, but will need to pay through to the 12th January.
However, unfortunately this makes it quite awkward to lease the property. If the tenant doesn't agree to earlier inspections, I can only access the property within the last 14 days of the tenancy - from the 29th December. Not ideal.
It's also not ideal to list before Christmas, as this means the property could "go stale" over the Christmas period and of course, a lot of people go away for the break, so even doing inspections will be difficult to get people through the property!
This is why from November or so, I always start placing new tenants on leases that are either shorter or longer. Ie. <11 months or >13 months. So most lease renewals fall due, from late January through to early March.
Moral of the story, think ahead! Look at the termination date of the lease, and if it falls within the Christmas period deduct a month or two, or ideally for most residential leases (where you're after a long term tenant) look at a 14 or 15 month lease.
I know a lot of agents always issue 12 or 6 month leases, but there is absolutely no reason you cannot vary the lease to expire at a date that suits you better financially.
So if you are renewing a tenancy at anytime in the next month, make sure your next lease doesn't expire in 12 months!