As a landlord, you tend to offer all of your renters a one-year lease. When that lease is up, they either have to find somewhere new to live, or they need to sign a lease again for the following year.

What if you have a tenant who doesn’t want to leave but refuses to sign another lease? Or what if you don’t offer them a lease extension – perhaps you didn’t have reason to evict them, but you still don’t want to keep them in your property – and then they say that they’re not going to leave because they’re not interested in looking for another place to live?

Switching to a month-to-month lease

In some cases, landlords will switch from a yearly lease into a month-to-month lease. Even if this isn’t your optimal outcome, it may prove beneficial. For instance, maybe your tenant doesn’t want to leave yet because they will take a new job in another state in two months, and they just want to wait until then. You could put them on a month-to-month basis until they are ready to go, meaning you still get income and you can find a new long-term tenant afterward.

Moving forward with an eviction

In other cases, you may need to talk to the tenant about eviction. The best thing to do is to tell them that you’re considering it, as that may give them the incentive to leave without your having to take legal action. If they still won’t, you may need to start the eviction process. This is especially true if they refuse to move to a month-to-month lease, and you’re losing income on the property.

No matter what you choose, differences between tenants and landlords can create a lot of complications. It’s essential to understand your legal rights at this time.