Lease expiring, no rent from tenant
November 1, 2006
Q: Our rental agreement with our renter is up on November 21st. Beginning October 1 we started communicating verbally with our renter regarding the extension of his lease. It is now November 6th and he not only has not contacted us regarding extending his lease, but he has not paid his last month’s rent that was due on the third. He is not answering his messages nor returning calls. Since the lease is up on the 21st, can we enforce that date, especially since he has not paid rent? Or do we have to give some other notice and if so, what? The rental home in question is located in Texas. Thank you so much! Courtney
A: Read your lease in the section that deals with what happens when the lease ex¬pires. You can send him a notice to pay up or move, then proceed with an evic¬tion, or you can send him a 30-day notice to move. But that would extend beyond Nov. 21. Your tenant owes you for what¬ever time he lives in the property.
About the Author: Bob Cain
Some 30 years ago Bob Cain went to a no-money-down seminar and got the notion that owning rental property would be just the best idea there is for making money. He bought some. Trouble was, what he learned at the seminar didn’t tell him how to make money on his rental property. He went looking for help in the form of a magazine or newsletter about the business. He couldn't find any.
Always ready to jump at a great idea, he decided he could put his speaking and writing skills to work and perform a valuable service for other investors who needed more information about property management. So Bob ferreted out the secrets, tricks and techniques of property management wherever he found them; then he passed them along to other landlords.
For over 25 years now, Bob has been publishing information, giving speeches, putting on seminars and workshops, and consulting for landlords on how to buy, rent and manage property more effectively.
