Put the offer in the tenant’s inbox 90 days before the lease ends. That timing does more for renewal rates than anything you write in the letter, because it gives a tenant who was undecided time to decide in your favor rather than time to look at listings.
Here is the letter. Edit the bracketed parts and send it.
The template
Subject: Renewal offer for [unit address], lease ending [date]
Hi [tenant name],
Your lease at [unit address] ends on [date]. We would like you to stay, and this is our offer for the next term.
New term: [12 months], from [start date] to [end date] Rent: $[amount] per month, due on the [first] of each month Deposit: no change, currently held at $[amount] Everything else in the current lease stays the same.
If that works, reply to this email by [deadline date] and we will send the renewal for signature. If you would rather not renew, let us know by the same date so we can plan.
[Name], [phone]
Roughly 120 words. That is deliberate. A renewal letter that runs a page reads like a negotiation invitation, and the tenant who was going to sign starts wondering what there is to negotiate.
The four terms it must state
Every renewal letter needs these, whatever else you add.
- The new term. Start date, end date, and length. “One year” without dates causes an argument about whether the year starts at the end of the old lease or at signing.
- The rent. The amount and the day it is due. If it is changing, state the new number plainly, not the increase.
- What is not changing. One line covering the deposit and the rest of the lease terms. This is the line that stops a tenant from wondering what else moved.
- A response deadline. A specific date, two to three weeks out. Without it, you find out in week eleven.
Add anything you have committed to doing before the new term starts. A promised repaint or an appliance replacement belongs in this letter, with a date, because it is part of why the tenant is saying yes.
When to send it
Work backward from the lease end date.
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| 90 days out | Renewal offer goes out |
| 75 days out | Response deadline |
| 60 days out | Renewal signed, or the unit goes on the market |
| 30 days out | Showings underway if the tenant is leaving |
If the renewal includes a rent increase, the notice rules for an increase apply and they can be longer than your renewal timeline. California requires at least 30 days’ notice for an increase of 10 percent or less on a month-to-month tenancy and at least 90 days above that (Cal. Civ. Code § 827(b)). New York ties the notice to tenure and requires up to 90 days where the increase is 5 percent or more (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 226-c).
Ninety days out satisfies both of those, which is the other reason for the timeline above. If your California unit falls under the statewide cap, the AB 1482 calculator gives you the most the rent can go up.
This is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and local ordinances vary. Confirm current requirements with your city, county, or an attorney before you act.
What happens if nobody signs anything
In most states, a tenant who stays past the end of a fixed term with the landlord accepting rent becomes a month-to-month tenant on the same terms. That is not a disaster, and for some units it is the outcome you want.
It is a problem when you assumed a new fixed term existed. Any rent increase you announced but never documented, any changed term, any new occupant added by conversation rather than by signature: none of it is in the tenancy.
Decide deliberately. Month-to-month vs fixed-term lease covers the choice itself, and if the tenant is leaving rather than renewing, how to write a lease termination letter is the other document.
Renewal is the moment to fix the lease
A renewal is a new agreement, which makes it the cheapest opportunity you will get to correct what the last lease got wrong.
Three things worth checking before you send the renewal document:
- Disclosures. A requirement that came into force since the original signing applies to the new term. Required lease disclosures by state is the checklist.
- Clauses that did not hold up. If a term caused a dispute this year, this is when it gets rewritten. Key clauses every lease agreement needs covers the ones that matter.
- Occupants and pets. Anybody who moved in during the term should be named now, and any pet that arrived needs the policy applied to it rather than ignored.
After the tenant says yes
Send the renewal document itself for signature rather than treating the email exchange as the agreement. An email saying “sounds good” is evidence of a conversation, not a lease.
Then update the record: the new term dates, the new rent, and the effective date of the increase if there is one. Leasing and e-sign handles the document and the signature, and the rent change has to reach the invoice schedule too or the first month of the new term bills at the old amount.