Renewing Your Apartment Lease

If you are near the end of your apartment lease and will soon have to make a decision, there are a few things you should consider that may help you determine what the appropriate next steps for you are. Here are a few things that you should keep in mind since there are typically several options available for you:

Lease Renewal

You will typically receive a notification that your lease is expiring 60 to 90 days before your current lease ends. This lease notification document will ask you to indicate your plans for your apartment home. You can renew the lease or inform the property management that you will be moving out. If you live in Keller, or another city, and decide to stay in your apartment, you will need to inform the management team what you want your lease terms to be, as it relates to length of lease. In addition, your rental rate could change based on a number of factors. If your apartment community has increased their rental rate since you moved into your unit, they will probably increase your rent. Rental rates could also be determined by the length of your leasing agreement. In order to incent you to sign a longer lease, management companies often offer less expensive rental rates for longer leases. Other than these factors, if you renew your current lease as is, you are renting the same unit you are in.

Renew lease in a different unit

In addition to renewing your lease for the unit that you are currently living in, you can also renew your lease with your current community but request a different apartment unit. There are several reasons that could prompt you to need a different apartment unit. You may need to downsize or upsize the number of bedrooms or square footage you are renting due to a change in family size. You may prefer to move from upstairs to downstairs, or vice versa, for a number of reasons. You will want to discuss these options with your apartment management company and not just assume they will be able to accommodate any request that you have. There are several factors that may affect your ability to move to a different apartment unit including availability.

Allow lease to expire and move out

Several times, renters choose to move out of their current apartment community for a number of reasons. You may fall into this category. If you have decided that you want to move out of your apartment and not renew your lease, you will want to be sure to provide notice to the apartment management within the time guideline that you need. For example, if you have to notify manager’s that you will move-out within 45 days of lease end date, you don’t want to miss this deadline as it could cause you to have to pay extra fees. Also, check out the terms of your lease agreement to make sure that indicating your desire to move out on your lease renewal notice is adequate notice. Sometimes, communities require an additional written notice signed by you that will state your official move-out date.

Month-to-month renting

There are some apartments that will automatically renew the duration terms of the lease to month-to-month after the end date of your initial lease. This means that the lease will automatically renew every month until the renter, you, give them notice that you will move-out. If you haven’t quite made a decision on your next steps, you may want to see if this option is available to you. If it is, it may be the way to go. There can also be incentives to maintaining a month-to-month lease until a certain part of the year. For example, the summer months are a busy moving time and apartment communities typically offer incredible specials during these months. If your lease expires in the winter or spring, you may want to use the month-to-month option in order to improve your negotiating power in order to get better lease terms.

If you just want to browse available apartments in the Keller area, try visiting UMoveFree.com to view comprehensive listings of apartments along with photos and floor plans.