Landlords: Think Before You Sign a Lease

Landlords can learn a valuable lesson from White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel this month.  The lesson is, “Be sure of your own plans before you lease your house to someone else.”  Emanuel leased his Chicago home to Rob Halpin when he moved to Washington.  The lease came due on September 1 of this year, and Emanuel renewed the lease with Halpin on that date.  Six days later, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley announced that he would not run for re-election.  Now, Emanuel wants to return to Chicago to run for mayor, and he would like to re-occupy his own home.  But his tenant, Halpin, has refused to vacate, according to Michael Sneed of the Chicago Sun Times.  Sneed further reported that Emanuel even asked Halpin if he could just move into the basement, but Halpin said no.  So if Emanuel wants to move back to Chicago, he will have to call his property manager to find him a property to rent!

It sounds funny to read this story, but we have seen it happen many times.  We consult landlords for whom we manage to confirm that it is their desire that we re-rent a vacant property or renew an existing lease.  The landlord gives us the green light, we do the job we were hired to do, and before the ink is dry, the landlord has a change of plans, much like Rahm Emanuel in the example above.

We realize it is not always possible to foresee what lies ahead, and that “life is what happens when we are making other plans.”  But we do urge you to think carefully about what could possibly happen that could cause you to wish that tenant (who pays his rent faithfully and on time every month) was not there.  Is it at all conceivable that you might want to or need to move back into your property before a lease that we are about to execute might expire?  Is it possible that you might want to sell the property?  If yes, then let’s wait to rent it (or re-rent it) until you can decide for sure.  Or in the case of a lease renewal, let’s do it on a month-to-month basis.  You may feel that you don’t want to lose income while you decide what to do, or you may not want the insecurity of a month-to-month arrangement.  But it’s difficult to have your cake and eat it, too, so to speak.  You can’t have both the security of a lease AND the flexibility to have your property back at any time you want.

So think carefully, and if you need help deciding what to do at any time, call your property manager.  We will help you weigh your options.