Are you wondering why your landlord wants you to vacate the property even though you have been paying rent on time. The landlord may choose to change tenants for the following reasons:
It's you, not them:
- Troubling tenant behavior - these could be parking violations, nuisance to neighbors
- Lease term violations - smoking, people living in the house who are not on the lease, or having pets when the lease prohibits it
- Illegal behavior - selling drugs in the house
- Bad upkeep of the house. If you hoard, leave food everywhere, pests also start living in the home. Some of these are causes for evictions. We discuss this in detail here: How to successfully evict a troublesome tenant quickly
- Too much argument with the landlord for everything. We have an article on tenant archetypes here: let’s identify the seven archetypes
It's them, not you:
- The landlord wants the property for other reasons such as family moving in, a friend needs a place, etc.
- The landlord wants to sell the property
- Address the rent mismatch with the market rate. Say your current is paying $1500 per month, which is $1000 below the market value of $2,500. If the local law only allows them to increase rent by 5% = $75 per month, the landlord cannot make a reasonable income to adjust to the cost of living. Finding a new tenant addresses this situation. In this case, the landlord will not renew the lease with advance notice. If you live in a rent protected property, the rules may be different. Check your local laws.
The landlord has to prioritize between the upkeep of the house and the rental income. Normal wear and tear such as minor scuffs are expected when a tenant lives in the property. If the property is being abused, the landlord is going to incur far more expenses than what’s covered by the rent and security deposit.
See how to prepare for a property inspection.
The best way to address this situation is by using a move-in checklist to document the condition of the house. Use this as a reference when moving-out and estimate the repair costs. HomeKasa offers free online software for move-in and move-out checklists.