“Nobody told me that if I didn’t sign my renewal before my current lease expires I’d be out on month to month”

“Nobody old me that if I didn’t sign my renewal before my current lease expires I’d be out on month to month”. How do you all handle residents who constantly play the “nobody told me” game? Do you find that it is the majority of residents who don’t actually read their lease?

Edit:

I will clarify that in this particular situation, no less than 12 email reminders were sent in addition to at least as many phone calls. This was above and beyond the “normal” lease renewal reminders and notices.

Your lease told you.
Your renewal letters told you.
All those emails and calls you ignored, told you.

If it's in the lease, you were told

I came to terms with nobody reading anything, so now I review our Policies and Lease with them at move-in. It takes an hour, but then when I refer them back "the documents we reviewed at move-in" they have no excuse.

Chris Peterson yes! I also follow up with emails detailing all of it as well.

Oh that is brilliant! Thank you for the tip!!

Chris Peterson I have a “cheat sheet” or FAQ email that goes out about the lease prior to lease signing so they can see a form lease and all the things in to make the actual lease signing faster and they bring questions to the table.

Document everything...

You are an adult it’s your responsibility to know your lease.

I empathize with them and then tell them I can help them fix it so they won't have to pay the mtm rate again. "I'm so sorry that happened to you. Contracts can be confusing. I can't change anything for you this month because the rental period has already started but let's fix this for you for next month so you will only pay the renewal rate."

Robin Leasing I love your approach. It’s so refreshing to be helpful vs belittling or snarky.

Robin Leasing is that something your ownership approves you to do? Ours won’t honor the expired renewal offers. We have to pull new ones from yieldstar.

Robin Leasing If it's before late fees have been added, we'll honor the renewal rate they choose, but they have to sign with me that day. Our MTM can be twice the normal rate, if rather them stay and know I bent over backwards for their renewal, than give me NTV that day and be out in 30 days.

You are responsible for the lease you sign. If you chose to ignore it at lease reading or at any time of your lease, that's up to you. That's why we give you a copy to review at your leisure.

I am so sorry but I do not need to tell you that, you as an adult read, and signed the lease agreement that states you will go month to month.

Nobody told me it was illegal to shoot people....

Show them a copy of their renewal letter and be done with it.

As long as they sign period!!!

“I don’t check my mail.... I don’t read my emails... I don’t text”.....

Did you send a pigeon???

I tell them that it’s hard to believe! I think they get taken back by it. I’d say something like this “ oh wow, that is so crazy that you did not get my notices. I posted it on your door just like I did all of my other tenants and you are the only one so far that has said they did not get it”

"This very policy is listed in the lease you signed. Its always important to read the documents signed" byyyyeeeee

Yep. I tell them I am sorry but unfortunately they should read the document before signing.

Review the lease with them. Speak about renewal and have them initial along with the late fee (collections) portion.

I have a different perspective: why not call and fallow up on our renewal letters? Why not send the MTM lease day before lease expiration so they can change their mind? If it’s a day over - fine - sign the renewal...why do I want a MTM? Run contests / giveaways for early bird responses? Its a better experience for me and the resident to be a manager who leads with carrots, rather than sticks.

Kathleen Silver, I like your ideas. We read the lease to them when they sign it. We ask If there's any questions about the lease. But, as we know, so many people forget things they were told a year ago.

Maria Johnson agreed! People are busy - we shouldn’t assume they are evading responsibly. It’s good business.

They read it & they know. It’s just easier for them to blame you????

Send the letter certified so they sign for it

I always ask them "Isn't this your signature on the document?" In fact, we made people initial that specific paragraph........ which cut down on broken leases exponentially.

For an unresponsive resident final reminder whether by phone, email, text, pigeon (you name it) ALWAYS includes, "I would hate to see you start paying that $200 @ month MTM fee when I know you want to renew!". Yep, just made myself their hero. Just looking out for them.????

I highlight the area on the renewal letter. " please remember that if you dont sign the renewal by the 1st, you will go to the month to month rate of....... .

Usually pulling out copies of the letters you sent about renewing will do the trick.

My go to is “Your lease states...” when they respond with “I didn’t read that” my go to is “So you signed a legally binding document without reading it?”
I then also inform them of the dates that said reminders went out.

I came up with a new idea today - I told my staffs to put the renewal letters in an envelope and place”URGENT-RENEWAL OFFER” on the outside.
Then take a pic of it on the door and send it to the resident like Amazon does and mark it as “package at XXX property” They make sure to pay attention to those damn notices

Summer Baxter or just send the ones you haventt heard from a notification that they have a package in the office. The package is their lease renewal.

Call, email, letters to door- document everything. Then give it to them with a copy of their lease

Make them initial every point on the lease

Phewwwww chileeee. I just pull the threads of unresponsive communication. We text, email, and post to the door.

Emails are great but certainly not foolproof. It’s the job of the person in charge of renewals to call and to go out and knock on doors, flex their hours to catch people at home etc.
Our job is to act as Customer Experience Managers. We are there to serve the residents not the other way around. I’ve never run into a resident that this has happened to that’s just trying to skate on the MTM fee.
Pointing out that it’s in the lease, that it’s their responsibility etc is going to leave you with a very irritated resident. One who is likely to leave you poor reviews, affect your reputation and very likely affect if they renew.
The job of the person in charge of renewals should be that not one person on that community goes beyond the notice period without having been talked to either via the phone, in person or receiving a response via email. These are the techniques that I’ve had a very high success rate with. Texting if available is an awesome tool as well.

We call, email and post to their door. We leave messages and make sure to write notes so that when they come in you can say you tried to contact them.

Do what you are required to do by law, add customer service aspect by emailing a reminder and a call. After that, stick to the terms of the signed agreement and be consistent. It is not your responsibility to ensure they read their lease! MTM premium charge is manageable for them when you break it down by day, so they pay a little more for a few days; that’s the term of what they signed.

Morgan Brock-McKean thank you. This has pretty much been our approach. I stayed an hour past closing explaining that and going in circles with this resident.
It is very frustrating to bend over backward to explain and reexplain only to have a resident continue to argue because you haven’t told them what they want to hear.

Erin Spriggs just pull their lease at that point, point out the renewal paragraph of the agreement they signed and remind them that it’s a courtesy we do to remind them of their renewal but it’s THEIR responsibility to know when their lease ends and to take the proper steps as stated when they moved in. All in all, it ultimately comes down to their own actions. It usually shuts them down when I get to that point of the convo. I do it very sweetly tho...

Erin Spriggs ditto to what Nikki said. At some point the resident has to take responsibility; you can’t hold their hands forever when you have so many to hold ????. This is when I pull the fair housing verbiage and politely steer the conversation with facts, how much they have to pay and if they renew today the rate is back to what they can afford. Almost like you’re doing them a favor by honoring today as start date of the new lease.

I call to tell them they have a gift in the office and ask when they can pick it up. Then I fill a coffee mug with some treats and have it ready with a signed card from everyone on our staff. When they come in, we thank them for being a valued resident and have a conversation about their renewal. We don't let them leave without a commitment to renew or a notice to vacate signed. The commitment to renew is a document they sign that says what lease term they want and has the renewal rate. It also allows them to say they haven't decided yet and they understand they have a deadline to sign the renewal or give notice. This covers it all. It's friendly but so effective.

That is why I only go over the 1st page of the lease contract with residents. I give them the rest of the paperwork and tell them it is their responsibility to READ before they sign.

LOL...I have a property I'm considering selling and an investor was looking at the building. I showed him one apartment and it was extremely cold in the unit. I asked the tenant why it was so cold and he said the windows don't close soooo I took all the tape off the one window and closed the window completely then locked it. I then commented about why isn't the heater working? He said it won't come on...really? So I went to the thermostat, turned it off then turned it back on and Voila it started working!!! I said "why didn't you tell me it wasn't working?" to which he didn't seem to have an answer except "I don't know". It gets better...I then pulled the louvered access panel off to the heater and the louvered gaps were caked shut with dust and dirt forcing the system to shut down. I told him to get the vacuum cleaner and clean it. Then I pulled out the filter...he never changed it in over 2 years...it was caked with dust! I went into his kitchen, opened the pantry where I pulled out one of the two new filters I left for him and then installed it. I then said "you're supposed to change this, you know". He said he didn't know to which I replied "it's in your lease". And the other guy was complaining his heat bills were so high and I discovered the heater had an issue with the pilot. Had to replace the heater and now he has the windows open???? You can't make this shtuff up!

Of course we need to document everything sent to the tenant. Its in their lease, we posted notices on X dates, and we emailed on X dates. I also use EZText to text tenants about renewals. I ask them to respond with a Y to renew their lease, N to submit NTV, and a U for unsure. I actually get a lot of feedback from tenants with this and its trackable. And for those tenants who just won't respond I usually place a sticker about renewing on packages. If they don't have a package at the office, then make them a package in the office like a box with a donut in it that says Donut Forget to Renew Your Lease. Get creative.