A lease renewal letter notifies the tenant about an upcoming lease expiration, and gives the tenant the option and direction for renewal. A renewal letter is informational and does not bind the landlord or tenant to a new lease.
Lease renewal is optional in most cases, absent specific terms in the rental agreement. By default, a landlord can end a tenant’s lease at the end of its term, as long as the landlord follows state notice requirements.
Landlords often send a lease renewal letter far in advance of the lease’s end date. Tenants may take a long time deciding whether to renew. The landlord also has an interest in reserving enough time to find a new tenant in the event of non-renewal.
Some states additionally require a specific amount of advance notice, by law, regarding the option for lease renewal. This chart lists notice requirements, state by state:
| State | Yearly/Fixed Term Lease | Month-To-Month Lease |
| Alabama | None | 30 days |
| Alaska | None | 30 days |
| Arizona | None | 30 days |
| Arkansas | None | 30 days |
| California | 1 year: 60 days ; 1 year: 30 days | 30 days |
| Colorado | 1 year: 91 days; less than 6 mo. – 1 year: 21 days | 21 days |
| Connecticut | 3 days | None |
| Delaware | 60 days | 60 days |
| Florida | 60 days | None |
| Georgia | 60 days | None |
| Hawaii | None | None |
| Idaho | None | 30 days |
| Illinois> | 60 days | 30 days |
| Indiana | None | 30 days |
| Iowa | None | 30 days |
| Kansas | None | 30 days |
| Kentucky | None | 30 days |
| Louisiana | None | 30 days |
| Maine | None | 30 days |
| Maryland | 90 days | 30 days |
| Massachusetts | None | 30 days or 1 month (whichever is longer) |
| Michigan | None | 1 month |
| Minnesota | None | 1 full rental period before last day of tenancy |
| Mississippi | None | 30 days |
| Missouri | None | None |
| Montana | None | 30 days |
| Nebraska | None | 30 days |
| Nevada | None | 30 days prior to payment date |
| New Hampshire | 30 days | 30 days |
| New Jersey | 1 month | 1 month |
| New Mexico | None | 30 days |
| New York | None | 30 days |
| North Carolina | Year-to-Year: 1 month | 7 days prior to payment date |
| North Dakota | Year-to-Year: 1 month | 1 month |
| Ohio | None | 30 days |
| Oklahoma | None | 30 days |
| Oregon | None | 30 days prior to payment date |
| Pennsylvania | 1 year or less: 15 days; 1 year: 30 days | 15 days prior to payment date |
| Rhode Island | None | 30 days prior to payment date |
| South Carolina | None | 30 days prior to payment date |
| South Dakota | None | 30 days prior to payment date |
| Tennessee | None | 30 days |
| Texas | 30 days | 30 days from next payment date |
| Utah | None | 15 days prior to payment date |
| Vermont | None | 1 payment period prior to termination date |
| Virginia | 90 days | 30 days from next payment date |
| Washington | None | 20 days |
| Washington D.C. | None | 30 days |
| West Virginia | None | 30 days |
| Wisconsin | None | None |
| Wyoming | None | None |
If a lease renewal letter is not sent before the required state deadline, a current fixed-term lease upon expiration transitions into a month-to-month lease.
In states without an explicit timeframe, it’s still good practice to send a lease renewal letter well in advance of the lease’s expiration. Doing so provides the following benefits:
A lease renewal letter normally includes the following information:
Some terms of the rental usually change when a lease gets renewed. Potential changes may include:
Tenants for their part may also want to renegotiate the lease. A tenant may want to negotiate the following:
While the landlord has final say on any proposals the tenant makes, there’s a pressure to renew by default since finding a good new tenant is often a lengthy and difficult process. Here are some methods and considerations landlords use to stay in a strong negotiating position:
Sending a lease renewal letter can be done by mail, in person or email. Each of these methods requires some care to ensure receipt and proper documentation:
After delivery, it’s common for landlords to keep a copy of the renewal letter filed with a notation of delivery method plus any other relevant information.
Sometimes a tenant receives a lease renewal letter but decides not to renew. Documentation and notice are important in this situation. Rental best practice is for the tenant to produce a letter confirming non-renewal in writing, and for the landlord to give the tenant written notice about the lease’s end date.
The notice of end date usually includes specific instructions on what the tenant must do prior to moving out. These instructions vary depending on the specifics of the tenancy, but often include the following directions:
Rental Application Form
Residential Lease Agreement
Room Rental Agreement
Month-to-Month Lease Agreement
Residential Sublease Agreement
Eviction Notice Form
Security Deposit Law
Breaking a Lease Early
Rent Control Laws by State
Landlord Tenant Rights
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