Renew a lease

Who this is for

Landlords and property managers whose tenant is staying on, with a new end date, a new rent, or both. Only an account owner can save a renewal or cancel a new rent.

Before you start

• Agree the new end date and the new rent with the tenant first. Saving is the agreement: there is no second step, and the lease stays Active the whole time.
• eSamaHomes doesn't send the tenant a renewal notice. Tell them the new rent and when it starts yourself.
• Renew is for a change that starts later. To correct a mistake now, use Edit Terms: a rent changed there applies at once.

Steps

1. Open the lease and click Renew Lease.
2. Under Lease Term, pick Fixed term, Fixed, then monthly or Month-to-month. For either fixed term, pick the New End Date. Month-to-month has no end date.
3. New Rent opens with the current rent (or a new rent already scheduled), and the current rent shows below it. Type the new rent. To keep the rent, leave it as the current rent.
4. When the rent changes, pick the Effective Date: the first rent due at the new rent. The list offers the next 12 dates rent is due on this lease that are not billed yet; on a fixed term it stops at the new end date.
5. Read the sentence under the fields. It says when the new rent starts and that rent due before then stays the current rent.
6. Click Save renewal.

Example

Lena rents Unit 2B to Ana for $1,500 a month, due on the 1st, on a fixed term that ends Dec 31,

1. In early November Ana agrees to stay another year at $1,650. Lena opens the lease, clicks

Renew Lease, keeps Fixed term, picks Dec 31, 2027 as the New End Date, types 1650 in New Rent and picks Jan 1, 2027 as the Effective Date. The form reads: "This lease renews on Jan 1, 2027 at $1,650 a month, fixed term to Dec 31, 2027. Rent due before then stays $1,500."

She clicks Save renewal. The lease page now ends Dec 31, 2027 and shows "New rent $1,650 from Jan 1, 2027". Ana's Dec 1 rent is billed at $1,500; her Jan 1 rent, and every rent after it, at $1,650.

What happens next

• The new end date and term apply at once. A move-out date on the lease is cleared.
• The lease page shows the new rent and its date ("New rent $1,650 from Jan 1, 2027") until that day, beside Cancel new rent. Monthly Rent keeps the current rent until the Effective Date, then shows the new one.
• Bills keep the current rent until the Effective Date. The bill for the Effective Date is made a few days before it, at the new rent, like any rent bill.
• Rent status on the dashboard shows the same new-rent line under the tenant's rent.
• The tenant sees the current rent in their portal, and nothing about the new rent until it is billed.
• A lease whose fixed term already ended: if you renew it late, saving bills the rent that was not billed since the end at once. The form lists each one before you save. The tenants get each bill by email, and no late fee is charged on it.

If something looks wrong

• The new rent shouldn't happen. Click Cancel new rent on the lease page and confirm. The rent stays the current rent; the new end date and term stay as saved (change those with Edit Terms).
• "The … bill at the new rent of … is already made. Void it first." The bill for the Effective Date was already made, so the new rent can't be cancelled or changed. Void that bill on Rent & Payments first. A voided rent is not billed again: add the corrected bill by hand with Create Invoice.
• "A new rent is scheduled from … Cancel it first." While a new rent waits for its date, Edit Terms can't change the due day or the term, or move the end date before it, and Move Out can't pick a date before it. Cancel the new rent first. Changing the rent or the late fee on Edit Terms still works, and changes the current rent only.
• "Rent due on that date is already billed. Pick a later date." That month is billed already; pick a later Effective Date.
• Saving is refused because a new lease on the unit starts on the move-out date. Renewing clears the move-out date, so the two would overlap. Delete that draft, or move the new tenant to another unit.
• Bill an earlier rent is refused on a lease whose rent changed with a renewal. Add an earlier rent with Create Invoice instead.