What Is the Renewal Notice?
The real estate industry is strictly regulated by many laws and organisations like the Tribunal administratif du logement. Neither landlord nor tenant can do as they please. Thus, property owners and managers should know and understand the rules that regulate their properties.
The renewal notice must be carefully drafted and sent according to the legal standards.
To make sure that you meet the legal requirements, we have compiled a list of the golden rules of the renewal notice.
Golden Rule #1: Any Adjustment Is Clearly Indicated
If the lease is changed, the adjustments must be clearly indicated, whether it is adding a service (you now offer the Internet service), removing a service (you transfer the electricity bill to the tenant), or increasing the rent. The amount of the rent increase must be exact, and it can be expressed in dollars or as a percentage.
Make sure that the adjustments, if there are any, are clearly visible.
Golden Rule #2: Your Notice Period
You cannot give the tenant their renewal notice anytime you want. There are notice periods, which depend on the type and length of lease. The following chart from the Tribunal administratif du logement’s website illustrates the legal time frames:
Golden Rule #3: Your Tenant’s Response Time
To ensure timeliness and respectful cooperation between you and your tenant, be sure to tell them how much time they have to respond to the notice. They can accept or reject the lease modifications, or tell you that they do not renew their lease.
If the tenant rejects the modifications on the renewal notice (for example, the tenant rejects the rent increase), measures can be implemented to resolve the issue.
Thus, tell them they must respond within 30 days after the date they received the notice. If they do not respond within this time period, the lease will be renewed with the modifications stated in the renewal notice.
Golden Rule #4: The Proof of Receipt
To avoid any unpleasant surprises, make sure that you send the renewal notice in an official way, so you are compliant with the legal standards. Therefore, you can send your notice renewals:
- By registered mail;
- By hand with an acknowledgement of receipt;
- Through Proprio Expert’s electronic notice renewal (which allows you to see when the recipient has opened your message);
- By any other method that allows for a valid proof of receipt to be obtained.
Golden Rule #5: The Right Tools
To send your notice renewals simply and easily, you can use a specialized platform.
Imagine how much time you could save by having notices that are automatically filled with your tenant’s information, such as their address, their personal information, their rent, etc. You simply need to indicate the modifications for the upcoming lease and voilà!
With Proprio Expert, it is this easy! You can draft and send renewal notices, and communicate with your tenants, all on a single platform. Moreover, all the emails you send are saved for future reference!
