Lease Renewal Checklist

Open the tenant folder in Dotloop, SkySlope, or your transaction management system. Confirm you have the original lease, every signed addendum (pet, parking, smart-home, utilities), and any prior renewal amendments. Month-to-month conversions and unsigned prior renewals are the most common gotchas — if the chain of paper has a gap, fix it before sending a renewal offer.

Read the renewal/holdover clause in the lease and reconcile it with state law — many states require 60 or 90 days' written notice for non-renewal, and the lease language can be longer but not shorter than the statute. Calendar both the landlord-side and tenant-side notice deadlines.

Check whether the unit falls under state or local rent caps (e.g., CA AB 1482, OR SB 608, NY ETPA, St. Paul, Portland) and whether just-cause eviction rules apply. These statutes limit annual rent increases and constrain non-renewal reasons; getting this wrong exposes the brokerage to tenant counter-claims.

Run a rental CMA in the MLS or RPR using leases closed in the last 90 days, filtered to comparable bed/bath, square footage within 15%, and similar amenity tier. Note seasonality — winter renewals on summer comps will read high.

Pull the tenant ledger from AppFolio, Buildium, or your accounting system. Late-payment count, NSF events, and balance carryovers inform whether you renew at market, renew at a discount to retain a strong payer, or decline to renew.

Decide the offered monthly rent and which term lengths to present (12-month is standard; 18- or 24-month locks in stability; month-to-month usually carries a premium). Confirm any cap is honored before recording the proposed rent.

Send the offer via the lease's notice method (typically certified mail or email-with-acknowledgment). Include the proposed rent, term options, response deadline, and a clear statement of what happens at holdover. Verbal-only renewal discussions are unenforceable.

Record the tenant's response in the CRM. If they want to negotiate, capture their counter in writing before any verbal agreement. If they're not renewing, immediately hand off to the turnover workflow so make-ready and re-listing can run in parallel with the remaining lease term.

Document each counter and your response in writing — text and email both count as written. Common asks: rent freeze in exchange for longer term, minor unit improvements (paint, appliance), or pet-policy changes. Confirm the final agreed terms in a single follow-up email before drafting the addendum.

Trigger the move-out and re-listing checklist so make-ready and marketing can begin while the existing tenancy runs out. Confirm the move-out date in writing, schedule the pre-move-out walkthrough, and pause the remaining renewal-specific steps in this run.

Provide written notice within the entry-notice window required by state law (commonly 24-48 hours). Block 45-60 minutes; bring the move-in inspection report so you can compare condition deltas room by room.

Photograph every room, all appliances, the HVAC filter, smoke and CO detectors, and any flagged damage. Use a tool that embeds the date in the metadata. These photos protect both sides at security-deposit reconciliation later.

Distinguish landlord-responsibility items (HVAC service, appliance failure, habitability) from tenant-responsibility damage (charged back at deposit time). Schedule vendors so work completes before the new term starts; deferred repairs are a top driver of non-renewal at the next cycle.

Use your state association's approved renewal/extension form (e.g., TAR in Texas, C.A.R. RLA-XA in California). The addendum should reference the original lease by date, state the new term, the new rent, and any changed clauses — not restate the entire lease.

Re-attach disclosures that have updated since signing: lead-based paint pamphlet for pre-1978 units, bedbug history (NYC, Maine), mold, radon, and any local just-cause-eviction notices. Some jurisdictions require fresh signatures on these even at renewal.

Route through DocuSign, Dotloop Sign, or zipForm Digital Ink with the tenant(s) and the designated broker as recipients. Set automatic reminders at 3 and 7 days; tenants frequently let renewal envelopes sit until the original lease is days from expiring.

Verify every required signature and initial is in place — missed initial pages on rent escalator clauses are a frequent dispute later. Save the executed PDF to the tenant folder and confirm receipt with the tenant in writing.

Run the file against the brokerage's renewal compliance checklist: agency disclosures, fair-housing acknowledgment, security-deposit accounting if the deposit changed, and any local registration or rent-board filings. Designated broker reviews and signs off.

Update the new rent, term end date, and any auto-pay change in AppFolio/Buildium/Brokermint and in Follow Up Boss or your CRM. Set the next renewal-review reminder for the new notice window so the cycle starts on time next year.

File the executed addendum, the disclosures, and the walkthrough photos in the brokerage transaction management system. State commissions audit broker files; the renewal record needs to be retrievable for the retention period (commonly 3-7 years depending on state).