A landlord in Glen Allen calls us in early December. The lease on her rental house runs out January 31. She has not talked to the tenant since a water heater repair in August, she does not know whether they are staying, and she is starting to wonder whether she should list the property. By the time she gets an answer, it is the first week of January, the tenant is moving to Charlotte, and she is trying to market a vacant house in the deadest four weeks of the Richmond rental year.
None of that was a market problem. It was a calendar problem. The renewal conversation started eight weeks too late, and every option that would have helped her had already expired by the time she needed it.
The fix is unglamorous: run renewals on a schedule instead of running them when the expiration date starts to feel close. The cadence we use is 90 days, 60 days, 30 days. Each of those checkpoints has a specific job, and if you hit all three, you almost never end up guessing about a lease that is four weeks from ending.
Quick Answer
Start your renewal process 90 days before the lease ends, not 30. At 90 days you decide internally what you want to happen and what the unit is worth. At 60 days you deliver a written renewal offer with a response deadline. At 30 days you either have a signed renewal or you are actively marketing the property with the tenant’s notice in hand. Virginia’s notice periods for ending a tenancy are set by statute and are shorter than this cadence, which is exactly the point: statutory minimums protect you legally, but they do not give you enough runway to fill a vacancy well. Verify the current required notice period before you rely on any specific number.
Why Starting Early Beats Waiting
The argument against early renewal conversations is usually some version of “I do not want to remind them the lease is ending.” That fear does not survive contact with reality. Tenants know when their lease ends. They have a copy. Many of them start browsing listings months out simply because moving is a big decision and people like to look around before they commit.
What early contact actually does is give you information while you can still act on it. Ninety days out, a tenant who is undecided can still be persuaded. Sixty days out, you can still negotiate a rent number. Thirty days out, all you can do is react.
Early contact also surfaces fixable objections
A surprising share of non-renewals come down to something small that nobody ever raised. The dishwasher has been half working since spring. The back gate does not latch. The tenant assumed the rent was going up a lot because it went up a lot last year. Those are all solvable at 90 days. At 30 days, the tenant has already signed somewhere else and your chance to fix it is gone.
The 90-Day Mark: Decide Internally
This first checkpoint is not a tenant conversation at all. It is you making decisions so that the conversation you have later is a clear one.
- Pull the payment and communication history. Were payments on time? Were there repeated lease issues, or one bad month two years ago?
- Look at the property’s condition. Your last routine inspection tells you whether this tenant is worth keeping at a modest increase.
- Price the unit honestly. Look at what comparable homes in the same submarket are actually renting for right now, not what you wish they rented for.
- Decide your target outcome. Renew at market, renew at a slight discount to keep a strong tenant, renew short-term to move the expiration date, or do not renew.
- Identify work that has to happen either way. If the unit needs flooring or exterior paint, you would rather schedule it than have it forced on you during a turnover.
If you manage several properties, the practical version of this is a recurring calendar reminder that fires 90 days before every expiration in your portfolio. Manual tracking works right up until you have four leases and a busy month.
The 60-Day Mark: Put the Offer in Writing
Sixty days out, you deliver a written renewal offer. Not a text asking if they are thinking about staying. An actual offer with terms.
A good renewal offer states the new rent, the new term length, the start and end dates, anything that is changing, and a date by which you need an answer. Give the tenant roughly two weeks to respond. That is long enough to be reasonable and short enough that it does not drift.
Offer options, not a single take-it-or-leave-it number
Presenting two or three term lengths at slightly different rents does two useful things. It reframes the conversation from “do I accept this increase” to “which of these do I want,” and it lets you nudge the expiration date toward a better season. A 14-month renewal priced a few dollars under the 12-month option is an easy yes for a tenant who has no plans to move.
The 30-Day Mark: Confirm or Convert
At 30 days you should be in one of three states, and each has a defined next step.
- Signed renewal. File it, update your accounting for the new rent, confirm the new expiration in your calendar, and confirm renters insurance is still current.
- Written notice to vacate. Send the move-out instructions, schedule the pre-move-out walkthrough, begin marketing, and line up turnover vendors.
- Silence. This is the one that hurts. Follow up directly by phone and in writing, and be clear about what happens if the lease simply expires.
How Virginia Notice Requirements Interact With the Cadence
Virginia’s Residential Landlord and Tenant Act generally requires written notice before a tenancy ends or changes, with the required period depending on the type of tenancy. Those periods are set by statute, they have been amended more than once, and they are the legal floor, not a scheduling recommendation. Confirm the current requirement in the Code of Virginia or with a Virginia attorney before you send anything that depends on a specific number of days.
Two practical points matter more than the exact figure. First, your lease may specify a notice period that differs from the statutory default, and courts generally look at what the lease says. Read your own document. Second, meeting the legal minimum and running a good renewal process are different goals. The statute is about enforceability. The 90/60/30 cadence is about not having a vacant house in February.
The Cadence at a Glance
| Checkpoint | Who acts | What happens | What it protects |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90 days out | Landlord, internally | Review tenant history, price the unit, decide target outcome, plan capital work | Prevents rushed pricing and surprise repairs |
| 60 days out | Landlord to tenant | Written renewal offer with terms, options and a response deadline | Preserves negotiating room and marketing lead time |
| 30 days out | Tenant responds | Signed renewal, written notice to vacate, or escalated follow-up | Prevents holdover ambiguity and blind vacancies |
| Expiration | Both | New term begins or move-out and turnover proceed on schedule | Keeps downtime measured in days, not months |
Steering Expirations Toward Spring and Summer
Richmond’s rental market has a rhythm. Demand is strongest from roughly late spring through summer, when relocations, school calendars and the VCU and University of Richmond academic cycles all push people to move. Demand thins noticeably through late fall and winter. A house that would have shown to eight groups in June might show to two in January.
That means the expiration date on your lease is an asset. A January expiration costs you money every single cycle until you move it. The renewal conversation is the cheapest moment to fix that, because a tenant who is staying anyway is usually indifferent between a 12-month and a 15-month term.
How to move a bad expiration date
Offer an off-length term. If the lease ends January 31 and you want it to end in June, offer a 17-month renewal, or a 5-month bridge at the current rent followed by a standard 12-month term. Price the option you want slightly better than the one you do not. Most tenants take the deal without much thought, and you have permanently improved the property’s leasing calendar. This matters across the region, whether the property is in the Fan, Church Hill, Midlothian or Mechanicsville.
How to Make a Renewal Offer That Gets Signed
The mechanics of the offer matter more than landlords expect.
- Lead with the value, not the increase. Note what has been maintained or replaced during the tenancy before you state the new number.
- Be specific and final about the rent. Vague numbers invite a negotiation you did not plan for.
- Justify increases in market terms, not personal ones. “Comparable homes nearby are leasing in this range” lands better than “my taxes went up.”
- Include a deadline and honor it. A deadline you extend three times teaches the tenant that deadlines are decorative.
- Make signing effortless. Electronic signature, one link, no printing.
- Consider a small concession instead of a rent cut. Carpet cleaning or a long-requested minor repair often closes a hesitant renewal for less than a month of vacancy costs.
When not renewing is the right call
Sometimes the answer is no. Chronic late payments, repeated lease violations, or property condition that has deteriorated despite documented notice are all legitimate reasons to let a tenancy end. If that is your decision, make it at the 90-day mark so you can give proper notice, plan the turnover, and market into a stronger window. Apply your criteria consistently across every tenant, and keep the reasoning tied to documented lease performance.
What to Do About Silence
The non-responsive tenant is the most common failure mode. Assume it is inertia rather than intent. People who plan to stay often do not feel urgency about signing paperwork.
Escalate through channels: email, then text, then a phone call, then a written notice delivered per your lease. Say plainly what happens if the lease expires without a signed renewal, whether that is conversion to a month-to-month tenancy at a different rate or a requirement to vacate. Most silence breaks the moment the consequence becomes concrete.
Documentation That Saves You Later
Keep the renewal offer, the delivery record, the response, and the executed renewal in one place per property. If a dispute ever arises about what was offered, when it was delivered, or what the tenant agreed to, the file answers it in about thirty seconds. Our Learning Center covers the broader documentation habits that keep Virginia landlords out of avoidable arguments.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far in advance can I send a renewal offer?
Ninety days is comfortable for most Richmond-area rentals. Much earlier and market conditions may shift before the term starts; much later and you lose the ability to negotiate or market effectively.
Does Virginia require a specific amount of notice to end a lease?
Yes, the VRLTA generally sets minimum written notice periods that depend on the tenancy type, and your lease may specify its own terms. Those periods have been amended over time, so verify the current requirement rather than relying on a figure you remember.
What happens if the lease just expires with no renewal signed?
That depends on your lease language and Virginia law. Many leases convert to month-to-month automatically, sometimes at a higher rate. Others do not. Know what your document says before the date arrives.
Should I raise the rent at every renewal?
Not automatically, and not arbitrarily. Price to the market, weigh the value of a proven tenant, and remember that a modest increase accepted today usually beats a larger one that triggers a turnover.
Can I offer a lease term that is not 12 months?
Yes. Off-length terms are one of the most useful tools available for moving an expiration date into a stronger leasing season.
What if the tenant wants to negotiate the increase?
Decide your floor before you send the offer. If a counter lands above your floor and the tenant has a good history, taking it is usually cheaper than a vacancy and a turnover.
Do I have to give a reason for not renewing?
Virginia law does not generally require stating a reason for declining to renew a fixed-term lease, but your decision must comply with fair housing law and any lease provisions. Apply consistent, documented criteria and consult counsel if you are unsure.
Let Mission Realty Run Your Renewal Calendar
We manage renewals on this cadence across Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover, which is why our owners are rarely surprised by an expiration date. We track every lease, start the internal review at 90 days, deliver offers at 60, and escalate at 30 so a property is either renewed or already being marketed well before the tenant moves out.
Call (804) 545-6651 or get in touch to talk through your portfolio. You can also request a free rental analysis to see where your rent sits against current comparables, or review our property management services to see what we handle for owners.
This article is general information for Virginia rental property owners and is not legal advice. Notice requirements, lease enforceability and landlord-tenant obligations change over time and depend on your specific circumstances. Consult a Virginia attorney before acting on any renewal or non-renewal decision.
