How long can a rental home be held before move-in?

Most landlords do not like to hold property and keep it vacant.

Purvi Shah
Realm Real Estate Professionals
832-561-0691

Hi Joe!

This is a great question and one I'm asked frequently.

Usually, your best bet is to look about 30-45 days out from when you want your lease to begin. Typically, landlords will not be willing to hold a lease several months in advance of move in (unless of course you are prepared to begin your lease early and pay even though you won't be moving in yet) and most likely those that are available now won't be available 3 or 6 months from now (unless it's over priced or shows poorly). This makes the timeline for finding a place, and the point at which you must give notice, pretty tight. But, fortunately, finding a rental and the application process if pretty quick! That being said, there are instances when a property is listed in advance of availability. In this case, you may be able to secure the property in advance since the current lease would still be in place. These situations aren't that common and really case by case. There is nothing wrong with starting your search online sooner rather than later and your REALTOR could definitely reach out to the landlord's agent to see if circumstances would align (especially in the instance of relocating from out of town).

Let me know if you have any more questions!

Darby Grimmett / KW / darby@darbygrimmett.com / 936-827-9217

Depends on the market, around $1500 they will not wait as they tend to go real quick, in the higher end they are more likely to wait as the houses do not move as fast.

Most landlords will only want to hold a property for 30 days or less. If you find a property you like, you have the option of paying additional rent to the owner to alleviate their cost of holding the property for you.