Lease Renewal Calculator
Your landlord has offered you a renewal and the numbers arrive in a jumble: a new monthly figure, a fee for ending the current lease early, and a longer term than you have left. This lease renewal calculator answers the renewal decision three ways: whether renewing early beats finishing your current lease, what a percentage increase does to your rent for one renewal term, and what a lease extension costs once legal fees, valuation, ground rent and the premium are added together.
Quick Answer
On the pre-filled offer, finishing the current lease costs $7,560.00 ($420 for 18 months), while renewing early costs $15,100.00 (a $2,500 fee plus $350 for 36 months), so the tool recommends continuing the current lease: renewing costs $7,540.00 more in total even though the monthly payment drops by $70. The New rent tab turns $1,500 at a 5% increase into $1,575.00 a month, and the Extension costs tab totals the sample fees at $14,650.00.
Key takeaways
- The renew-early comparison totals two different time spans whenever the renewal term differs from the months you have left. Read the savings line as a cash-outlay comparison, and weigh the extra months of housing the longer term buys you.
- A lower monthly payment can still lose. In the worked example the payment drops $70 a month and renewing still costs $7,540 more overall.
- The New rent tab applies the increase once, for one renewal. To project rent compounding over several years, use the future rent calculator instead.
- On an extension, the premium is normally the largest cost, and it jumps once a UK lease falls below 80 years remaining.
- Quick Answer
- How to use the lease renewal calculator
- The three formulas, and one honest warning
- Worked example: a cheaper payment that costs more
- Negotiating the renewal you were offered
- Extending a UK leasehold: why the 80-year line matters
- What competing calculators miss
- Frequently asked questions
- Add This Calculator to Your Website
- References
How to use the lease renewal calculator
Pick the tab that matches the decision in front of you. Each tab calculates on its own, results stay hidden until you press its button, and every tab has its own Copy and Share buttons.
- Renew early? Enter your current monthly payment, the payment in the renewal offer, the months left on your current lease, the renewal term, and any early termination fee (0 if none). Press Compare. A positive savings figure means renewing now costs less in total; a negative figure means finishing the lease costs less overall. The recommendation line under the rows states the verdict in words.
- New rent. Enter your current rent, the percentage increase in the offer, and the renewal term in months. The tool shows the new monthly rent and the total you will pay across the whole term at that rent. The increase is applied once: this tab prices one renewal step, it does not compound the increase year after year.
- Extension costs. Enter legal fees, valuation or surveyor fees, ground rent, and the lease premium. Any field can stay blank if it does not apply, but at least one cost is required. The tool echoes each component and totals the four, so you can budget the full cost of extending rather than just the premium.
This page has one job in the lease cluster: the renewal decision on a lease you already hold. It does not project rent years into the future (the future rent calculator compounds an increase over a multi-year horizon), it does not model the escalation schedule written into an existing contract (that is the lease escalation calculator), and its extension tab only totals the cost components you enter, where the lease extension calculator estimates a UK extension premium itself.
The three formulas, and one honest warning
Each tab runs one short formula. Nothing is hidden, and the Copy text restates the exact substitution for the run you just made.
Cost of renewing early = Early termination fee + (New monthly payment × Renewal term)
Savings = Cost of finishing − Cost of renewing early
New rent = Current rent × (1 + Increase % ÷ 100); Term total = New rent × Months
Extension total = Legal fees + Valuation fees + Ground rent + Lease premium
The honest warning belongs to the first tab: its two totals cover different spans of time whenever the renewal term is longer or shorter than the months remaining. In the worked example you are comparing 18 months of payments against 36 months of payments plus a fee. That is a real comparison, because it is the actual cash each path commits you to, but it is not a like-for-like monthly comparison, which is why the result also shows the monthly payment difference on its own row. If the two spans differ a lot, judge the deal on both rows: the total tells you the commitment, the monthly difference tells you the ongoing cost. Renewal increases themselves are often constrained outside the tool: many jurisdictions cap increases or tie them to an inflation index such as the Consumer Price Index published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, so check the offer against your local rules before treating any percentage as final.
Worked example: a cheaper payment that costs more
The pre-filled run is a tenant paying $420 a month with 18 months left, offered $350 a month for 36 months with a $2,500 early termination fee. Here is every line, plus the other two tabs and a second comparison where renewing genuinely wins.
| Run | Inputs | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Renew early? (worked example) | $420 current, $350 new, 18 months left, 36-month term, $2,500 fee | Finish $7,560.00; renew $15,100.00; savings -$7,540.00; monthly difference -$70.00; verdict: continue current |
| Renew early? (renewal wins) | $500 current, $450 new, 12 months left, 12-month term, $0 fee | Finish $6,000.00; renew $5,400.00; savings $600.00; verdict: renew early |
| New rent | $1,500 rent, 5% increase, 12 months | New rent $1,575.00; term total $18,900.00 |
| Extension costs | $1,500 legal, $900 valuation, $250 ground rent, $12,000 premium | Estimated total $14,650.00 |
Display note: the calculator prints its totals without thousands separators (for example, $7560.00 and $15100.00), while this article writes the same values with commas ($7,560.00 and $15,100.00) for readability. The amounts are identical.
Notice the trap in the first row: the lower monthly rate still loses because the new term is twice as long and the fee lands on top. When the spans match, as in the second row, the same tool flips its verdict and renewing saves a clean $600. Before signing either way, sanity-check the new payment against your budget with the ideal rent calculator, which works from income rather than from the landlord's offer.
Negotiating the renewal you were offered
Most renewal terms are negotiable, and the comparison numbers are your leverage. If the increase sits above local market movement or the early-renewal math favors the landlord, say so in writing and ask for a better offer.
Three levers work most often. First, the early termination fee: landlords sometimes waive or reduce it when the renewal itself is profitable for them, so run the Renew early tab with the fee set to 0 and show the landlord the version of the deal where renewing wins for both sides. Second, the increase percentage: ask what it is based on, and check it against any local cap or notice rule; tenant rights and rent increase rules are summarized for US renters by USA.gov's tenant rights pages and for UK private renters by GOV.UK's rent increase guidance. Third, the term: a shorter renewal at a slightly higher payment can cost less in total than a long renewal at a discount, which is exactly the trade the first tab measures. Keep every offer documented, including the ones you reject, because the next negotiation starts from the last written number.
Extending a UK leasehold: why the 80-year line matters
Once a UK lease drops below 80 years remaining, marriage value becomes payable on a statutory extension and the premium jumps sharply, often by thousands. If your lease is anywhere near 80 years, extending before it crosses that line is usually far cheaper than extending after.
A renewal and an extension are related but different. A renewal starts a new lease with new terms; a statutory UK extension adds years (typically 90) to the existing lease and usually reduces ground rent to a peppercorn, under the framework of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. The Extension costs tab on this calculator does not estimate the premium for you: it totals the premium a valuer has quoted alongside your legal fees, valuation fees and ground rent, so the full budget sits in one number. The government-funded Leasehold Advisory Service lease extension calculator gives an indicative premium range, and its figure is the sensible one to type into the premium field here.
What competing calculators miss
Most tools ranking for this keyword answer only one of the three renewal questions, and several answer it for the landlord rather than the tenant:
- Field Renewal: a tidy landlord-side tool that weighs a proposed increase against turnover costs and produces a breakeven. Useful if you own the unit; it never asks the tenant's question, whether renewing early beats finishing the lease, and it is US-only by its own statement.
- BraveCalculator's lease renewal cost calculator: the single-sum approach: four fee fields added together and called a renewal calculator. It cannot compare renewing early against finishing, and it has no rent increase view at all.
- The Leasehold Advisory Service extension calculator: the most authoritative premium estimator, and honest about being indicative, but it covers only the UK extension premium. No renew-early comparison, no renewal rent increase.
- Rent increase calculators (SmartOnlineCalculator, Finance Calc Kit and similar): they compute a new rent from a percentage well, and some compound it over years, but that is the whole tool. No early termination fee, no finish-versus-renew verdict, no extension costs.
- Commercial lease modeling services: deeper renewal analytics exist, but behind sign-ups and sales calls, which is a poor fit for a tenant with one offer letter in hand.
- The gap this page fills: all three renewal decisions on one page, with a stated verdict, the substituted numbers in the copyable summary, and an open warning that the headline comparison spans two different time periods when the terms differ.
Frequently asked questions
Let the comparison decide, but read it carefully. A lower new monthly rate can still cost more overall if the renewal term is much longer than the time you have left, exactly as the worked example shows. Also weigh flexibility: a longer new term locks you in, while finishing the lease keeps your options open.
It is what the landlord charges to end your current lease before its end date. It is often negotiable, and landlords sometimes waive or reduce it when the renewal itself is profitable for them. If your offer has no fee, enter 0.
Usually by market rents, and in some places by law. Some jurisdictions cap renewal increases or tie them to an inflation index such as a twelve-month average change in consumer prices, and the cap figure updates as new index data is published. Always check your local rules before accepting an increase.
A lump sum paid to the freeholder, mainly in UK leasehold, for granting a longer lease or buying out the ground rent. It is often the largest part of an extension and is the fourth input in the Extension costs tab.
Once a UK lease drops below 80 years remaining, marriage value becomes payable and the extension premium jumps sharply, often by thousands. If your lease is near 80 years, extending before it crosses that line is usually far cheaper.
They are related but different. A renewal starts a new lease with new terms; a UK lease extension adds years (typically 90) to the existing lease and usually reduces ground rent to a peppercorn. The first two tabs of this calculator cover renewals; the third covers extension costs.
Usually yes. Use the comparison numbers as leverage: if the increase is above the market rate or the early-renewal math favors the landlord, say so in writing and ask for a better offer. Keep every offer documented.
The New rent tab applies your increase once and totals it across a single renewal term, which is the question a renewal offer actually asks. A future rent projection compounds an increase year after year over a multi-year horizon. For that longer view, use the future rent calculator on this site; for the renewal in front of you, this tab is the right tool.
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References
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consumer Price Index. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- USA.gov. Tenant Rights, Laws and Protections. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- GOV.UK. Rent Increases in Private Renting. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- GOV.UK. Extending, Changing or Ending a Lease (Leasehold Property). Accessed October 22, 2026.
- UK Parliament. Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- UK Parliament. Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Leasehold Advisory Service. Lease Extension Calculator. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Cornell Law Institute, Legal Information Institute. Lease: Definition and Legal Overview. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- GOV.UK. Plain English explainer: extending your lease or buying your freehold. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Law Commission. Residential Leasehold and Commonhold: Law Commission project page on leasehold enfranchisement and extension reform. Accessed October 22, 2026.