Lease Move Out Notice.

Factual Questions
1

I have read my lease and I beleive I should be able to give a 30 day notice. My landlord is giving me hell and demanding a 60 day notice. The contract mentions a 60 termination but also mentions options for a 30 day notice, which I beleive I have met.

Here is what the contract states:

This lease contract will automatically renew month to month unless the party gives at least 60 days notice or intent to move-out as required by paragraph 37.
Paragraph 37
Your move out notice must comply with each of the following:

-We must recieve advance written notice of your move out date. the advance notice must be at least the number of days of notice required in [the paragraph above]. If a move out notice is recieved on the first, it will suffice for move out on the last day of the month of intended move out, provided that all other requirements below are met.

-The move out date in your notice may be the exact day designated in your notice.

  • Your move out notice must be in writing.

-Your move out notice must not terminate the lease contract sooner than the end of the lease contract term.

-If we require you to give us more than 30 days written notice to move out before the end of the lease term, we will give you a written reminder not less than 5 days nor more than 90 days before your deadline for giving us your written notice to move out. If we fail to provide a reminder notice, 30 days written notice to move out is required.
That is all that the contract says.** They did not provide me with a reminder so my 30 day notice should be sufficient, right? **

I am not terminating the lease early. I am wanting to move out on the last day of July but continue to pay thru the contract term of aug 5th. I have given the notice, but they are telling me they will send it to collections if I don’t pay for another month aug 5th thru sept 5 as the lease according to them will renew.

Any help is appreciated!! :slight_smile:

2

First, you’ll need to clarify which state you live in. In some, despite what the lease may say, certain laws may overrule what your lease says. I only know about New Jersey, where when my friend passed the bar, I helped him out filling out the most mind numbing real estate forms hours on end when he couldn’t yet afford a secretary. Wait, he’s a judge now and he still can’t afford one…maybe I should ask him to pay me :wink:

In general, a month to month lease is normally just that, and normally for a 3 or more unit dwelling, unless stated otherwise, you need to give 30 days or more notice. You renew a month to month lease by not giving them notice you’re moving out. They normally can’t claim it’s a month to month and require 60 days notice, they are contradictory aspects to the contract.

From your move out date and their insistence to making you pay for August this sounds like a college town?

From what you posted however, it seems you are in the clear. I doubt you want to pay an attorney to look at this, but most areas with lots of rentals have an agency which will give you some initial legal advice for free in regards to landlord tenant issues (after you sign a paper saying you’re holding them harmless for any wrong advice they may be giving you).

3

Yeah, there’s usually pretty good self-help law resources available for landlord-tenant law. If you are indeed in a college town, there might be resources available at the university. Where I went to school, we had a great student help law center that even had a lawyer that spent most of his time dealing with scummy landlords. The couple of times I had to use him, I was able to figure out most of my questions with their self-help material, but having the lawyer take 10 minutes to call my landlord sure helped things!

Landlords and property management places are notorious for creating sloppy lease contracts and constantly pushing the envelope of legality, and from what you posted it sounds to me like your lease is certainly sloppy at least. Whether its legal or not, or what rules apply if it turns out it isn’t, totally depends on the state or even sometimes the town, though.

4

IANAL, but…
Your post is not clear either.
The first part says “60 days” or “notice of moving out”

Is the first part about “60 days” paragraph 36, the “paragraph above”?

the whole of P37 is contradictory and odd. It appears to say you need to give 60 days (“para above” notice) then says “notice on the 1st” suffices for the “end of the month”. I assume this meant that you did not have to give notice by the last day of the month before; but it is poorly worded.

It could be interpreted as 1st plus 60 days, ie. 1st notice is valid for the last day of second month. “…last day of the month…” could mean the same month, or the month following if we assume they meant to say 60 days. (IANAL again, but I believe ambiguity in a contract is interpreted in the most favourable light, i.e. given it could mean 1 or 2 months, it means 1 month).

The whole “term of contract” thing at the end I assume means this: You sign for, let’s say, a 1-year “lease term”. If they need you to leave before that year, the 90-day clause applies and the 30-day reminder. This is all if they ask you to move out. You cannot give notice to move out before this term is over.

I assume the term is over before your planned move out. Thus, the month-to-month renewal applies.

My alternate reading of the “end of the month” bit also seems to say “you must give us 60 days … UNLESS you move out at the end of the month, you can give us 30 days. (28 in February)”

After all, a lot of places (at least around here) leases run from 1st of month, so if you want to leave the place empty for the 1st of the next month, 30 days is OK - but in any other situation, 60 days is needed maybe.

Not sure if the “month to month” would apply; since you are giving notice, the renewal for whole month clause does not apply by a precise reading, if the judge accepts that you did not have to give 60 days notice.

But as others say, there may be local tenant law that overrides all this.

My short and quick answer guess - if you want to move out at the end of the month, you need only say so in writing on the first. If you want to move out any other time, the 60 days might kick in.

To take it to collections, I assume the landlord would first have to take it to small claims court and get a judgement. Then you get to argue in front of a judge.

It’s also possible that the judge will toss the whole thing because the contract is so confusing that nobody can know what it means.

Or, the judge could be the landlord’s cousin. Small town?

5

In California, a month-to-month renter always has the 30 day notice requirement. The landlord can give a 30 day notice to tenants that have been living there less than a year, but it must be 60 days if all the tenants have been there over a year.

Of course, there can be many local-level laws involved, too, but generally those add rights and protections for the tenant.

6

Obviously…I mean what does month to month mean? But, if you don’t get your notice delivered 30 days before, then excepting February, you’re the 2nd (so 30 days to the end of the month) plus the next month (31 days) so that would make 60. Of course by specifying days rather than calender months they’ve made things unclear.

As long as you gave notice before the 29th of June (which you’ve obviously have) I know my state would say you’re in the clear (because month to month means, heh month to month).