The landlord just delivered a paper stating that rent would be going up by 40 dollars effective the first of June. The lease is also up on the first of June. Is there a requirement for a decent time frame for these kind of notices? Five days is not long enough of a time to find a new place, and I was planning on staying another year, but can he do this?
Read your lease. Most that I’ve had stipulate a 30 day notice period.
Funny, I just signed a lease for my business an hour ago. I’m looking over the lease, and there’s no mention of what can happen rent-wise once the lease is up.
My guess (and it’s only that) is that you had an agreement till June, and now that June’s here rent increases are fair game.
I have just checked a WI law website on rental agreements that I think states that 28 days notice is required. I am not a lawyer or one who understands leagalese all that well, so I will have to call tenant resources. Does anyone understand all the excess mumbo jumbo that seems to abound in law books? I know it should read “Thok pay now, or Thok get bonked”, but is all that required or was someone really bored at the time?
From what I understand in the OP, your lease expires June 1, therefore your agreement with the landlord is ended on that date and he is free to negotiate a new contract, naming any price he desires. Perhaps out of courtesy the landlord could have notified you of his intent, but in no way is there a legal obligation to do so.
There is no simple answer to this question.
One of the previous posts was correct in that once your lease ends, an entirely new contract will define your relationship with your landlord and the specific substantive or procedural requirements that go along with it.
Your state might have statutes that require a certain amount of notice. I’m not sure how likely this is.
There are a multitude of things to consider. Did your landlord know you planned on staying? Then, if s/he’s raised the rent in the past and always given you 30 days notice (or whatever), then there is something called “Course of dealing” that should be considered - that 30 days notice has been implied in the contract, etc.
Typically, if you have a year lease, the landlord will check with you sooner than 5 days before the lease ends to see if you wish to continue the lease. This is pretty poor property management. Some courts consider contracts void because one party has a significantly stronger bargaining position - but this usually includes things like duress or factors that “shock the conscience.” The problem is that this is extremely typical of landlord-tenant relationships and isn’t unusual. The landlord shows you the contract and you take it or leave it. That’s just how it’s done and it isn’t considered unfair one bit.
I would consider speaking with your landlord about the rent increase. There are endless possibilities here. Speak with the landlord first and then check your state’s statutes to see if there are any laws governing this situation. Some people simply don’t pay the rent increase because most tenants have to “substantially violate” the lease before an eviction can occur and 20 bucks off a 500 dollar rent might not be considered substantial. Don’t take that as advice - it isn’t offered as that! And speaking with the landlord in a friendly manner is always the best first option.
Okay, now it’s clear that I’m an attorney. We never know when to shut up.
JunrGatr
As a Commisioner on a Rent Control Board (volunteer), I can say wih great authority:“I dunno”. 
We have to know your state, and if it is Ca, your county & city. If it is not CA, sorry.
On my first apartment lease (in Virginia), I recall a clause that stated that after this one-year lease was over, the rental agreement became month-to-month, with the landlord able to raise the rent by no more than 5% per year. I think this was to encourage people to renew a yearly lease for a lesser increase (if at all).
Like clockwork, our rent went from $678 to $712 on the anniversary of our move-in. We stayed less than one more year, so it didn’t really matter.
If I’d stayed and accepted 5% increases every year, my rent would’ve been $1278 this upcoming August. I can hardly imagine that those apartments would ever be initially rented for near that much.
Read the terms of your rental agreement. It should contain a clause covering this situation.
In Ohio where I live, if this situation is not covered under the written terms of a residential lease, the tenant who holds onto the tenancy beyond the terms of the lease is said to be “holding over”, and the written lease is converted into an oral month to month lease. Under an oral month to month lease, the landlord must give at least one month’s notice of a change in terms, such as an increase in the rent. Under the facts in the OP, the landlord could not raise the rent until July 1, since he hasn’t given at least one month’s notice of the change.
Check the laws of your state and the written terms of your lease.
Check with your tenant’s council and look for a clause in your lease regardingwhat happens when your lease is up.
I always negotiated my new lease at least 30 days before the end of my old one, so I’d know whether the increase in rent warranted me moving out or staying. In my state(Texas), if you don’t renew your lease, it continues on a month-to-month basis, unless you have some other sort of agreement with your landlord. So if you don’t renew, your landlord may up your rent so high that you will end up moving to another place or being suckered into another year long lease at a slightly lower rate. A few landlords are cool and keep the rent the same. Most of my dealings with landlords/property managers have not gone too well, as the landlords/pms were actually slumlords in disguise.
I am rather surprised by your landlord only giving you 5 days notice, though. Even my former evil nazi slumlord property manager gave me 30 days notice for the rent increase effective at the renewal of my lease. And this man was shady and even went so far as to try and dictate who I could and could not let visit me in my apartment! He even boarded up a tenant’s door so he could not get out because he was behind on his rent and he cut another tenant’s electricity off in August for the same reason. I knew a few people in the building who had their car windows smashed and nothing missing, but their vehicle titles had been moved from the glovebox to the seat. (It was never proved, but we all suspected the evil nazi slumlord property manager and his thugs.)
Good luck to you. I hope that you don’t find the clause that gives your landlord that permission, and your tenant’s council tells you that his actions are illegal and you take the guy down. Renters Unite!!!