Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Tenant's Month to month leasing rights

We signed a 1-yr lease for a house with an option to stay for up to an additional 6 mths at the same rent. Towards the end of the year's lease we decided to move into a little apartment for the remaining 6-7 months it would take for our home to be built to save some money. We gave our landlord about 40 days notice. The move out date we gave her was 10 days after the initial 1-year term of the lease. She became quite upset that we were moving because she wanted us to stay for the additional 6 months since she planned to have her daughter move in at that time. Now, she says we must be out of the house on May 31 because it would be a hardship on her daughter (who is going to move in anyway I guess) if we were to move out any later. Our apartment will be ready on June 10 - the date we intend to move from the house. We plan to pay her the pro-rated rent for June for the number of days we'll be there. Are we within our rights to stay until June 10?


Asked on 5/16/02, 12:27 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
E. Daniel Bors Jr. Attorney & Counselor At Law

Re: Tenant's Month to month leasing rights

Dear Inquirer:

Nothing herein shall create an attorney-client relationship, unless a written retainer agreement is executed by the attorney and client. This communication contains general information only. Nothing herein shall constitute an attorney-client communication nor legal advice. There likely are deadlines and time-limits associated with your case; you should contact an attorney of your choice for legal advice specific to your personal situation, at once.

If you haven't already done so, please visit my

web site at --

http://home.pacbell.net/edbjr/ OR

http://www.CaliforniaDivorceAttorney.com

The site contains quite a bit of general information about California Family Law, Tenants' Rights, and Juvenile Dependencies, and EDD hearings and appeals, as well as information about me (education, experience, et cetera) and my office (location, hours, fees, policies).

NOW, IN RESPONSE TO YOUR INQUIRY --

The facts that you have provided are not clear

enough and/or complete enough to provide a

definitive answer to you inquiry; however, I would

say it seems as if you are within your rights, except that the landlord is probably entitled to the FULL rent for the "extra" partial month (assuming rent is due on the first). You really should consult an experienced tenants' rights attorney in your area who could review all of your paper work and determine precisely where you stand, largely based upon what's in writing and what's not.

Thanks for sharing your interesting inquiry with

us on LawGuru, and good luck with your case.

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Answered on 5/28/02, 2:46 pm
Ken Koenen Koenen & Tokunaga, P.C.

Re: Tenant's Month to month leasing rights

If your rental/lease agreement states that you have the right to stay UP TO 6 months, then you can stay any portion of that time.

Even if it is considered a month to month, she would be required to give you a 30 day notice.

She could file an unlawful detainer action, but it would cost her too much, and the issue would be moot by the time she could get it to court, because you would have moved.

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Answered on 5/16/02, 1:27 pm


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