Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

If you have a lease that does not expire until 2/12, the landlord can not change any terms of the lease until it runs out. You can not be evicted for failing to agree to a change in the terms. 30 days before the end date of the lease, the landlord must inform you of any proposed changes as to the renting of the unit after 2/12 or the lease automatically renews under the same terms. If she does not want you to remain at all after 2/12, she must give you 30 or 60 days notice of non-renewal of the lease. You have to pay rent for the entire period you have possessions of the rental unit, and sometimes more than that period. If she will not accept the three legal opinions you have already gotten, demand that she give you the legal basis of her position, as there is none.

I mostly agree with Mr. Shers. The only thing I disagree with is that if she does not give you 30 days notice of changes to the terms of the lease before it expires than it renews on its same terms. That is absolutely wrong unless the lease actually says that. If the lease does not expressly say that it renews if neither party modifies or cancels it before it expires, then it does not renew. Instead, the tenancy converts to a "tenancy at will," which has a term only as long as the period between rent payments. The tenancy at will then renews every time the rent comes due, and you must give a notice of the same period as the rental payments (generally 30 days) if you want to terminate the lease. The landlord used to have the same rules, but now if you have been there a year or more, the landlord must give 60 days notice to terminate a tenancy at will. Of course if the landlord notifies you that the lease will terminate at the end of its term, the tenancy at will never comes into being and you are just an unlawful occupant after the lease is up.