Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Hi,

I rented out my house in California on May '09. I had the tenant sign a 1 year lease. 3 months later, the renter is giving his 30-day notice of termination. On the lease, there is a section for "Term of Tenancy". In there it says "The rental will begin on May 29, 2009 and end on 'M'. If the tenant vacates before the term ends, Tenant will be liable for the remainder of the term"

He says he spoke to an attorney and that because the section where it says "The rental will begin on May 29, 2009 and end on 'M'., 'M' should have ready May 28, 2010.". According to his attorney, this means that the lease is not a year and defaults to month-to-month. Is that accurate? In addition, he states that he's eligible for 100% of his security deposit back.

Please advise.

Rich


Asked on 8/28/09, 3:11 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

You have a chance of winning, partly because it is clear from the document that the parties intended a term lease rather than a month-to-month rental agreement. Month-to-month leases don't even have blanls to fill in an ending date, because they are open-ended and don't have ending dates. Therefore, I think the attorney advising your client is either ill-informed or grasping at straws. However, it's also hard to predict how small-claims courts will decide any given issue. Your chances would be improved if you have any extrinsic evidence that a one-year lease was offered, requested and intended. This could include the ad the tenant answered or his application.

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Answered on 8/28/09, 10:04 pm


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