Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: laws regarding paying in full of a one years apartment lease contract

Howdy:

Yes, that's fine. However, there are several considerations to keep in mind.

A lease for a specific time terminates at the end of the term, without any need for notification, unless provided otherwise in the lease.

When a tenant holds over, the lease extends for the term of the lease, or the lease payment.

Usually, rent is paid monthly, so if no term for hold over is specified in the lease, it usually becomes a month-to-month lease.

When the lease is for a year, and the payment for the year is made at the time of signing, if you hold over, you could potentially be stuck there for another year!

Also, when terminating a lease of six months or a year, you could potentially be held to six months' notice, instead of just 30 days.

These are all considerations you need to keep in mind, and be sure they're addressed in the agreement.

You really want to ensure the hold over provisions specify a month-to-month tenancy, and you want to ensure the notice to terminate time is no more than 30 days. And, these have to be spelled out in the agreement, if you pay the entire year in advance.

Hope this helped.