Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

All terms of the lease continue after expiration, except it becomes a month to month, unless specified otherwise in the lease.

That is a great question. I frequently have to point out the answer to my own landlord, who like to unilaterally modify my lease.

In the absence of a lease provision, state law provides that if a lease runs out and the landlord thereafter accepts rent, the tenant becomes a month-to-month tenant under the same terms outlined in the original lease. "If a lessee of real property remains in possession thereof after the expiration of the hiring, and the lessor accepts rent from him, the parties are presumed to have renewed the hiring on the same terms and for the same time, not exceeding one month when the rent is payable monthly, nor in any case one year." (Civil Code, sect. 1945.)