Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Hello, i have a rental property in CALIFORNIA. Tenant has been in property since May 2013. As of August 2014 the rental went to a month to month with a clause that "either party has the option of terminating the m2m agreement with a minimum 60-day notice." House was just listed for sale and I agreed to reduce the rent $295 per month for the hassle and to keep unit clean for open house and showings. Side note house was not clean for the open house on this past Sunday. Tenant cannot deal with it all and gave 30 day notice, Question is, seeing as our signed agreement states "either party has the option of terminating the m2m agreement with a minimum 60-day notice." and she only gave 30 days, is she on the hook for the last 30 days? If so, can I deduct from her security deposit? And lastly, if I am allowed to do the above, do I have to give notice to her or simply deduct the amount from the SD when it is returned. Thx!
1 Answer from Attorneys
Without reviewing the agreement, I can't promise you that it will hold up, but generally, yes, you can modify the 30-day notice rule by agreement. So unless you close on the sale before the 60 days are up, she is on the hook for rent for the full 60 days. In fact, if you want to get hyper technical, her 30-day notice is totally invalid. So unless you gave her a 60-day notice when you listed the property, there is no notice clock currently ticking at all and she owes rent for 60 days from whenever she gives you a proper notice. [I do not, however, recommend standing on that technicality given the courts' general tendency to give tenants a lot of leeway on technicalities]. As for deduction, yes, you can take it out of her deposit. You do not need to give her advance notice that you intend to do that. You just have to give an itemized accounting of all deductions from the deposit within 21 days of when she vacates the premises, and return any unused balance of the deposit.
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