Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Iowa

It's a conflict in terminology that I think makes the lease unenforcible. "Month to month" means exactly what it says. A year's lease is a year's lease and it entitles people to certain rights and responsibilities. They're mutually exclusive.

What that seems to suggest is that the landlord wants to have his cake and eat it too, in other words, seeks to have the ability to evict the tenant for any cause good cause or no cause at all, but wants that tenant tied to him for a year.

This would be an argument to be taken up by the courts and it could go either way. Courts look to the four corners of the agreement and they could well say "You signed it. Didn't you read the lease?"

On the other hand there may be more in the lease agreement than I see here and that could change the focus of my answer to you.