Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

Tenant-at-will, landlord claims no notification

I received my 3rd lease renewal and rent

increase. It proved to be too expensive for me to

afford for the whole year so I inquired about a

6-month lease. The rental company agreed to

offer a 6-month lease, at a higher rent. When the

lease arrived it was for 12 months instead of 6. I

notified the rental company but never heard back

from them. I continued to pay the monthly rent

invoices as they arrived. Eventually I moved out,

now the company is claiming they never received

30 days notice and that I owe another month's

rent. How can I avoid paying rent for a month in

which I did not live in the apartment? Is it really the

tenant's responsibility to educate themselves on

these types of laws when a landlord fails to

deliver a lease? Until they threatened to go to

court I assumed that since they never sent the

lease we merely had no legal binding contract

and I could move out or they could kick me out

without notice. The bottom line is, I lived in the

apartment for 40 months and I paid 40 months

rent, why should a company with whom I had no

signed contract be entitled to an EXTRA month's

rent? If they wouldn't have been able to rent the

apartment would that impact/help my case?


Asked on 3/11/02, 8:08 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Trant Law Office of Robert R. Trant

Re: Tenant-at-will, landlord claims no notification

After the lease expired, you were considered to be a "tenant at will". In a tenancy at will, either party may terminate the tenancy with 30 days notice to the other party. The notice must be terminate the tenancy on a rent day. Generally, the notice is given on or before the 1st to terminate on the 30th. The notice provision is to allow either the landlord to find another tenant (if the tenant wants to terminate) or the tenant to find another apartment (if the landlord wants to terminate). In th case, the landlord is well within their rights to expect to be paid one month's rent since you did not provide any notice. When the lease expired and you kept paying rent (and the landlord excepted the rent), the tenancy at will was created. The landlord would not have been able to terminate the tenancy without providing 30 days notice. One possible solution is to offer a lesser figure to the landlord (perhaps 1/2 month) to settle the dispute. This will save you both the time and expenses associated with a lawsuit.

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Answered on 3/12/02, 9:13 am


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