Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

Re: Landlord will not recognize 30+day notice of termination

In my opinion, this really depends upon the wording of the lease. Some leases could say that if it is not terminated, the lease renews for another year. Other leases could explicitly provide for a month-to-month lease arrangement after the end of the formal lease, or it could be just assumed by the fact that the lease is over. This makes a big difference in whether the landlord can set any rent he wants in the month-to-month period or is bound to follow specific rules including on rent during the month-to-month

period. That is, does the lease include a section that talks about month-to-month after the end of one year, or is the lease just technically over and the landlord is allowing you to continue month to month essentially without any lease at all? Similarly, it is very important how

the lease is worded, as to whether the 60 day

period is part of the one-year period, or whether it applies in all cases.

I would suggest that you study the lease with those ideas in mind. If you need some legal help, I can interpret it for you. Since I don't have a greedy boss to feed and don't waste money on an expensive office, I can advise you for the unheard-of rate of $95 per hour. However, bear in mind that it is one thing to know what the lease legally requires, and quite another to convince your landlord of that fact. Having an attorney's opinion may not make your landlord suddenly see the light. Your only certain option would be to walk away, force him to sue you, and then you would have the chance to have the court decide. (You really can't do anything legally to prove you DON'T owe money, until you are sued. There can sometimes be one procedure, but it is absurd to use such a cumbersome and expensive process unless a huge amount of money is at stake.) Obviously, that is risky, because you won't know the outcome until the end, when it may be too late.

Re: Landlord will not recognize 30+day notice of termination

The operative lease would be the one which you originally signed in June 2000 and which carried over when you converted to a month to month arrangement and, therefore, if your landlord wishes to be petty(for whatever reason) about the required advance termination notice he can also bind you for the January 05 rent since you failed to give the required 60 day notice in order to move out by December 31st.