we have been living in our apartment for a little over a year we hit a rough patch fell behind on rent but have always caught up. now our lease expired in jan. of this year and we continued to pay. well in jan. our landlords wife came to collect rent mind u my brother his wife and neighbors witnessed us paying her the rent well apparently claims she forget to him but tells us she recalls reciving it. now in the beginning of july we recive a paper in the mail stating that we have to the 30 to be out due to lease expiring. well we have been paying him rent and hes been accepting it has not mentioned anything the last six months about it expiring now wants us out in 20 something days stating he does not wish to renew the lease due to a poor payment history. how can this be when we have always caught up and if we didnt pay the full amount we have payed half or something to that matter. well what i am asking is it possible when we have just paid him money last week and have been paying him since the lease expired i have five kids and dont know what to do we cant come up with the money for a deposit and first month of rent in two weeks any advice is greatly appreciated..
Update:he wrote the paper on 7-3 assuming he didnt mail it to 7-5 or so being i checked my mail on friday and thursday and nothing was there so i recived it today on 7-9 asking to evacuate on 7-30
Answers & Comments
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Most leases change into a "month to month" lease once the original term is up unless a new lease is signed. That means that either party could give 30 days notice to end the same.
I would call what you have describe- as a poor payment history. A landlord needs and wants to be paid right on time each month. I might decide to live with it- but I might not.
He does not need a reason if he gives you the proper notice.
From what you describe concerning your methods of payment, you DO have a poor payment history. Where on earth did you get the idea that if you 'catch up eventually', you are a good payer ? A landlord has the right to expect FULL payment when it is due. Anything less indicates a poor payment history.
That being said, you are now a month to month tenant, and all the landlord needs to do to terminate you is give you thirty days notice that you must leave. Since he did not give notice before July 1, you are allowed to stay until August 30. Of course, you will also owe rents for July and August.
He must provide 30 days notice. You are now month to month and that isa ll the notice he needs to give, no matter if you have been paying or not.
"how can this be when we have always caught up and if we didn't pay the full amount we have payed half or something to that matter" - Not paying full rent on time is a poor payment history. Even if you catch up, and even if you pay part on time.
He doesn't need a reason to ask you to leave. You have no lease, so again, 30 days notice is all he needs. That said, if he gave it after July 1, it means you have until August 31. If you are not out by then, you get evicted.
i think - that when a lease expires it may be renewed/renegociated. if it is not, the tenant becomes "a tenant at will." that means that either party can end the relationship with 30 days notice. if you are current on the monthly payments, you should get 30 days notice. note: the landlord can also raise the rent at any time now that the lease is expired.
The lessor/landlord has the option to have his apartment leased to others. The only requirement of the law is for him to notify current lesee/tenant within thirty days. Receipt of rent payment does not automatically extend the life of the lease agreement/contract which, as you said, already expired. The best option for you is to communicate your concern/appeal for humanitarian reason to your landlord to allow you some more months to stay in his property so you could plan out your eventual transfer of residence.
Yes he can evict you at any time, but he must give you 30 days notice. Being late, even catching up makes you a poor risk.