Landlord Is Apparently Fuzzy on Month-to-Month Lease Rules
Question: I am moving from the duplex in Los Angeles that I have lived in for the last seven years. We had a month-to-month lease agreement. The landlord and I disagree about the terms of that agreement.
I have always given 30-day notices on these kinds of agreements, with the balance of any final month’s rent prorated. Even though I gave him a 60-day notice of my intent to vacate, the landlord says I have to pay the calendar month’s rent.
I am leaving the second week of the month. He says I have to pay the full month’s rent. I disagree. Who is right?
Answer: Congratulations to you for giving the landlord a 60-day notice of your intent to vacate and giving him plenty of time to find a new renter. That’s always considerate and usually makes for a smoother transition in the tough moving process.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case this time. No kudos can go to your landlord, who appears to not know the law in this situation.
Just as you can move into an apartment at any time of the month and pay prorated rent when doing so, you also can move out on a month-to-month agreement by giving at least a 30-day notice and paying the prorated amount of rent due.
You call your agreement a “month-to-month lease agreement” in your letter. You will note that I call it a “month-to-month rental agreement” in my answer to your question.
A month-to-month agreement is not a lease. That’s probably where some of the confusion arises. One of the primary differences between a lease and month-to-month agreement is the ability, or lack thereof, to move out without penalty.
Under the terms of a fixed-term lease, typically a one-year lease, you can be liable for rent through the period of the lease even if you move out before the lease expires, regardless of how much notice you give the landlord. Your rent liability ends when the landlord re-rents the apartment or the lease expires.
Rent liability stops under a month-to-month tenancy after you give the proper 30-day notice and move out.
Rental Contract Signed 10 Years Ago Is Valid
Q: Ten years ago we rented an apartment in Los Angeles. Now we have a rent increase issue with the landlord. We signed a written agreement when we moved in that said the landlord would increase the rent only one time by $25 and would not increase our rent for the rest of the time we live here.
Years ago, he increased the rent by $25. Now he has given us a notice of a 3% rent increase due next month. We don’t think we should have to pay the increase because of the written agreement. We mentioned it to him, and he said, “Oh, come on. It was just a paper I signed 10 years ago.”
What are our rights? Does he have the right increase our rent in spite of our written agreement to the contrary? Please let us know the answer as soon as possible, as we are not planning on paying the extra 3% when the rent is due.
A: Ten years ago, in 1990, the apartment market saw double-digit vacancies, plummeting rents and record foreclosures in L.A. and Southern California. It’s understandable that your landlord was willing to offer you extremely favorable terms to get you to rent.
What a difference a decade makes. All of those trends are reversed in today’s tight rental market, and your rent is very likely well below the market rent he could charge for your apartment if you moved out. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, a deal is a deal.
That “paper I signed 10 years ago” is known as a contract. Whether it was a month-to-month rental agreement or a lease, which automatically converts to a month-to-month tenancy if it expires without being renewed, it still is a legally binding contract, assuming it was a legal contract when it was signed.
Landlord Needn’t Paint When Tenant Moves
Q: I live in Los Angeles. Is the landlord required to repaint the apartment and steam-clean the carpet between tenancies?
Also, there is a garbage disposal in our apartment. Our landlord says that we can use it only for small crumbs because the old plumbing can’t handle other items through the disposal. Are landlords allowed to restrict the use of a facility or amenities after a tenant has signed a lease?
A: If you’ll take a close look at that lease you just signed you’ll find that it’s loaded with restrictions on the facility and its amenities, from the number of tenants allowed to live in the apartment, to how long guests may stay, to pets, to washing your car on the premises, among many others.
This is a legal restriction on the use of your garbage disposal. Moreover, it is also the way the vast majority of garbage disposal makers and plumbers recommend that you use disposals.
In answer to your other question, landlords are not required to repaint apartments and steam-clean the carpets between tenancies. Though many landlords do repaint apartments and even put in new carpets and drapes, there is no law requiring them to do so.
Postema is the editor of Apartment Age magazine, a publication of AAGLA, an apartment owners’ service group. Mail your questions to AAGLA, 12012 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025.
