I have a month-to-month lease. Is a 60-day notice legal?

Question

60 days seems like a long notice, and I can't find anyone who will hold an apartment for me that long. This must be illegal. Maybe is I had a year lease. . . but this is not the case.

Answer 1

The "norm" is 30 days, however WHAT IS LEGAL IS WHAT EVER YOU SIGNED to on the lease.

Any problem you had BEFORE signing should have been dealt with at that time.

A lease, when given should be read in full before signing, copy it and on the copy cross out or adjust anything in it you don't agree with, and come to a new agreement with the landlord and sign the lease with the adjustment WRITTEN in on it...if the landlord is an unreasonable hardazz, i wont rent from them. These adjustments must be made before even giving a penny to the landlord. You have the right to adjust a lease to something you both can agree to.
Never pay anything without getting a COMPLETE lease, that's your right. My landlord initially gave me only the last page where it show where i got to sign...I refused to sign till they gave me the full contract...many landlords try to do that, but its illegal.You don't have to pay a deposit first before getting the FULL CONTRACT.
You signed it, you agreed to it. You can leave an apartment anytime you want to, the very next day if you want to, no one can force you to say, however leaving without giving the agreed upon notice normally results in you forfeiting your deposit . While some leases allow you to leave, you may still have to pay the full term of the old lease even if you not there, in other words you'll be paying on both your old and new lease at the same time, till the old on expires.
Apparently you've been conned by this landlord cause you are right, no one, especially if you in a big city will hold your new apartment for 60 days.
I would leave immediately, do what I said earlier before signing a new lease and know what you getting into and learn about your rights and learn from your mistakes.

If your new landlord WON'T allow you to:

1. Get the FULL COMPLETE contract before signing
2. Make adjustments to your lease such as notices, deposits, painting, decorating, having people come over (except for things like no pets etc.)
3. Says you need to pay the deposit or small down payment to get the FULL contract, THAT'S A LIE!!! (NOTE: MAKING ANY PAYMENT IS AN ACCEPTANCE OF A LEASE AS IS, if you make a deposit then read the lease after and say you don't like the terms and later don't want the lease, the landlord can legally keep the deposit/down payment)

I WOULD RUN AND RUN FAST...FIND ANOTHER LANDLORD.

Another thing I did when moving in, and the landlord was showing me around, i used my camcorder to document existing damages to the apartment, so I won't be liable for them when I do leave.

check out
www.hud.gov

for info on tenant and landlord rights

Answer 2

I assume what you are saying is the landlord wrote a lease that is month to month but has a clause which requires either party to give 60 day notice to terminate?

I love it when landlord writes their own leases, if it is really a month to month lease then a month notice is all that is required not two month notice, if so it would be a 2month to 2month lease

Since it seems without reading the lease you have a conflict of terms within the lease if so the judge will find against the drafter of the lease

Now reality small claims judge is a crap shoot a judge may find all that is need in a month to month is month notice, while you may get a judge to say sure its month to month but you read the lease new the contents and up held the two month notice requirement to terminate even though in my opinion it is a contradiction

It may be worth the cost to have a lawyer read the lease and give you advice if you either need to give one month notice or two month

Answer 3

If you signed a month to month lease that said you had to give a 60 day notice then that is binding and you will have to either keep the agreement or pay for 2 places at once. If you signed a month to month lease and there is no stipulation as to the duration of the notice it is assumed that 30 day notice is sufficient.

Answer 4

For a month to month lease is 30 days, but, something tricky if you have Little kids or minors living with you, you can use that as an excuse and they can't put you in the streets if you have kids. You can always have the excuse that you couldn't find apartment.
But remember pay your rent every month

Answer 5

Any apartment I have ever lived in only required a 30 day notice, 60 days sounds a little extreme, but apartments are private property so they can substantiate any rules they want to really (as long as it falls under the state's renters rights laws)

http://www.tenant911.com/ - this website should help, you can email them your question and they will respond within the amount of time you ask them to (you'll see what I mean.)

Answer 6

30 days for month to month.