End of Lease/Month to Month Rent Question

[kristenlaj]

Our lease was up on March 31st. We never received a month to month lease. We paid our rent of $1690 on April 1st which they cashed. Then we received a letter stuck on our door that said $509 was past due that month to month rent is $2199. We mailed our 60 day notice letting them know we were moving out on 6/30/13, then they stuck another thing to our door telling us our rent would be 2199 for the next two months and we still owe them the 509 for the past due amount. We never signed a month to month lease, do we have to pay this?
It does not say in our yearly lease that we automatically go to month to month rent. It just says that month to month rent is market rent + 10%

[AFFA]

Re: End of Lease/Month to Month Rent Question

I wish to inform you that you can contest other party increase in rent. In this any change of term of increase in rent require consent of both landlord and tenant. As landlord has increased rent substantially therefore you have the right to terminate your rent agreement unless otherwise contained in your rent agreement. After end of your lease term you can be treated as month to month tenant but increase in rent can only be as per your agreement or as per consent. In this if your agreement has stated that month to month rent is market rent +10% then that market rent is a vague term as not specifically defined and thus amount demanded can be contested on the ground that your earlier rent should be market rent because other party was accepting such rent. If other party refuses then agree and retains any security deposit which you have paid then you can go to small claims court and have your money from landlord.

AFF

[sandyclaus]

Re: End of Lease/Month to Month Rent Question

Our lease was up on March 31st. We never received a month to month lease. We paid our rent of $1690 on April 1st which they cashed. Then we received a letter stuck on our door that said $509 was past due that month to month rent is $2199. We mailed our 60 day notice letting them know we were moving out on 6/30/13, then they stuck another thing to our door telling us our rent would be 2199 for the next two months and we still owe them the 509 for the past due amount. We never signed a month to month lease, do we have to pay this?
It does not say in our yearly lease that we automatically go to month to month rent. It just says that month to month rent is market rent + 10%

The fact that you never received a lease renewal with a different rent amount AND you failed to move out upon the expiration of your fixed term lease should have given you a clue. It's pretty well known that if a LL accepts rent for any period after the expiration of a fixed term lease that a tenancy almost always converts to a month to month tenancy. And if your lease already specified month to month rent rates of market rent+10%, then it appears that you have been legally notified of the increase amount that means when you paid only your prior lease rental rate.

Given that it appears you have a 60 day notice requirement to terminate your lease, it probably would have been good to bring up the signing of a new lease or verifying a month to month rental rate about about two months before you have held over. The fact that you didn't, and that the LL "didn't mention anything", while unfortunate, isn't illegal or unprofessional. They set out their intent in the lease which you agreed to when you aligned (but apparently didn't read and understand until it was too late).

I suggest that you find a way to pay the increase, or expect that your LL WON'T accept a partial rent payment for next month.