My lease is up in about 45 days. My landlord hasn't provided any way for me to renew the lease. They do online lease signing. I've been unable to login for over a month now. They can't figure out what the problem is. I've decided I want out at the end of my lease period, but the lease says i need to give 60 days notice. Is the landlord's failure to fix the renewal signing problem sufficient for me to claim they are in breach of contract and allow me out at the end of the lease, without the full 60 says notice? According to them, the renewal was supposed to be signed by now already. But I couldn't due to their failure to fix the problem that kept me from signing in.
2 Answers
In general, a lease is not a permanent obligation: it has a specific term, and when the lease has expired, neither party has an obligation to continue (allowing to continue to) reside at the place. The lease may be renewed, and there may even be an automatic renewal clause in the lease. Texas Property Code Ch. 92.021(b) says that:
(b) A person may specify in writing in an original lease that the person will guarantee a renewal of the lease only if the original lease states:
(1) the last date, as specified by the guarantor, on which the renewal of the lease will renew the obligation of the guarantor;
(2) that the guarantor is liable under a renewal of the lease that occurs on or before that date; and
(3) that the guarantor is liable under a renewal of the lease only if the renewal:
(A) involves the same parties as the original lease; and
(B) does not increase the guarantor's potential financial obligation for rent that existed under the original lease.
If there is no automatic renewal clause, there is no 60 advance notice requirement – you're done at the end of the lease (there could be a 60 day advance notice clause in case of termination before the end of the lease -- look specifically for "60 days" in connection with automatic renewal). Assuming there is such a clause in your lease, which says the things that it is supposed to say by law (last date for renewing, recognition of liability and the same-price, same-parties condition), then there should be some wording about giving notice of non-renewal, but it may be subtle (such as "renews automatically 60 days before the end of the term, if notice is not given").
Assuming the lease has a 60 day auto-renew clause (and not 30 day), you need to give notice within 60 days. There is a convenient legalese form that you can mail by certified mail. Your situation is more complex because you have (apparently) made an attempt to give notice within the 60 day period (right?) but their website was broken. You cannot be required to use their website to give non-renewal notice, and as a general rule legal notifications should be done by certified mail. If they claim that you must use their non-functional website to override automatic renewal, that is just wrong (they cannot make it impossible for you to exercise your right to terminate), but you do have to give notice by the date specified in the lease. However, you also cannot use the fact of their website being broken as an excuse for not giving written notice by the deadline.
Most likely,Yes; you can now give the minimum notice required by your jurisdictions' law. Once a lease ends without the re-signing of a new lease, ornament addendum continuing the current one, you are no longer required to be bound by the terms of the lease, but rather are now a tenant at will. You have to give as much notice as your state, town or municipality requires you give, just as any month-to-month tenant without a lease would be required. Essentially, you will be treated as if the lease never existed and you were allowed to move in without a lease, with all state laws applying as they relate to this and any other landlord tenant matters. If you would like more information at tenancy at will, I have posted fairly broad response on this topic in the past. Typically, if you make your rent payment monthly, that would be the amount of time by which you would be required to give notice. This does not mean you can give notice on the first of the month, as day notice is given/received is not included in the typical 30 day notice requirement-, Rather o'clock would start the following day. If The first of each month is the date you pay rent, this means you must give notice prior to that date i.e. the day before or sooner. It should be written notice. If you pay rent every 60 days, however, the law will typically look to this as the period by which you are bound to give notice, If you live in a state that observes the "periodic" rule for at will tenants. Since most people pay rent monthly, this is likely not a niche you, but I mention it since you have a rather uncommon 60 day notice requirement… In the event that you do pay rent every two months this may be the minimum available to you specifically. That said, you can give your landlord notice at any time that you intend to pay rent monthly, and then sometime before the first of the month give notice. You can easily find this information by doing just a general Google search for "notice requirements regarding at-will tenancy" in your state. In the alternative, you can list where you live and that question can be answered herein. For the sake of this answer, I am assuming that you would have included in your question the pertinent information had there been a clause in your lease stating that the lease would automatically renew if 60 days notice were not given prior to the ending of the term of the lease. However, if that is the case, few states allow for automatic renewal of residential leases, while most don't. That does not mean landlords' do not have these clauses in their lease even though they may be unenforceable in your specific jurisdiction. That is why jurisdiction is often so important when individuals ask questions. That said, it may not be an intentional violation of the statute ifthere is an auto renewal clause and that is unenforceable in your jurisdiction, but rather merely a result of people buying these types of documents in stores or online rather than paying attorney to draft a document specifically for their circumstances. Form leases are not jurisdictionally specific often times, when this occurs. Feel free to ping me if you have any questions.
