When you come to the end of your lease, you may or may not be ready to decide at that time on whether you want to spend another year in the same apartment. You could be wondering about the status of your job, the current state of your relationship, or a change in finances that could affect whether you want to stay in your current apartment.
A Month To Month Lease is a basic extension of the currently lease you are in. Either party can give the other a standard 30-Day Notice to leave the apartment, but gives you the same rights as the standard yearly lease you were just in.
Think of a Month To Month lease as just a continuation of the original lease you signed, nothing more, nothing less. This gives both the tenant and the landlord a bit of flexibility in continuing their renting relationship, without all the time and hassle of extra paperwork.
Many leases have a clause in it that automatically rolls the lease over to a month to month lease at the end of the first year. If the situation is going well, and both the tenant and the landlord are happy with their arrangement, the tenant basically just keeps on doing what they’re doing until they want to leave, in which case, they provide the landlord with a 30 Day notice, just like you would if you were leaving at any other time.
A month to month lease is attractive for a landlord because it allows them to keep the tenant in the apartment without having to pressure them for another year commitment, and prevents them from having to do more paperwork, which can be a pain in the butt for both parties. Landlords usually won’t let poor tenants go month to month if they are causing problems and will ask them to leave.
A month to month lease is attractive for tenants because it allows them to keep on going with their current lease without having to make another large time and money commitment to the apartment complex. If their conditions change at some point during the next couple months, they can always give their 30-Day Notice, but until then, they can just stay in the same arrangement they already have.
I have had tenants stay in month to month contracts for years after their original lease term had been up. I have only had them sign another lease, always a month to month lease, if I changed something complex-wide that might affect them. But if the tenants are good enough to be there for that long, I am not going to bog them and my manager down with unnecessary paperwork every 12 months just because.
How Do I Lease Month To Month?
Leasing Month To Month and having your year-long lease roll over into a month to month lease are two different things.
When someone talks about “leasing month to month” at the beginning of a contract, that means that they want to rent for a period of no more than 1 month at a time from the beginning of the contract. Most apartment complexes won’t do this.
Landlords want to have security that they don’t need to change the carpet, clean, and paint, only as it becomes necessary to do. These things all cost time and money and usually, anything less than a one-year commitment isn’t cost effective for the landlord to do. Hence the 1-year minimum contract.
I HAVE done lesser amounts of time, but only under EXTREMELY specific conditions. Like they pay the entire 6 months up front, or their work is traveling their employer around from place to place, is willing to pay for everything, or something of the sort. And usually, if it is anything other than a one-year contract, I am going to charge a bit more to offset my risk on the lease.
When someone is talking about their lease being “Month To Month” and they already have an established lease, then they are referring to their original period being up, and the landlord having them continue staying there on a month to month basis.
Continuing the lease on a month to month basis just means that both the landlord and the tenant have an established contract that continues until one party decides to quit it.
Can My Landlord Charge More For A Month To Month Lease?
A landlord can increase the rent, as established in the original lease, when the lease rolls over to a month to month lease. This gives the tenant the incentive of signing a longer-termed lease.
One thing that I do with my tenants is increase their rent $50 per month if they want to stay on a month to month lease. Either way is fine with me. If they want to sign a new lease for a year’s contract, usually at their current price, I am happy to do that. I am also fine with them going on a month to month lease as long as they want, but because of the uncertainty factor involved in it, I add an additional $50 to the month to month contract.
If you are a tenant, know that the landlord must have that provision in the original lease that they may increase the price of the lease if it rolls over to a month to month contract. If they DON’T, then you don’t have to pay the increase, because you haven’t signed a document saying you agreed to the price increase.
However, if you signed the original lease, and it had the provision in the contract allowing for a price increase should the lease go month to month, then the landlord is perfectly within their rights to raise the rent. At that point, you have the choice of continuing on a month to month basis with a slightly higher rent, signing a new lease agreement usually at the former price, or finding a new place to rent from.
What Are My Rights As A Month To Month Tenant?
A tenant has all the same rights they have with a normal, year-long lease agreement. This includes the obligation to give a 30 Day Notice in writing to the landlord if they want to quit the property. Otherwise, the same rights you have as a tenant as stated in your original lease would apply to a month to month lease.
Essentially, nothing changes. Maybe your monthly rent by a small amount if your landlord chooses, but many landlords are happy to leave the price where it is at to save paperwork and keep their good tenants as happy as possible.
Every right and privilege that you were given in the original lease still applies to your month to month lease. You still have your same parking privileges, your same water, sewer, and gas contracts, payment is still due on the same day. The only thing that is different is that if you want to leave the apartment complex for any reason, all you have to do is give the landlord a 30 Day Notice, pay the last month’s rent, and you are free to go wherever your heart desires.
Does The Month To Month Lease Need To Be In Writing?
The month to month lease is already in writing, as it is just an extension of your original lease agreement. Typically, nothing else needs to be signed for the month to month lease to go into effect.
Again, as the month to month lease is essentially the same agreement you have with your landlord, just on a shorter time scale, you typically don’t need to sign anything else. The lease will automatically rollover into the new term. You will pay the same way, and at the same time as you always have, you just have the freedom now to quit the contract by giving a 30 Day Notice.
The same sort of contract would be made with your cable or internet provider. They will have you sign up for a minimum contract, and you must stay with them for that period of time at least. Then, at the end of that time, they will simply roll you over into a month to month contract.
If you are happy with their service, you can continue on as long as you like. If you don’t like some aspect of the service they are now providing, or find a better deal, you are free to change providers as you see fit.
The ability to roll over the contract into a month to month lease is almost always stated somewhere in the original lease. If you don’t see it written anywhere, just ask your landlord about it. A verbal agreement is legally enforceable as well, but having it in writing, as you might imagine, can save a ton of hassle if something doesn’t go to plan.
A month to month lease is typically something that automatically happens at the end of your original lease. The term is shortened to 1 month and keeps extending that 1-month term until either the landlord or the tenant decide they want to do something else. In which, one of the parties will give the other a 30 Day Notice in writing and both will move on.
The terms of the month to month lease are going to be exactly the same as what was in your original contract. All your rights as tenant are going to stay the same. The only thing that may change a bit is the price, as some landlords like to give their tenants an incentive to sign a longer-term contract. This is within their rights to do as long as they have it included in the original lease agreement.
A month to month lease gives both the tenant and the landlord the flexibility of continuing the relationship they have already established without the need for additional paperwork and hassle, which can be a stressful, time-consuming hassle.
