Landlord Question and Answer Forum

A few months ago, a tenant wanted to do a 1 year lease on my property, I didnt have a 1 year lease agreement so I used a month to month agreement and as an additional condition I added the agreement was for 1 year, now he wants to break the contract, a clause in the agreement states that the lease can be broken at any time as long as we have 30 day notice, so, my questions are, if the one year lease is honored?or,can he just break the contract giving 30 day notice? Is there a law that protects me from this mistake?

I hate to say it, but that's why you need to use a good lease agreement. It sounds like your lease agreement states in one place that it's month-to-month, and in another that it's for a one year term, so the tenants have a reasonable case to present to the judge. I would let them go, as long as they've done everything else properly, and in the future use a solid state-specific lease agreement.

Posted by Gregory T, CA on Thursday, May 26, 2011