Landlord Question and Answer Forum

I am in Alaska and have recently purchased a property. It came with two tenants. No deposits or leases. I delivered a 30day notice on the 5th of the month. Rent is due by then. Although we have nothing in writing one way or the other. I just need to know if my notice is legal or not. The teant landlord act simply states "the day rent is due" as to when it must be delivered by. Without a lease specifying the date Am I in the wrong?

The amount of notice needed to end a rental agreement varies, depending upon whether the rental agreement is week-to-week, month-to-month, or year-to-year. When a tenant with a month-to-month tenancy wants to move, the law requires that he or she give the landlord written notice at least 30 days before the rental due date specified as the termination date in the notice. If the tenant wants to move between rental due dates, the notice must be delivered on or before the rental due date which falls at least 30 days before the move-out date. For example, if rent is due the 8th of each month and the tenant wants to move on April 8, written notice must be delivered to the landlord by March 8. If the same tenant wishes to move on April 21, notice would still have to be delivered by March 8, or there would not be a full tenancy month’s notice. The tenant could then end up paying an extra month’s rent. If the same landlord wants the same tenant to move out by April 30, notice would have to be delivered to the tenant before March 8. If the landlord does not deliver notice until March 9, the tenant will not have to move until May 8, when he or she has had a full tenancy month’s notice. Tenants in a month-to-month tenancy who do not give proper notice are responsible for rent for one rental period or until the unit is re-rented, whichever is less. ****You may have heard that tenants cannot be evicted in the winter in Alaska or that tenants with small children cannot be evicted. Unless you are a mobile home park tenant, neither is true.

Posted by Donna , NC on Thursday, December 22, 2011