On 2/01/12 lease became month-to-month. Now landlord insists on a new 1-year lease.

[nyrell]

My only question is; is this legal?

Additional Info:

We originally signed a one-year lease and moved in on 2/15/11. On 2/15/12 our lease became month-to-month. Now landlord is raising the rent and insists on a new 1 year lease effective 6/1/12 to 6/1/13 or said we will have to move.

Thanks for any info.

 

[shrinkmaster]

Yes its legal

 

[disagreeable]

As you are now a month to month tenant, it is perfectly legal for the landlord to raise the rent and require a new 1 yr lease. Your recourse is to give proper notice and move or sign and pay.

 

[mightymoose]

You do not have to sign a new lease.
You do not have to move unless evicted.

The landlord can raise your rent with proper notice and does not need you to sign a lease.

If you do not cooperate with the landlord you increase the risk of being booted out.

If your reason for not signing the new lease is because of the rent amount then it is best to move.

If your reason is that you do not wish to be locked into another year then perhaps you can negotiate with the landlord and maybe have early termination penalties waived if you give adequate notice.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

The attached discusses the differences between month to month tenancies and longer leases. There are advantages to having a lease that covers a specific time period (for example, unless the lease specifies a periodic increase in rent, the amount of rent remains the same throughout the lease period):

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/before-rent.shtml

Gail